Oda Nobunaga - The RUTHLESS Warlord That Changed Japan FOREVER

the sen Goku or Waring States period of 16th century Japan a period that lasted for almost a whole century was a time of unprecedented amounts of warfare violence and suffering the ashikaga Shogun it the country's military government had finally lost control over the Japanese provinces outside of the capital in Kyoto and with no central government around Japan was now a country divided between countless power hungry Clans and their Warlords the Dau land wealth and power were all up for grabs but who would be the one to truly come out on top who would be the one to pave the way for an eventual unification of this fragmented Japan the answer to both of these questions takes us to a small unassuming Province known as oari where a man by the name of Oda noaga was born right into the chaos of the Zang Goku period noaga was Infamous for being just as rebellious and unconventional in his tactics as he was brutal a combination which ironically in some ways turned out to be exactly what Japan needed in order to finally take the first step towards a prolonged period of Peace today we will take a look at the life of Ura noaga his Wars his revolutionary tactics his most cruel decisions and the people that he met along the way some of which turn out to be arguably just as legendary and important to the history of Japan as noaga himself if you end up enjoying this video then make sure to leave a like And subscribe for more Japanese history and crime content also check out my patreon if you feel that I deserve even more of your support starring at only $1 per month with that out of the way let's get started this is the story of AA Nobunaga the ruthless warlord that changed Japan forever Ura noaga was born in 1534 as the son of Oda nuu a wealthy but ultimately insignificant Dao of aari Province located not far away from Nagoya one of present day Japan's most populous cities from a very young age noaga was known for his somewhat unusual behavior and personality even as the son of a wealthy Dao he seemingly didn't care about people's rank or social class choosing to spend his time with pretty much everyone ranging from lowly peasants to Children of other powerful people around him undoubtedly an admirable trait by today's standards but shockingly inappropriate for the son of Ado in 16th century Japan so much so that he soon received the unflattering nickname oari noot or fool of oari little did they know that what they considered to be a fool would grow up to be one of the greatest military Minds in history when his father nooha suddenly passed away in 1551 noon Naga openly embraced his nickname and the behavior that he had long become infamous for during his father's funeral he reportedly took the incense used for the burial ceremony and threw it against the altar this incident alone was enough to turn more than a few friends and family members into enemies of noaga who much to their dismay was set to succeed his father as the leader of the Oda Clan one of the funerals guests who later decided to commit seppuku or self- dism balment is speculated to have done so as a protest against nobunaga's Behavior if true this would have been a very strong statement made all the more meaningful by the fact that it was made by none other than masah hiate both a mentor and loyal retainer of Oda noaga the Oda Clan was basically broken up into different factions following the death of noan naga's Father opposition from within his own family most notably came from one of his brothers noo Yuki who was described as the polar opposite of theoretic unpredictable Nobunaga a calm well spoken guy more akin to what people at the time wanted to see from a samurai leader which earned him multiple supporters inside the Oda clan that were opposed to noaga noo Yuki was a serious threat to noan naga's Future as the leader of the Oda Clan and for this exact reason noaga would soon get the chance to show for the first time that he was not only unpredictable but also ruthless when it came to his own Ambitions Nobunaga and nobuki first met on the battlefield during the Battle of Eno which nobuki and his co-conspirators eventually lost but before he could be severely punished for his actions the mother of both Oda Brothers eventually managed to intervene and pardon the rebellious nobuyuki but only a year later he planned yet another Rebellion against noaga one that would be his undoing katsu shibata one of no Yuki's own men informed Nobunaga of the the plot and allowed him to come up with a plan to counter his brother's second attempted Rebellion well actually noaga ended the whole thing before the Rebellion even took place by faking an illness he managed to lure Noba Yuki into kosu castle where he was then assassinated by two of noan naga's men Oda noaga made it clear that he wouldn't allow anything to stand between him and his Ambitions not even his own family the feud between noaga and nobuyuki was only one of many problems that the fool of aadii had to face following his father's death threats were coming in from other parts of his family and oadi Province but by 1559 he had managed to defeat every single one of them odan nanaga was now the Undisputed ruler of aadi Province but only a year later he would compete against his most intimidating rival yet in a battle that would turn him into one of the most talked about Warlords in all of Japan it was the year 1560 when a samurai leader from suruga Province prepared an army for a Marge towards the capital in Koto all under the guise of coming to Aid the severely weakened ashikaga shogunate the name of this Samurai leader was imagawa yoshimoto and he was one of the most powerful Dao in all of