Nobunaga Oda

Nobunaga Oda is the title character of the strategy series, Nobunaga's Ambition. He made his debut as a "Warriors" character in Samurai Warriors. He also appears as a bonus character in Dynasty Warriors using his visual look from the Nobunaga's Ambition series. He is generally considered to be the Samurai Warriors equivalent to Cao Cao.

He is Nohime's husband, Oichi's older brother, Nagamasa Azai's brother-in-law. He is one of Japan's three unifiers along with his former generals, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Ieyasu Tokugawa. In the first Samurai Warriors, he's 33 years old. In the Samurai Warriors series, he's symbolized by the character "heaven" (天), the character for "supremacy" (覇), and black feathers.

Samurai Warriors
Nobunaga is a powerful warlord who seeks to unify and rule Japan. He earned his fame by destroying Yoshimoto Imagawa's forces at Okehazema. He is often referred to as the "Demon King" in ode to his sheer ruthlessness. In the first game, he starts his conquest on the land after Okehazama by tackling the Mino forces and the Ikko rebels. If he fails to kill the Ikko rebels, they will join forces with his rivals Shingen and Kenshin. He then has to fend off a fearsome force and simultaneously deal with the mutiny amongst his army.

In his upper path, Mitsuhide rebels against him at Honnoji. No, in a show of her characteristic love, turns against Nobunaga and is intent on taking his life. With the help of his sister and Ranmaru, he is able to safely escape. Though he survives Honnoji, he is forced to retake Azuchi Castle, his home base of operations. Knowing that Mitsuhide and the other traitors against him are there, he goes to end their resistance. Once he defeats them, he sets the castle on flames and promises to someday join them in hell.

In Samurai Warriors 2, Nobunaga forms a closer relationship with Mitsuhide, who becomes a sort of apprentice to him. His story focuses more on his conquest of the Uesugi and Takeda clans than the previous title. After he succeeds suppressing his rivals, Mitsuhide betrays him at Honnoji. His son, No, Ranmaru, and a handful of surprised retainers help Nobunaga in battle. In the last moments of his duel with Mitsuhide, his opponent spares his life and accepted death to escape Nobunaga's cruelty. Moved by his final words, Nobunaga states that he never wanted his retainer to die but will continue to live in honor of the man he slain.

His dream stage is an extension of his story mode and Nobunaga begins his final conquest to unite the warring states. Since the attack at Honnoji caused universal confusion with his ranks, Ieyasu gathered a "Anti-Nobunaga" coalition with the greatest daimyo in the land. This included the remaining Uesugi forces, the Date army, and the Shimazu clan. Once Nobunaga defeats them, he becomes the grand unifier of Japan.

Warriors Orochi
In Orochi's story for Warriors Orochi 2, which acted as a prequel to the series, Nobunaga was the last warlord to defy Orochi's forces, acting as the "last hope for humanity". The two battled at Mikatagahara, where Nobunaga eventually had to retreat. Orochi remarked that he would remember his name.

In Warriors Orochi, Nobunaga is seen as a fearsome neutral party. In reality, he is gathering various warriors to join his resistance against Orochi, despite Kanetsugu's initial observations. He is also fascinated by Cao Cao, the conqueror that several people state he resembles. He acts as the figurehead for the Samurai force and is seen as a heroic mastermind. Throughout the story, Nobunaga predicts the future, such as Cao Pi and Sun Ce eventually betraying Orochi. He is one of the four characters to lead a major resistance force (the others being Cao Pi, Sun Ce, and Zhao Yun) and temporarily join forces with his rivals, Shingen and Kenshin. After Orochi's defeat, the three warlords separate.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Nobunaga is given a lesser role and is absent for the first half of the game. In the Samurai storyline, Sakon Shima looks to construct a powerful force to combat Kiyomori Taira. At the Battle of Hu Lao Gate, Sakon sends a messenger to seek an audience with Nobunaga and convince him to join the anti-Orochi alliance. In the middle of the battle, Nobunaga appears with reinforcements and helps Sakon defeat Kiyomori. In the Wei storyline, however, at the Battle of Tong Gate, Nobunaga and his vassals help Xiahou Dun route a desperate Kiyomori. He continues to build a friendship with Cao Cao.

