Oda Nobunaga: The Great Unifier of Japan

Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/biographics for 10% off on your first purchase.

"To fulfill Nobunaga's Ambition..." He said it. He said the thing.

6:57 he was a genius not just militarily. Way ahead of his time. Nobunaga’s army was the first in history to use volley fire on a large scale in rotating ranks during Nagashino. The Dutch were the first to develop the same technique 30 years later in Europe. Nobunaga’s army had 3000 arquebuses in three ranks to defeat Takeda’s powerful cavalry. He hired and rewarded retainers based on skill and merit rather than family lineage which was common practice at the time. In turn he was able to assemble the brightest and most skilled retainers in all of Japan. Nobunaga was the first to mobilize a professional army. Traditionally foot soldiers were peasants and they couldn’t be away too long from their farms especially during harvest. Nobunaga’s army could deploy at a moments notice and fight anywhere anytime 24/7. He taxed more on commerce than agriculture which was unorthodox at the time. He was able to bring in more income this way. He also abolished road tariffs on shipped goods and built guard stations across his territories to protect merchants. This led to great wealth, capital, and prosperity. His navy was the first in history to use iron clad type ships with large gun emplacements in the battle of Kizugawaguchi. Just six of these large ships were able to penetrate Mori’s naval force of about 600 vessels. Another is Azuchi castle was the first to have a Tenshukaku or keep which was influenced by structures with belvederes in Europe. The castle was so revolutionary he had tours. He was atheist which was unheard of for a Daimyo and loved European culture. It’s said he was the first samurai to wear western clothes. He greatly supported art and cultural festivities. He was so unique for the time period not just in Japan.

I've heard a lot about this guys ambition

Please do Tokugawa Ieyasu. That would be a great follow up after this one.

Most crucially, you forgot to mention Nobunaga promoted people on the basis of merit. He didn’t care about background. He was ruthless yes, but that was par for the course at the time. He promoted Hideyoshi and other who proved themselves capable.

"I am the demon king of sixth heaven, come and get me!" - Oda Nobunaga

Nobu's rock and roll summer outfit looked great

I remember in my modern Japanese history class in college, my professor literally called Oda Nobunaga a badass, with 100% sincerity lol.

Awesome, always wanted to request more Japanese Biographies like Sarutobi Sasuke, Date Masamune, Takeda Shingen, Tokugawa Ieyasu and more. Japanese history is so rich and interesting.

Bonus fact. Oda Nobunaga sought out the strongest players of the ancient game of Go, and gave them generous patronage. He became the pupil of Nikkai, the strongest Go player of the time, who was a Buddhist priest that lived in a pagoda named Honinbo. Nikkai played a famous game against his leading rival, Kashio Rigen in the presence of Nobunaga at the Honnoji temple in Koyto. A triple ko arose which led the game to be suspended without a result. The night after the game, Akechi Mitsuhide rose up in rebellion, surrounded the temple and killed Nobunaga. Because of this, a triple ko was thereafter regarded as inauspicious.

"If my bird does not sing: I'll kill it."

I'm kind of surprised that you didn't mention guns used in the Nagashino battle (you can see it in the picture at 20:35). Guns came over to japan from portugal, and this was one of the first cases of guns used in battle in japan. It's a pretty significant point in our history. It's one of the reasons why Oda won against the huge Takeda army. He was quick to understand the worth of new technology and integrated it wisely into his strategies.

I guess Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu are next?

Where's my obligatory GUDAGUDA Title Card?

1:30 - Chapter 0 - Life in japan 3:05 - Chapter 1 - Early years 5:30 - Chapter 2 - Succession crisis 8:35 - Mid roll ads 10:00 - Chapter 3 - Lord of Owari 12:30 - Chapter 4 - The fall of imagawa 15:50 - Chapter 5 - To kyoto 17:50 - Chapter 6 - The many wars of Nobunaga 21:15 - Chapter 7 - The honno ji incident

He has transformed into anime girl Like all well-known rulers and leaders in fate /grand order

I first learned about Nobunaga from the NES game in the 80s called, Nobunaga's Ambition by Koei

Japan is just a great interesting country. Super Modern yet deeply connected to its far past, epic.

I remember when I used to comment Oda Nobunaga next on the early videos of the channel and here we are today