Japan he and his clan which was a descendant of the legendary TAA Clan had been longtime enemies of Oda naga's late father and had been looking to expand their territory into the odak Clan's aari Province for just as long imagawa yoshimoto would have been a fearsome enemy for even the most powerful Samurai at the time and his March towards the capital would soon take him in his 20,000 to 40,000 men right through the territory of Oda Nobunaga who had a mere 3,000 men at his disposal a classic fight of David versus Goliath was about to take place on the Oda Clan's home soil one that should have been an easy win for the invading Army noon Naga however had one very important advantage over his intimidating opponent his unconventional and unpredictable way of thinking which not only earned him his unflattering nickname it would also even the odds of the following battle more than anyone could have ever predicted noaga was perhaps the first Samurai leader to truly understand the value of ashigaru or foot soldiers basically peasants recruited to serve in the army me of a samurai Lord noaga realized that Japanese Warfare had been shifting away from the small to medium-sized battles of the past he needed numbers numbers which he would get by employing peasants from the area but instead of just throwing inexperienced badly equipped ashigaru into combat his Cannon father he actually gave them training and proper equipment to fight with these peasant soldiers might not have been as well trained or battle hardened as their Samurai counterparts but most of them had basically Ally nothing to lose and in some cases were worth much more on the battlefield than the samurai as the imagawa Army entered the Oda Clan's aadii Province it quickly became clear that a frontal assault against an army that big would be asking for some serious trouble noaga was advised to resort to a tactic that in the past had worked wonders for armies that found themselves in a numerical disadvantage Siege Warfare however the leader of the Oda Clan saw his chances of holding out against the massive imaga Army for a for a long period of time as rather slim what he truly needed was something unpredictable something foolish that only a fool of aari could come up with the solution to his problem was provided by the vast network of Scouts that noaga had wisely set up and employed all over his territory eventually they CAU wind of an imagawa camp located at a place called daku hazama a Valley close to the Village of okama where an estimated 5,000 imagawa Soldiers made themselves comfortable a good chunk of soldiers actually more soldiers than the whole Oda Army was able to call its own but most importantly it was also the camp where the Army's leader imagawa yoshimoto was located noaga figured that if he managed to take out the leader of the Holy IM magawa Army he would need to defeat every single man fighting under his banner and so it was decided the army of Oda noaga would launch a sneak attack on the imagawa camp at dengaku hazama among the soldiers of the Oda clan that were about to launch an attack one man in particular managed to stand out hashiba hioshi later known under the much more recognizable name toyotomi hioshi a very significant figure in Japanese history and instrumental in a country's eventual unification not much is known about the early life of hioshi but what we do know is that he was born in oari Province as the son of a peasant Warrior by the name of yimon a particularly humble background considering just how far hidoshi would eventually make it according to the legend which may or may not have some truth to it a young hidoshi was sent to a temple in order to study a life that didn't suit him at all he preferred a life full of adrenaline or a peaceful one he soon left his home province of AI making it all the way to suruga Province where he served under none other than imagawa yoshimoto the same guy that he was now about to fight against in 1557 just as Odon noaga was about to take over all of aadii hioshi decided to return home and join the Oda Clan he started off as a servant but thanks to his intelligent mind and positive attitude he quickly managed to gain promotion to the rank of Samurai at the Battle of okehazama hiashi managed to impress Oda noaga even further and his talents would later be rewarded by becoming one of noan naga's most trusted generals the Oda Clan's attack on the imagawa Army started off with a simple yet effective deception by leaving a a few of his men behind at sji a temple close to the camp which was also decorated with an abundance of military banners Nobunaga gave his opponent the impression that the Oda Clan Army was patiently waiting for a Siege at sji while the actual Army was sneaking through the woods and towards the imagawa camp imagawa yoshimoto and his men were pretty busy that Day celebrating their past victories in aari Province and certainly did not expect an attack by the comparatively tiny Army of noaga on top of that a storm soon approached giving one the impression that the Battle of okehazama one of the most important battles in Japanese history was somehow just meant to happen the storm was the perfect cover for noaga and his men who were able to approach the camp unnoticed at a rapid pace and then they attacked the imagawa soldiers were completely overwhelmed some ran for the hills out of sheer Panic while those who stayed behind were probably completely wasted imagine you're out drinking with your friends and suddenly Oda noaga and an army of Samurai come storming in as for imagawa yoshimoto the leader of the imagawa army he is sad to have taken a nap inside his tent when the attack started at some point yoshimoto woke up and heard