Nobunaga shares his Dream stage with the other unifiers of Japan and wage a contest with the rulers of the Three Kingdoms.

Kessen
Nobunaga briefly appears in the first Kessen as an aspiration in the sky. Moments before Ieyasu departs for Sekigahara, Nobunaga wishes for his dream to live on with Ieyasu.

In Kessen III, the roles are switched and Nobunaga is the main protagonist. He is very close to his wife, Kicho, and is well liked by his generals. Unlike his Samurai Warriors counterpart, he is symbolized in some way by a hawk.

As far back as he can remember, Nobunaga has an ongoing dream of his death in a fiery room. He sees two blurred figures in it and believes that they will probably shape his fate. He confides this dream to Kicho, who believes that it maybe a premonition. At Honnoji, his life is saved by Kicho's metal hair clip, a memento she left behind for him and kept close to his chest. With all of his enemies joining Mitsuhide, he leads a resistance to destroy Mitsuhide and save the land from any further warfare. In the extra ending for the game, he eventually travels overseas and makes peace with Spain. He also allowed an overseas village to be built and expressed wishes for all of Japan to learn about Christianity and European history.

Development
Initially, the designers aimed to portray him as "Sengoku's demon king" and went with their spin on the typical Nobunaga attire seen in fiction. They gave Nobunaga a sword to enforce his trait of quickly eliminating anyone who opposes him. His first design aimed to create a "new manly" image of Nobunaga that didn't look too similar to his appearance in the Nobunaga's Ambition series. For his redesign, they wanted to differentiate him further by emphasizing his symbolic item in the series, which is black feathers. To keep the dramatic flow of action for his character, they decided to split his mantle and adorned his armor's collar with feathers.

Personality
Akin to his historical counterpart, Nobunaga fancies Noh theater, spits in the eye of old traditions, and is seen as a dangerous man by his enemies. Like most fictional accounts, he's cold and indifferent to the suffering of innocent people. He enjoys the prospect of facing death and generally remains unfazed when the tides turn against him. In the second game, Nobunaga also adopts a devil's advocate motif, often asking others their desires and a way for him to grant them. He boldly declares that he is predestined to rule the land as it's the heavens and land's desire.

Though he may seem callous, he's depicted with a shred of sympathy in his recent appearances. He trusts his generals to carry out their missions and is seen forgiving them in select scenarios. In his ending for Samurai Warriors 2, he temporarily loses composure after hearing Mitsuhide's dying confession and is shaken while observing his vassal's body. He adopts a lighter mood in his Dream stage, in which he seeks to create a land of peace and be its unlikely savior from chaos. His heroic qualities are better demonstrated in the Warriors Orochi series.

His treatment to other characters vary from each character in the series. Usually, he speaks in a cold and ruthless manner, close to insulting enemy and ally alike. He also has a philosophical flare when spoken to, usually as advice or him being poetic. Though whenever someone tells Nobunaga their own opinions, he generally ends them with a silent "...is that so?" His only exemptions to his cold treatment is with No, Oichi (which both of their relationships were dissolved in Samurai Warriors 2), Ranmaru (who Nobunaga had been very close within the 2 installments), and Mitsuhide (only to be prominent in Samurai Warriors 2).

His Kessen III counterpart focuses on the other aspects of Nobunaga's persona, in which he judged people based on their capabilities over status and was fascinated by European travelers. In a better light than his Samurai Warriors incarnation, he is a witty and charismatic leader who shares happy relations with his allies. He tries to avoid war if possible but is usually forced to fight due to his persistent enemies.

