Oda Nobunaga

"I will show this country my divine rule. Trust in the man who will be peerless in the eyes of heaven."

- Oda Nobunaga to Tsubasa Miyuki Oda Saburō Nobunaga (Japanese: 織田 三朗 信長; 12th day of the 5th month, Tenbun 3 – 2nd day of the 6th month, Tenshō 11) was the eldest legitimate child of Oda Nobuhide, the daimyō of Owari, and Lady Tsuchida Gozen; and he was the older brother of Nobuyuki, Nobukane, Hidetaka, Oichi and Oinu. He was the husband of Tsubasa Miyuki; and the father of Ichirō, Minato and Yuki. At his father's death and suppression of the conflict about who was to be the head of the Oda clan, he became the daimyō of Owari and often called as Owari no Ōutsuke (The Big Fool of Owari). He was known to be cold and ruthless but revered by all, he had shown too much loyalty to does who served under him due to his fear of being betrayed. In the end, he was killed by his senior retainer, Akechi Mitsuhide.

Five hundred years later, he was reincarnated to live as Oda Mamoru.

He was loosely based on the famous daimyō, Oda Nobunaga.

Early Life
Oda Nobunaga was born on the 12th day of the 5th month, Tenbun 3 (23 June 1534) at Nagoya Castle in Owari, Japan as the eldest legitimate son of Oda Nobuhide, the daimyō of Owari, and his wife, Lady Tsuchida Gozen. Being the heir of the Oda clan, Nobunaga was raised to believe that he was meant to rule. As a child, he was nicknamed as Kichibōshi, and due to his bizarre attitude, he was called as Owari no Ōutsuke (The Big Fool of Owari). Such strangeness on his personality was deemed to be his apparent lack of knowledge on how to show his emotions and a form of excellent strategy for the enemies around him to take light of him.

When he was seven years old, Nobunaga inherited Nagoya Castle as his own, while the rest of his family live elsewhere. At the age of thirteen, he celebrated his coming-of-age ceremony where he received the name Oda Saburō Nobunaga. Around the same time, Nobunaga started assisting his father's campaign.

In 1548, the Oda clan invaded Mikawa, and in the process, his father abducted Matsudaira Takechiyo. Takechiyo was held at Mansho Temple in Nagoya for the next three years. Due to this, Nobunaga earned a friend out of Takechiyo, though their confrontations had been minimal, brief and few.

Unifying Owari
In 1551, Oda Nobuhide suddenly became ill. Nobunaga prayed to the gods to save his father from the illness, but his father still died. It was considered to be one of the straw that deemed Nobunaga to stop believing about gods. During his father's funeral, the seventeen-year-old Nobunaga was said to have acted outrageously, throwing ceremonial incense at the altar and even wearing inappropriate clothing. Just a year after, Imagawa Sessai laid siege to where his half-brother, Nobuhiro, was staying. At that, he approved the turning over of Takechiyo to the Imagawa clan to keep Nobuhiro safe.

His atrocities and foolish behavior troubled many Oda retainers, causing for majority of them to side with his older half-brother, Nobuyuki. Hirate Masahide, a valuable mentor and retainer to Nobunaga, was ashamed by his behavior, calling Nobunaga as "someone who is out of time". During one travel back home, Masahide was attacked by unknown bandits, and consequently, Nobunaga was to return back his forgotten fan that Nobunaga found him dying. In the end, Nobunaga had asked his childhood friend and trusted retainer, Ikeda Tsuneoki, to announce that Masahide's death was that of hara-kiri, saying that there was nothing much shameful for a samurai than to be killed by someone no one knows of. This sparked an issue among the few of his retainers to think that Masahide's death was because of his shame of Nobunaga's actions. His death, however, had a profound effect on Nobunaga, who later built a temple to honor Masahide. Since that time then, Nobunaga had ended the succession dispute. He was said to have matured so much overnight since the death of Masahide.

In 1554, Nobunaga destroyed a rival branch located in Kiyosu Castle, transferring then there before giving Nagoya Castle to his uncle, Oda Nobumitsu, ruler of Moriyama castle, who've given the control to Oda Nobutsugu. On the same year, Nobutsugu accidentally killed Nobunaga's youngest brother, Oda Hidetaka, which angered Nobunaga and caused Nobutsugu to flee for his life.