the commotion going on outside thinking it must be his men partying and being a bit louder than usual he stepped outside to tell him to shut up but was greeted by nothing but destruction chaos and an Oda Clan soldier that stabbed him with a spear a second Oda soldier swooped in before yoshimoto could draw his sword and beheaded him nobunaga's plan succeeded the leader of the imagawa army and a good number of its soldiers were defeated in the aftermath of the battle of okehazama Oda noaga was introduced to yet another Samurai that would become instrumental to Japan's unification a samurai that at the time actually fought for the opposing side Tokugawa yasu as part of a family that was split between supporting either the Oda or the imagawa Tokugawa yasu spent most of his childhood as a political hostage it wasn't until he turned 16 that he was finally allowed to go back to his native mikawa Province where he was ordered pretty much immediately to a the imagawa in her ongoing feud with the Oda Clan the young yasu quickly managed to get a few victories under his belt and was later asked to join imagawa yoshimoto's March towards Kyoto and into aari Province an army led by Tokugawa yasu managed to capture a fort at oar's border and while yoshimoto was marching towards his own demise yasu and his armies stayed behind in order to defend what they had captured but when news of Oran noan naga's unlikely Victory reached yasu he was quick to change sides he entered into an alliance with the fool of aari an alliance that turned out to be a watershed moment in the history of Japan with both Tokugawa yasu and toyotomi hioshi on his side and a huge Victory under his belt OD noaga was more than ready to continue on his path to conquering and unifying Japan a path that he would however not tread peacefully noon naga's next victim was Mino Province then under the control of the Sao Clan the Sao Clan at this time was under the leadership of the young and inexperienced Saito tatsui which presented a golden opportunity for odan noan Naga to take over the street strategically highly desirable Mino Province after convincing the CTO Clan retainers to get rid of their young and inexperienced leader oda's Army was able to swoop in and take over Mino province's seed of Power inayama Castle the castle as well as the city surrounding it were renamed to giu as a reference to the kishan mountain from which China was once unified a clear statement by the leader of the Oda clan in 1568 noaga received a visit from none other than ashikaga yoshia Yaki who was about to be the 15th and final Shogun of the severely weakened ashikaga military government that had been around for more than 200 years following a string of complicated events that saw his brother killed and replaced by a puppet Shogun yoshiaki had a big request for odan noaga Ander Koto eliminate the mioshi clan that installed the puppet Shogun and make sure that yoshiaki was to be the next military ruler again just like with his attack on Mino province noaga sensed a golden opportunity to conquer Kyoto the only thing that stood directly between him and the capital was Omi Province and the Raku Clan a tiny obstacle for OD noaga and his feared Army that was growing in strength and numbers each day the Raku were defeated in no time and noaga was well on his way to Kyoto where he successfully fulfilled yoshii's request of driving out the mioshi clan and installing him as the new Shogun but OD noaga also made it clear very early on that yoshiaki himself would be nothing more than a puppet to the Oda Clan nobunaga's entry into Kyoto officially marked the end of the muromachi period and the beginning of the azui momoyama period named after the locations of the castles of both odan noaga as well as his eventual successor in response to noaga Turning him into a puppet Shogun yoshiaki GED a few allies that formed an anti-order alliance consisting mainly of members of the asakura clan who had a deep rooted disdain for Oda nanaga and his clan which in theory should have been subordinate to the asakura at the Battle of anawa which commenced in Late July of 1570 the anti Oda forces went up against nobunaga's Army and actually managed to do quite a number on them well at least in the beginning the 23,000 men that fought under the Oda Banner were soon joined by another 5,000 forces under the leadership of Tokugawa yasu and with their combined forces the asakura and its allies were swiftly defeated this anti Oda Clan Alliance also contained members of the so-called EO iki a group of rebels that was vehemently against Samurai rule in general they consisted of farmers local Nobles Shinto priests and Buddhist monkss all brought together by their beliefs saying that these guys knew how to defend themselves would be a massive understatement which also meant that they posed a serious threat to Odon noaga and his goals what happened to the e was an early sign of a new level of violence demonstrated by Odon noaga during his later years especially enaku a Buddhist Monastery located on Mount hi near Kyoto was the biggest Buddhist complex in all of Japan and home to countless eoi Rebels unfortunately noaga found two reasons that at least in his mind Justified the total Destruction of this historically and spiritually significant place and everyone that resided in it no one Baga had been anti- Buddhist for quite a while even before the eiki post a direct and immediate threat to him he considered the Buddhist institutions across Japan to be a thorn in his eye the enryakuji temple itself was also located so close to Kyoto the place which was supposed to be his new home that it also served as a gigantic strategic threat to his Rule and noaga was not interested