Appearance
As in other fictional accounts, Nobunaga's armor fuses Japanese with Western Armor (usually black with golden streaks), adding a red cape on his back. His facial features also symbolize the fictional interpretation of him using an unkempt samurai topknot, sharp eyes, a crooked nose and a goatee.

His Samurai Warriors alternate outfit is the purple and white Noh costume that he wears in the Oda's opening cinematic. Nobunaga's historical style is shown here by keeping the right sleeve hanged by his side and its bold purple and white color.

In Samurai Warriors 2, His cape is adorned with black feathers around the back of his neck while his cape is more swallow tailed shape, gradating purple and red with the Oda Crest on top. His second color scheme in Samurai Warriors 2 Xtreme Legends gives him golden armor with a red cape and white feathers, while his Orochi color scheme uses platinum-like armor with a blue cape and golden feathers.

Voice Actors

 * Douglas Rye - Samurai Warriors (English)
 * Brent Schaus - Samurai Warriors 2, Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power (English)
 * Chris Kent - Warriors Orochi series (English)
 * John Murphy - Kessen (English; credited for "Shadow")
 * Crispin Freeman - Kessen III (English)
 * Jūrōta Kosugi - Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi (Japanese)
 * Ryōtarō Okiayu - Kessen, Kessen III (Japanese)

Quotes

 * "The world needs Nobunaga... At least until I have eliminated all who oppose me."
 * "I have come to make this land my own!"
 * "Turn this battlefield into the netherworld itself!"
 * "Worthless!"
 * "Is that so?"
 * Nobunaga's most common quote in Samurai Warriors 2: Empires and Nobunaga's Ambition


 * "Lord Nobunaga! Hideyoshi's off playing with his courtesans again! Can't you do something?"
 * "Dry your tears, Nene. Your beauty grows day by day. Your husband knows not what he has. If he doesn't watch out, he will lose the sweetest treasure he owns."
 * Nene and Nobunaga; SW2 Empires


 * "There is not enough room in this world for both of our ambitions. Who will be the one to fall?"
 * "The victor will be whom the heavens desire."
 * Cao Cao and Nobunaga at Fan Castle; Warriors Orochi 2


 * "Ieyasu, I entrust my dream to you. My vision of an united land. My dream cannot die. It must not die..."
 * Nobunaga's spirit talking to Ieyasu; Kessen


 * "The world is only a dream. You just have to be bold and live it."
 * Nobunaga's thoughts about dreams; Kessen III

Gameplay
He wields a two-edged straight sword imbued with dark energy and has the power to hurl a dark "force" blast at his foes. This appearance has led to some game reviewers to jokingly refer to him as Darth Vader.

Personal Info
Nobunaga was truly a rebel of his times who never seemed to fit the mold of his society. He cared little about what other daimyo thought of him and only made friends with people who amused him. However, his fickle nature with the people around him often distorted the truth behind his actions. For instance, an insert from the Nobunaga Gouki states that he tinted the three skulls of his enemies Azai Hisamasa, Azai Nagamasa, and Asakura Yoshikage with golden metal. Fictional accounts state that this was due to his bitterness towards these "meddlesome pests" and he drank from them as personalized mugs. In reality, he wanted to respect and honor their remains. Many accounts from his generals and enemies said that he was a cold and cruel revolutionist. He either personally killed or ordered the death of many people, sparing no one based on age, status, or gender.

