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Oda Nobunaga: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Oda_Nobunaga_1296.jpg|frame|"If the cuckoo does not sing, kill it."]]
Credited as being the first of the Three Unifiers of modern Japan, [[Oda Nobunaga]] was one of Japan's most successful warlords. He started as a son of a minor daimyo (and earned the nickname "The Fool of Owari" due to his [[Obfuscating Stupidity|childhood and teenage antics]]), with a number of factions within his own province opposing him, eventually he would not only crush those factions but also proceed to conquer over a third of Japan, with the rest well positioned to fall to him. That ended on June 21, 1582, when his retainer [[Akechi Mitsuhide]] attacked him at Honno temple; Nobunaga, his bodyguards and his [[Uke|wakashu]] Mori Ranmaru died that night.▼
▲Credited as being the first of the Three Unifiers of modern Japan, Nobunaga was one of Japan's most successful warlords. He started as a son of a minor daimyo (and earned the nickname "The Fool of Owari" due to his [[Obfuscating Stupidity|childhood and teenage antics]]), with a number of factions within his own province opposing him, eventually he would not only crush those factions but also proceed to conquer over a third of Japan, with the rest well positioned to fall to him. That ended on June 21, 1582, when his retainer [[Akechi Mitsuhide]] attacked him at Honno temple; Nobunaga, his bodyguards and his [[Uke|wakashu]] Mori Ranmaru died that night.
Although noted for many things, including a mastery of tactics, (most famously, at the Battle of Okehazama, Nobunaga's forces, numbering at most 3000, defeated an army of around 25,000 through a combination of daring, misdirection, a brilliant surprise attack, and more than a little luck) revolutionizing the ways Japanese armies used firearms, and completely changing the economic system of and the way wealth was counted in Japan, Nobunaga is chiefly remembered for his ruthless and brutal nature, and it is these traits that dominate most depictions of him in any period pieces or games. Nobunaga's actions leave him ripe for playing the part of the villain, as his most infamous deeds include the burning of powerful Buddhist temples critical of him, and the slaughter of the thousands of men, women and children that lived in them. Even the kinder portrayals of him tend to show him as a man fueled by ambition and greed, in many others it is either speculated or explicitly said that he has either [[We Didn't Start the Fuhrer|become a demon or made a literal]] [[Deal with the Devil]] to carry out his ambitions.
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** Oddly enough, there were a number of other people in the same time period, with the exact same ambition that tend to be portrayed positively. Nobunaga might not have been any more ruthless than them, but he was the one that actually ended up in the position to commit those ruthless acts.
*** It doesn't help that by most accounts it seems he was rather a [[Jerkass]]...
* [[Badass]]: Admit it. Evil or not, this man was ''badass''.▼
** He was only 26 when he won the Battle of Okehazama where his army of 1500 (other sources say 2000 or 3000) men defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto's army of about ''25,000''. Sure, Nobunaga attacked the main encampment that held "only" 5-6000 soldiers, and he got [[Lucky Bastard|really lucky]], but his army crushed the enemy and killed Yoshimoto and most of his generals, which led to a complete victory. So it was pretty badass.▼
* [[Badass Creed]]: ''Tenka Fubu'' -- "Take the country by military power."▼
* [[Badass Moustache]]: Just look at the page picture.▼
* [[Bad Boss]]: Nobunaga did not treat even his inner circle well, being notably cold and tactless even to his highest ranking generals. Perhaps he was paranoid about betrayal or disloyalty, but if so Nobunaga might have turned it into a [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]].
** He apparently also had a habit of making fun of his subordinates, such as mocking Akechi Mitsuhide's poetry (which was actually considered pretty good), and calling [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] "monkey" and "bald rat" (because of his shortness and peculiar face).
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*** He was known for not putting much faith in his lieutenants, but this was not entirely true. He didn't put much trust in the nobility that served him. The people he put his trust in were a ronin, peasant, and traitor. All people traditionally loathed in Japanese culture, but all of which proved extremely competent.
*** The situation with Mitsuhide is not actually well known. There is a gigantic gap in information between "Nobunaga and Mitsuhide are the best of pals" and "Nobunaga is publicly insulting Mitsuhide." Mitsuhide's mother being killed only provides a possible explanation for his actions, but not Nobunaga's.
▲* [[Badass]]: Admit it. Evil or not, this man was ''badass''.
▲** He was only 26 when he won the Battle of Okehazama where his army of 1500 (other sources say 2000 or 3000) men defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto's army of about ''25,000''. Sure, Nobunaga attacked the main encampment that held "only" 5-6000 soldiers, and he got [[Lucky Bastard|really lucky]], but his army crushed the enemy and killed Yoshimoto and most of his generals, which led to a complete victory. So it was pretty badass.
▲* [[Badass Creed]]: ''Tenka Fubu'' -- "Take the country by military power."
▲* [[Badass Moustache]]: Just look at the page picture.
* [[Black Best Friend]]: [[w:Yasuke|Yasuke]], an African slave from Mozambique who became a retainer, bodyguard and close friend of Nobunaga.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] / [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: In his early life, he's called "The Fool of Owari". Then Okehazama happens, Nobunaga sheds the "Moron" part and becomes a complete [[Badass]].
** A disguise he might have been all too happy to keep up, had his original province of Owari not been in the path of an eastern warlord marching westward to Kyoto, forcing Nobunaga to make a stand or capitulate.
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* [[Driven to Suicide]]: He himself did this to Matsunaga Hisahide when he finally had enough of Hisahide betraying him. It's said that when Nobunaga had Hisahide cornered in his castle he sent a message to him, demanding his head and a priceless tea kettle in his possession. [[Dying Moment of Awesome|Hisahide answered by destroying the tea kettle and blowing himself up]].
* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: Probably the biggest victim of this in all Japanese history. Of course, as mentioned repeatedly on this page, there are plenty of reasons why he usually plays the villain...
** Actually, it is a safe bet to say that Minamoto no Yoritomo has this worse. There are neutral and good portrayals of Oda Nobunaga. Good luck finding a positive portrayal of Yoritomo.
* [[Kick the Dog]]: The burning of the temples on Mount Hiei. Buddhist warrior monks from this and other sects had been meddling in politics for centuries, and soon became vocal critics and enemies of Nobunaga. Nobonuaga responded by surrounding the culturally significant temple at night and attacking from all sides, working upwards. By the next day the sprawling temple complex was ashes and thousands lay dead, with not even innocent women or children safe from Nobunaga's wrath. Becomes a [[Moral Event Horizon]] to many historians, which kickstarted his long run of villainization in fiction.
** Less famous but arguably more horrifying than the destruction of Mt. Hiei was the burning of Nagashima, a fortress of another warrior monk sect. The group resisted a siege by Nobunaga for several years, but were eventually forced back within their entirely wooden inner fortifications. Nobunaga built a wall around the building, then set it on fire. With nowhere to run, not a single one of the 20,000 inhabitants survived. Note that once again, many of these inhabitants were noncombatants, including both women and children.
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