Oda Nobunaga 织田信长

Oda Nobunaga(织田 信长, Oda Nobunaga , June 23, 1534 – June 21, 1582) was a powerful daimyo of Japan in the late 16th century who attempted to unify Japan during the late Sengoku period.

The goal of national unification and a return to the comparative political stability of the earlier Muromachi period was widely shared by the multitude of autonomous daimyo during the Sengoku period. Oda Nobunaga however, was the first for which this goal seemed attainable. Nobunaga had gained control over most of Honshu (see map below), before his death during the 1582 Honnō-ji incident, a coup attempt executed by Nobunaga's vassal, Akechi Mitsuhide. It is not certain if Nobunaga was killed in the attack or if he committed seppuku. The motivation of Mitsuhide's betrayal was never revealed to anyone who survived the incident, and has been a subject of debate and conjecture ever since the incident. Following the incident, Akechi Mitsuhide declared himself master over Nobunaga's domains, but was quickly defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who regained control of and greatly expanded the Oda holdings. Oda Nobunaga's successful subjugation of much of Honshu enabled the later successes of his allies Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu toward the goal of national unification by subjugating local daimyo under a hereditary shogunate, which would ultimately be accomplished in 1603 when Tokugawa Ieyasu was granted the title of shogun by Emperor Go-Yōzei following the successful Sekigahara Campaign of 1600. The nature of the succession of power through the three daimyō is reflected in the Japanese idiom: "Nobunaga pounds the national rice cake, Hideyoshi kneads it, and in the end Ieyasu sits down and eats it."