He's perhaps best known for his friendly tolerance of foreign settlers, then known to the rest of the Japanese providence as "Southern barbarians". He participated in their events and dressed in a rider's mantle and European helmets. He befriended the missionary Luís Fróis, whose chronicles in his time in Japan were pinnacle for a third person account of Nobunaga. Through their friendship, Nobunaga marveled the advancement of European society and was pleased when he saw a globe to represent the world (a contrast to his retainers who thought the idea was pure nonsense). In his notes, Luis described Nobunaga as:

"[A man who] has little hair on his mustache. He speaks in a shrill voice, always like a general, yet is very rude. He likes justice and benevolence, but abundantly respects honor to the point of arrogance. Rarely listens to his subordinates while making decisions but he is very skillful. People abnormally revere his presence. Doesn't drink liquor. Talks to me in a very humble tone and treats me respectfully but this is not always the case with other daimyo. He has a superior intellect and good judgment but he disregards gods and Buddha; he doesn't believe in fortune-telling. Though he participates in religious ceremonies, he declared that there is no world of immortality or a postmortem place for the soul. While talking with others, he dislikes indirect expressions."

Records indicate that Nobunaga even sent a folding screen painting of Azuchi Castle to Pope Gregory XIII but its whereabouts remain unknown.

His other interests include falconry, equestrianism, archery, and Go (the move "Nobunaga's cradle" is named after him). He particularly liked Bon festivals and sumo wrestling and hired some of his personal aides to also be adequate wrestlers. He had one wife, two concubines, twelve sons, ten daughters, and three adopted daughters.

Early Years
Nobunaga was born under the childhood name, Kippoushi, at Shobada Castle. His father was Oda Nobuhide and his mother was Toda Gozen, who is believed to be the one of Toda Tsuchida Masahisa's daughters. His clan is speculated to be descendants of either the Taira clan, the Fujiwara clan, or Saiko Kichinosuke but the details regarding these claims are sadly lacking. Early records suggest the second option since, at one point, Nobunaga curiously adopted the Fujiwara name. When Nobunaga was born, his father was serving the governor of Owari, Shiba Yoshimune, and defended their territory from Imagawa Yoshimoto.

When he was two years old, he was sent to Nagoya Castle and spent most of his youth there. He acted unruly for someone of his status and dressed himself in bright and outlandish clothing. He took an interest in matchlock rifles, played as a commoner with the townsfolk, and adopted the local slang, calling his parents "Dad" and "Mom". Since his conduct was considered bizarre and rude to the court, he was quickly nicknamed The Fool of Owari (尾張の大うつけ or たわけ). He entered battles at an early age by serving as his father's reserve guard. During this time, he met Imagawa Yoshimoto's hostage, Matsudaira Takechiyo (later known as Tokugawa Ieyasu).

In the year 1546, he experienced his coming of age ceremony at Furuwatari Castle and was named Oda Kazusanosuke Nobunaga. When he was thirteen, he was also called Saburo Nobunaga by his mother and other nobles in the court. He was married to Nōhime when he was fourteen to create an alliance between the Owari and Mino provinces. When his father died in 1551, Nobunaga became the head of the clan. However, he refused to attend his father's funeral, which caused an outright uproar amongst the Oda vassals. When he did pay his respects to his father's alter, he threw the ceremonial ashes in the same way a sumo wrestler throws salt to purify the ring. Hirate Masahide, a loyal servant who looked after his young lord's future, committed suicide to protest Nobunaga's disrespectful actions. The event was the first reported incident of Nobunaga showing regret for his behavior. Since then, he adopted better etiquette but he continued to be sarcastic and eccentric. In a meeting regarding the displeasure amongst his retainers, he reportedly only said "Is that so?" (であるか) to the complaints.

Due to several retainers conflicting opinions regarding Nobunaga, the Oda clan split in a civil conflict. He was challenged by his uncle, Oda Nobutomo, and his younger brother, Oda Nobuyuki. Nobutomo and Nobuyuki joined forces to conspire Nobunaga's downfall and manipulated Shiba Yoshimune to be their puppet ruler. Yoshimune secretly sympathized with Nobunaga and when Nobutomo learned of this, he was killed. His heir, Shiba Yoshikane, barely escaped Nobutomo's men while crossing a river and went to Nobunaga for safety.