The following year, 1555, Nobunaga heard about the uprising that stripped Owari's neighbor, Mino. With the intention to make an alliance with Mino without securing an alliance of marriage that his father had previously offered but he openly disagree, Nobunaga headed on to the battlefield himself to support Saitō Dōsan against his battle with his son, Saitō Yoshiatsu, at the Battle of Nagara-gawa. In the end, he was forced to retreat per the orders of Dōsan's soldier, who delivered Dōsan's request for him to return back. Just few months later, his younger brother, Nobuyuki, supported by their cousin, Shibata Katsuie, and Hayashi Hidesada, rebelled against him; but the conspirators were defeated at the Battle of Inō, and were pardoned after the intervention of Tsuchida Gozen, the birth mother of Nobunaga and Nobuyuki. Unknowingly for Nobunaga, Ikeda Tsuneoki had turned to side with Nobuyuki during the battle, encouraging Nobunaga to commit seppuku; but turned coat when the tides had changed.

A year later, Nobuyuki again planned to rebel. Nobunaga was sick at that time, and Nobuyuki used the excuse of visiting him to get close to him. Before Nobuyuki could kill him, Shibata Katsuie apprehended and informed Nobunaga about Nobuyuki's plan. Nobuyuki's outburst forced him to show a tantō he had been hiding from the inside of his kimono and slashed at Nobunaga, successfully injuring the latter deeply to cause a scar by the left side of his body. Cornered by Nobunaga's retainers, Nobuyuki committed seppuku in Kiyosu Castle, despite Nobunaga's pleas for him to stop. Ikeda Tsuneoki also revealed what he had done during the Battle of Inō, prepared himself to commit seppuku, but Nobunaga stopped him and ordered him to live.

After five years, by 1556, Nobunaga had eliminated all opposition within the clan and Owari Province.

Physical Description
He has neck-length dark auburn hair and fair skin. His eyes were grey and often described as being the color of "gunmetal". He was considered to be tall and unlike other samurais, he appeared rather young for his age. He was said by Lady Tsuchida that he has "scrawny little stick-arms", an opposite to his slim and lean figure were taut muscles and toned abdomen that he earned with training and the war's strain. He had countless of scars that were fairly hidden beneath his kimono: most of them were on his back and arms. The deepest scar he has was on his left shoulder when he was hit with an arrow by his brother Nobuyuki who was rebelling against him at that time.

Personality
He has a sharp tongue (of which he is aware of) and often, does not mean to be rash. He doesn't like to waste time and was reasonable. While Nobunaga doesn't like to show that he cares, he does so in a different manner: through the use of orders. When Mitsuhide fell ill, Nobunaga ordered him to rest. When he found out he had been working instead of resting, Nobunaga lashed out on the ones who let him work. He was also extremely protective of Miyuki and only showed his real emotions toward her alone. But when Miyuki died giving birth to their third child, it was mentioned that it was the only time that the other people close to him had seen and heard him cry in sorrow and pain; stating that Nobunaga had loved her so deeply than anyone else and also, in honor of his deceased wife, Nobunaga had named their daughter after Miyuki. His fury was also quite fearsome but it can be calmed, usually through reasoning. He fears being betrayed even though he was already betrayed countless of times: twice by his brothers, once by his half-brother, and once by his brother-in-law; and Mitsuhide's betrayal still comes as a shocked to him, causing him to almost breakdown.

Quotes

 * "You really are a simple girl, aren't you? Grieve when people die, rejoiced when they are saved. Nothing more, nothing less. Life is not that simple. War is not just about who kills whom." —to Tsubasa Miyuki
 * "Mitsuhide, you are finally a man." —to Akechi Mitsuhide
 * "You might have been considered untouchable by my men in the battlefield but even you could've not escaped death. You might have been the God of War, but I am the Lord of Hell. Such a shame that I am not the one to bring you to your hell, but I'll surely be meeting you there." —upon learning the death of Uesugi Kenshin
 * "Someday we'll know, why I wasn't meant for you..." —to Tsubasa Miyuki
 * "The gods know how much I love her, Mitsuhide. The gods know how much I long to see her once again. [Turning then to Oda Yuki] Oh, the gods are surely laughing down at me for longing for your mother, Ōjo." —to Akechi Mitsuhide and Oda Yuki
 * "I never had 'everything'. Not even close." —to Sen-no-Rikyu
 * "You were the last person I expected to turn against me, Mitsuhide." —to Akechi Mitsuhide

Character History

 * The name Nobunaga means "faithful leader".