in taking any risks on September 30th 1571 ordera forces made their way to mount hi and launched a brutal attack on its residents during this attack everyone who was close to the an yakui Temple was massacred men women and children were murdered their homes burned to the ground to noaga it didn't matter as long as any Potential Threat was eradicated in the end thousands of people had lost their lives during the siege of Mount hi while the Flames of enri yakui could be seen even from the capital below it what happened at enry yakui was so violent that even some of nobunaga's most loyal soldiers and Generals were disturbed by their leaders actions unfortunately a similarly cruel fate would meet ikiki Rebels all over Japan in nagashima for example 's Army once again mercilessly massacred a group of Buddhist mons setting fire to their buildings and killing countless civilians in the process nobunaga's vicious campaign against one of Japan's most widespread religions and its practitioners would however come back to bite him when one of the most feared Dao in Japan set his sides on the Oda Clan and its allies as noaga continued his vicious campaign countless Dao all over Japan realized that he had to be stopped not only because he was obviously a threat to anyone else who dreamed of being the one to unify Japan but also because they realized that noaga the man with probably the best chance to actually do so started to enjoyy the Bloodshed that was required to get there in the first place even among the most violent of Japan's Warlords which are by default very violent Oda noaga managed to be shockingly brutal one such warlord who was not only opposed to noaga actions but also had the resources to potentially stop him was taka shingen the Dao of Kai Province and The Devout Buddhist who also like to boil his victims alive could a man of almost equally violent Behavior Poss possibly be the one to stop H noaga well takash shingen certainly thought so and with that he decided to go to war but his first Target would actually not be noaga himself instead he chose to try and eliminate one of his closest allies Tokugawa yasu the battle between yasu and takash shingan that followed in 1572 was incredibly one-sided 35,000 troops fought under the taka banner and pretty much steamrolled the 8,000 toava soldiers which were aided by a mere 3,000 additional soldiers that were sent by noaga yasa survived by barely managing to escape to a nearby Castle but was so traumatized by this heavy defeat that he simply refused to fight takash shingen again now takash shingen could actually have delivered the final blow to Tokugawa yasu possibly changing the course of Japanese history forever but in 1573 he passed away during his Siege leaving the taka clan in the hands of his much less exper iced son katsu Yori in 1575 yasu and katsu Yori would meet on the battlefield in aoso but this time after threatening to turn on him otherwise yasu received the full support of both odan noaga and his army forming a formidable force of around 38,000 troops this battle would once again be considered as a sort of turning point in Japanese history but not necessarily because of the outcome of the battle or the sheer size of the competing armies the this battle's significance would stem from the weapons that were used to Win It novan Naga had never been afraid of using new ideas or technology to his Advantage most importantly he would be one of the first Samurai leaders to equip his army with the archbus A Primitive type of matchlock gun that had found its way onto the Japanese islands for the first time in 1543 when Portuguese Sailors landed on the remote island of tanig gashima they introduced their powerful weapons to the local warlord who was so impressed by the technology that he immediately ordered his master swordsmith to learn how to mass-produce the guns himself allegedly the swordsmith had to sell his own daughter to the Portuguese Sailors in exchange for lessons on how to make the guns that the Japanese started referring to as simply tanegashima named after the island that they originated from noaga had actually been using the tanegashima guns from the very beginning of his military career but the Battle of nagashino would be the first time that they really got to shine the main reason why noaga was one of only a few Warlords that still utilized guns like these on the battlefield was that there were a few downsides most notably the long reload times that came with the matchlock guns of this time period however noaga came up with a way around this problem at the Battle of nagashino his Riflemen as well as groups of archers were divided into different groups with one group only firing while the other one was reloading that way the enemy found itself stuck in a const NeverEnding hail of bullets to make things even worse the taka Army was forced to go through a sort of obstacle course of barricades set up by the Oda Tokugawa Army an obstacle course that became the grave of one wave of soldiers after another sent into combat by a Takeda katsuyori that didn't want to admit defeat until his generals finally forced him to retreat katsuyori did survive but the Tak Clan would never again be able to challenge Oran noaga the victory in nagashino was a Bittersweet moment in the life of Tokugawa yasu on one hand his fiercest enemy yet when that could have handily defeated his army so were it not for his support of Oda noaga was severely weakened on the other hand the aftermath of the battle would be one of the most difficult periods of yasu's personal life with the help of a spy inside the Tokugawa household noaga CAU wind of a plant betrayal at the hands of yasu's wife lady tuyama when lady tuyama was