To gain the power needed to overthrow the conspirators, Nobunaga allied with his other uncle, Oda Nobumitsu, who slew Nobutomo at Kiyosu Castle. Nobumitsu mysteriously died soon after in 1556 and many speculated that he was assassinated in some way by his nephew. In the same year, he also sent reinforcements to help Nōhime's father, Dosan, against his rebellious son. It was a lost battle and Mino's daimyo became Saito Yoshitatsu. With Yoshikane in his good fortune, Nobunaga also allied with Imagawa Yoshimoto since they were lords in the same province. This allowed some protection along the Oda's eastern boarders.

A few months later, Nobuyuki staged a rebellion with Oda vassals Shibata Katsuie, Hayashi Hidesada, and Hayashi Mochitomo. To counter, Nobunaga gained the support of Mori Yoshinari, Sakuma Nobumori, and Sakuma Morishige. On August 24 the same year, Nobunaga -in spite of facing overwhelming odds- defeated his brother at the Battle of Ino. Their mother intervened on the conspirators' behalf and they were pardoned. The next year, however, Nobuyuki again planned to rebel. When Nobunaga was informed of this by his new vassal Katsuie, he faked illness to get close to Nobuyuki and assassinated him in Kiyosu Castle.

Battle of Okehazama
In 1560, Yoshimoto gathered an army of 25,000 men and started his march toward Kyoto, with the excuse of aiding the frail Ashikaga shogunate. The Matsudaira clan of Mikawa Province was also to join Yoshimoto's forces. In comparison, the Oda clan could rally an army of only 1,800, and the forces would also have to be split up to defend various forts at the border. Under such dire circumstances, Nobunaga was said to have performed his favorite Atsumori dance, before riding off with only a few attendants to pray in a shrine.

The Oda clan's generals did not believe that they would win this impossible war. Only the night before, Katsuie had tried in vain to change Oda Nobunaga's mind about a frontal attack; he kept reminding Nobunaga of the joint army's complete lack of manpower compared to the Imagawa soldiers, who, according to rumors, numbered 40,000 men. Hayashi Sado no Kami Hidesada, the remaining adviser from Nobuhide's days, even argued for surrender without fighting, using the same reasoning as Katsuie. Upon this advice, according to the clan's chronicler, Nobunaga yelled:

"Imagawa has 40,000 men marching toward this place? I don't believe that. He 'only' has 25,000 soldiers. Yes, that is still too many. So Sado, you want me to surrender. What if we do surrender? Will you be satisfied losing your life that way? What if we hold like Katsuie wants? What if we stay here in this castle, lock it up, and wait until the Imagawas lose their appetite, stop the siege, and go home? We would prolong our lives for 5 or 10 days, and what we cannot defend will stay as such. We are at the bottom of the pit, you know, and our fate is interesting. Of course the misery is great, too. But this is how I see it: it's the chance of a lifetime. I can't afford to miss it. Do you really want to spend your entire lives praying for longevity? We were born to die! Whoever is with me, come to the battlefield tomorrow morning. Whoever is not, stay where you are and watch me win it!"

Nobunaga was right; Yoshimoto deliberately leaked the highly exaggerated number of his soldiers out to scare the Oda clan, and the official chronicler of the Imagawas put it down as was usual in medieval battle records to exaggerate numbers. While Yoshimoto's men were celebrating their early victories over the Oda troops, Nobunaga and his men charged down the mountainous terrain from Zenkoji. Aided by the heavy thunderstorm and the unprepared Imagawa troops, Nobunaga's ambush was a startling success. His victory dispelled most doubts about his capabilities and labeled him as a genuine threat to Owari's neighbors.

