Oda Nobunaga ~ The king of the Warring State Period ~

  In the middle of 15th century, the power of Muromachi shogunate ("bakufu") declined. So Japan went into the fighting ("sengoku") period which lasted for about hundred years. In many parts of the country, generals who wanted to unify the Japan appeared and fought with some neighboring generals. They were called "sengoku daimyo", had the territory. A one of them was Oda Nobunaga. He succeeded in unifying Japan.

Contribution



a picture of Oda Nobunaga

   Oda Nobunaga (A.D.1534 - 1582) was born in Owari as a son of Oda Nobuhide. Owari was a place-name, and it was in present Aichi prefecture. In 1551, he came into his father's inheritance and tried to unify the Owari province. By 1159, he unified almost all it. This later, he expanded his territory steadily for about twenty years. Finally he became a person like the king of Japan.
  Oda Nobunaga contributed to three big things. First one was to have unified almost parts of Japan. Second one was to have taken over the culture and lifestyles of European countries actively. Last one was to have built the new political and economic system. To achieve first one, he organized corps which had a  teamwork, used his brain, won a lot of battles. To achieve second one, he allowed missionaries who came to Japan to mission people Christianity to stay in Japan, and learned about different cultures and lifestyles from them. To achieve last one,  he developed the castle towns as the center and basis of local economies, allowed people to do economic activity freely and not to pay some money when they went through checkpoints.
  Now, Japan may need a person like Oda Nobunaga.

Secrets

  Oda Nobunaga was known as not only a reformer but also a cruel and severe man because he attacked Enryaku-ji which was a one of the powerful temples and burnt it in 1571. But he could hold his family (especially daughters) dear. It was said that he chose their marriage partners among his reliable lieges.
Also, he had a wide circle of friends, joined the festival and danced with the people. It was said that he was friendly with the people.