beheaded as as a result yasu feared that his first son would be tempted to avenge his mother and consequently had his own son confined at hamata Castle before forcing him to commit seppuku a cruel act which showed that much like his Oda Clan Ally Tokugawa yasu did not consider his own family to be more important than his Ambitions some sources claimed that it was actually OD noaga who forced easu into this difficult decision but these claims do seem to be somewhat controversial and difficult to confirm speaking of oron noaga with most of central Japan under his control by the early 1580s he had without it out become the most dominant and Powerful warlord in all of Japan and with invasions into the remaining parts of Japan about to commence Oda noan naga's dream of unifying Japan under his Banner finally seemed to be within reach instead he was closer to his own demise than he ever could have predicted in early 1582 the OD Clan prepared to finally achieve Total Domination of Japan toyotomi hioshi had been busy in Japan's choku region for around 6 years and found himself in a bit of a pinch during a siege on takamasu castle he was surrounded by an army that was around six times larger than his own and was in dire need of reinforcements or noaga had just put the final nail in in the coffin of the taka Clan and along with Tokugawa yasu had been touring around the Kanai region celebrating his victory but these celebrations were cut short as soon as noaga received hideo's request for help the plan was for one of his generals Aki mitsu to go and assist hioshi in battle with noaga himself to follow soon after against his superior's orders mitsu made his way to Tamba Province where in a collaborative form of poetry known as renga he stated his intentions of betraying Ur noaga on his way to takamatsu noaga stopped at koto's honi Temple a place that he would enter but never leave noaga was resting deep inside his own territory and had let his guard down with most of his troops engaged in battle somewhere security at honi Temple was incredibly light making this a prime opportunity for an attack on June 21st 1582 around 13,000 soldiers are said to have approached honi Temple pretending to March towards takamatsu before suddenly changing course and attacking the building which odan noaga resided in according to a somewhat recent discovery in a 17th century document by a military scholar akii mitsu did order the attack but might not actually have been present when it all happened mitsuha's motivation for attacking Odon noaga raises even more question marks and spawned countless theories over the centuries as to why exactly he was willing to risk it all just to see the fool of Hai dad as the attack continued noaga and the few troops that were there to defend him tried their best to hold off the attack but soon realized just how dire the situation really was as noaga retreated into a back room of the temple the building was set Ablaze by akachi forces and with no other option left he decided to end his own life via seppuku or noaga on the cusp of finally becoming the unifier of Japan was dead as for akachi mitsuha the man who plotted the attack on honi he didn't really have all that much time to celebrate or naga's body was actually never found meaning that mitsu wasn't even sure at the time that noan Naga was truly dead and gone until his body was found mitsu would struggle to gain the support of anyone who feared a possible active retaliation of an OD nanaga that did actually survive toyotomi hioshi upon receiving the news of noan naga's death the following day took his whole arm of 30,000 troops and rushed to Osaka where he teamed up with utaka one of nobunaga's sons and made his way to Koto to confront the traitor mitsu only 11 days after the hono incident took place Aki mitsu was defeated in battle and subsequently killed while on the Run noan naga's funeral was held in October of 1582 at daokui Temple in Kyoto since nobody was ever found even after a hioshi sponsored search effort life-sized wooden statue of odan noaga was cremated and put in an N instead of his actual ashes odan noaga was a controversial figure in Japanese history his goal of conquering and unifying Japan might have been driven by his own ego more than anything else and at least in his later years he seemed to have actually enjoyed the violence and suffering that unfortunately led to that same goal on the other hand he was a brilliant military strategist and his work towards creating a unified Japan cannot be denied however Japan was now arguably in much better hands than those of noaga himself toyotomi hioshi basically inherited the land that noaga had conquered and alongside Tokugawa yasu he was eventually able to finish the job that OD noaga had started the whole unification process is a fascinating and complicated story in itself one that I fully intend to cover in one of my next videos but for now I will leave you with an old Japanese saying about the three men that came to be known as the three great unifiers of Japan the reunification is a rice cake Oda made it hioshi shaped it at Last Only yasu tastes it which part of Japanese history would you like to see covered in a future video let me know in the comments down below also I would like to give a huge shout out to all of my supporters in patreon including busner and to all of you who decided to finish this video as always thank you so much for watching [Music] [Music] say

Channel: ANIKI

Views: 77,950

Keywords: samurai, history, oda nobunaga, oda, nobunaga, sengoku, muromachi, azuchi, ieyasu, toyotomi, hideyoshi, war, wars, japan, japanese

Id: xrozbJPn6oU

Length: 30min 53sec (1853 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2023