Rapidly weakening, the Imagawa clan no longer exerted control over the Matsudaira clan. In 1561, an alliance was forged between Oda Nobunaga and Matsudaira Motoyasu, despite the decades-old hostility between the two clans. Tradition dates this battle as the time that Nobunaga first noticed the talents of the sandal bearer who would eventually become Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Rise to Power
After Saito Yoshitatsu's death, Nobunaga sets his sight on the weakened Saito clan ruling Mino. The current ruler of Mino was the comparatively incompetent Saito Tatsuoki. To simultaneously aid his territory's defense and add to his military strength, he issued an alliance with Azai Nagamasa and solidified their pact by marrying his sister, Oichi, to him. This allowed him to concentrate on crushing the Saito clan. Five years after their first conflict, Nobunaga took various castles within Mino and gained the trust of the influential Mino trio (Inaba Yoshimichi, Ujiie Bokuzen, and Ando Morinari). He forces Tatsuoki to retreat to Nagashima, Mie in 1567 and completely subjugates the Mino clan in 1568. Tatsuoki survives until he is later killed by Nobunaga's men in 1570. To avoid military conflict with Mino's ally, Takeda Harunobu, the Oda and Takeda clan made a matrimonial alliance between Matsuhime (Harunobu's seven year old sixth daughter) and Oda Nobutada (Nobunaga's eleven year old eldest son).

At age 33, Nobunaga had successfully expanded his territory and designated Inabayama Castle to be his new base of operations. He renamed his new home to be Gifu and started to use the personal seal, Tenka Fubu (天下布武), to signify his new ambition. It is literally translated as "unite the land under military might" or "below the heavens (rain), warriors cover all". To follow suite, he attacked Kitabatake Tomonori in the neighboring Ise sector in late 1568. By 1570, after a brave fifty day resistance, Kitabatake surrenders after his retainers betray him and he refuses to agree to the treaty requirements to make Nobunaga's second son, Nobuo, his heir. He becomes a monk and his daughter, Yukihime, became Nobuo's wife for any possible offspring.

In September 1568, Ashikaga Yoshiaki went to Gifu to ask Nobunaga to start a campaign toward Kyoto. Yoshiaki was the brother of the murdered thirteenth shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate, Yoshiteru, and wanted revenge against the killers who had already set up a puppet shogun, Ashikaga Yoshihide. Nobunaga agreed to install Yoshiaki as the new shogun and, grasping the opportunity to enter Kyoto, started his campaign. An obstacle in southern Ōmi Province, however, was the Rokkaku clan. Led by Rokkaku Yoshikata, the clan refused to recognize Yoshiaki as shogun and was ready to go to war. In response, Nobunaga launched a rapid attack, driving the Rokkaku clan out of their castles. Their decisive encounter was the Battle of Kannonji Castle, one of the early military accomplishments for Nobunaga's retainers: Kinoshita Tokichiro, Niwa Nagahide, and Takigawa Kazumasu. Shortly after, Nobunaga had reached Kyoto and driven the Miyoshi clan out of the city. Yoshiaki was made the 15th shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate.

Historians generally agree that Nobunaga had the entire Kansai region under his control by 1569.



First Anti-Nobunaga Sentiments
After he established Yoshiaki as the shogunate, Nobunaga presented him with his personally written laws called the Tenchu Onokite (殿中御掟). Nobunaga would oversee the shogun's every movement and had permission to call arms at any time. His laws tried to make capital punishments more practical and separated religion from government affairs. Aside from controlling the shogunate, it also recognized the common man's accomplishments over nobility and pressed for military rule. Since Yoshiaki owed his ally, he reluctantly passed nine of these articles and five more in January 1570. As he approved more laws, however, Yoshiaki began to plot Nobunaga's demise.

In April 1570, Nobunaga decided to conquer the Asakura clan and stake his claim on the Echizen Province. Against the advice of his vassals, he gathered an army with Tokugawa Ieyasu and took various Asakura castles. While Nobunaga's troops were marching through Kanegasaki, Azai Nagamasa joined forces with the Asakura and betrayed the Oda clan. Taken by surprise, Nobunaga was forced to retreat. Tokichiro, Ieyasu, Ikeda Katsumasa, and Akechi Mitsuhide served as the rear guard as he fled. It is said that out of his army of 30,000 only ten men safely arrived with him back to the capital.

By this time, other daimyo who disagreed with Nobunaga's methods began to rise at Yoshiaki's request. They were Nagamasa, Asakura Yoshikage, Takeda Shingen, Mori Terumoto, and the Miyoshi trio (Iwanari Tomomichi, Miyoshi Masayasu, Miyoshi Nagayasu). Additionally, the Buddhist monks at Ishiyama Hongan-ji, who were displeased with Nobunaga removing the omnyoji's influence in the court, also joined the circle. They were dubbed the "Nobunaga Encirclement" or the "Nobunaga Coalition" (信長包囲網).

Determined to stop Nobunaga's forces, the Asakura and Azai clans moved to stop him at Anegawa. On August 9, the smaller Tokugawa army and the larger Oda army were victorious in driving them back. Only seventeen days later, Nobunaga also had to strengthen his defenses against the Miyoshi trio. He was eventually reinforced by the Ishiyama sect who weren't allied with Yoshiaki (according to legends and folktales, this is where Suzuki Magoichi first assisted Nobunaga). By September 23, his opponents called off the assault and the Noda and Fukushima Castles remained under Oda control.

Simultaneously, the Azai and Asakura armies rebounded from their defeat with 30,000 men and attacked the Oda troops near Sakamoto. Mori Nagayoshi and Nobunaga's younger brother, Oda Nobuharu, were killed in battle. The two armies stationed themselves at Mount Hiei and Nobunaga moved to counter them at Usayama Castle. He once again drove them back by December 17. While he was fighting them, however, the Ishiyama sect rebelled under Kennyo's leadership and attacked the Nanashima (later known as Nagashima) forts. During their first siege, another of Nobunaga's younger brothers, Oda Nobuoki, was killed in battle. At a loss, Nobunaga asked Emperor Ogimachi to call for a ceasefire with the Asakura and Azai clans. Under royal order, they obeyed. In Ōkubo Tadataka's book, Mikawa no Monogatari, Nobunaga reportedly said, "The heavens are waiting to devour the Asakura. Hope is not lost."

While defending his boarders from all sides, Nobunaga contemplated on a method to cripple the coalition against him and gain more allies in Kyoto. In January 1571, Hosokawa Fujitaka sent a letter stating that Mount Hiei must be taken within that year or the Azai forces would claim it. The mountain was an important strategic point in defending Nobunaga's second base, Kyoto, and also the home of Enryaku-ji, a highly respected temple and home for the rebellious sohei (warrior monks). After quelling the resistance surrounding the mountain, Nobunaga and Hideyoshi marched their armies upwards in September. As the 30,000 men came closer to the temple, Nobunaga was offered gold to bribe him to leave. The closer he marched, more gold he was offered. Nobunaga never accepted the peace offering; he was convinced that the people within the temple were corrupt and used their pious background to dodge government punishment. On the night of September 30, his army burned the temple and killed many women and children. The total fatality count is estimated to be 3,000~4,000 people; the numbers vary due to amount of innocents involved. While it is seen as a controversial move by his vassals, the rest of the country thought it was a heinous act against tradition and humanity.

In May the same year, he also began his longest military campaign against the Ikko (Ishiyama) sect rebels. In Nagashima, Nobunaga lost many men near the location of their first battle and was forced to temporarily withdraw when he was injured by gunfire in June.

His ally, Ieyasu, held off Shingen's attacks and called for aid in 1572. Nobunaga sent 3,000 men and two of his retainers, Hirate Hirohide and Sakuma Nobumori. To his surprise, Shingen was victorious at the Battle of Mikatagahara and severely weakened Ieyasu. Shingen's following march towards the capital was halted when he suddenly died near Noda Castle. Seemingly aided by the heavens, accounts of Nobunaga's "demon" reputation usually originate during these years.