Oda Nobunaga's March to Kyoto II

Oda Nobunaga was one of the most powerful lords and contender to be the new Shogun after his heroic victory at Okehazama, however he still had one problem to deal with, Saito clan in Mino province. Mino lay between the Oda homeland of Owari and Kyoto, seat of the Shogun and to take Kyoto he would have to take Mino first. The Saito clan was originally friendly to Nobunaga, the lord was Nobunaga's father-in-law and was even considering giving his home seat to Nobunaga on his death. However, when his son learned of this he overthrew his father in a bloody coup.
 This episode focuses on family intrigue and betrayal something which had become commonplace in the world of Feudal Japan
 
 Topics Covered
 Toyotomi Hideyoshi
 The Siege of Inabayama Castle
 A New Shogun
 The Azai-Asakura Attack on Nobunaga
 Assassination Attempt on Oda Nobunaga
The Battle of Anegawa
A Secret Alliance

Transcript

Oda Nobunaga’s March to Kyoto II

Little is known of toyotomi hideyoshi’s early years

He was born in Owari to an ashigaru father, a peasant employed by the samurai as a foot soldier.

The oda were famous for their employment of ashigaru soliders and Oda nobunaga was never one to care much about social standing

As a peasant he did not have a surname (he like virtually every character in this story changed their names numerous times throughout their life, and for simplicity’s sake I am just referring to everyone by the name they are most famous for)

His father died when he was just a 7 year old boy and legend has it that he was sent to a temple to study but he rejected temple life and went in search of adventure.

he first joined the Imagawa clan, a strange move given that he was born in the oda home province and his father served the oda as a foot soldier 

However after serving there for a time he was entrusted with a sum of money by a local lord which he ran away with 

In 1558, Hideyoshi became an ashigaru for the Oda clan, now headed by the ambitious Oda Nobunaga. Reportedly due to his hard work and diligence he caught the attention of nobunaga

There is a story that goes Early one bitterly cold morning nobunaga woke up and found everyone still asleep in bed, except that is for hideyoshi who was hard at work. This caught the attention of nobunaga. Nobunaga always the comedian gave

him the condescending nickname Saru which meant monkey, due to his small stature and ugly face 

Hideyoshi soon became Nobunaga's sandal-bearers, a position of relatively high status.

Nobunaga realized hodeyoshi’s true talents after his victory over imagawa yoshimoto in the battle of okehazama in 1560, he become one of Nobunaga trusted retainer.

In 1561, Hideyoshi married One, a descendant of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a Noble of high staus. One’s mother rejected the marriage due to hideyoshi low social status but for some reason they married

Very little is known for certain about Toyotomi Hideyoshi before 1570, 

when he begins to appear in surviving documents and letters. His autobiography starts in 1577, but in it, Hideyoshi spoke very little about his past. Possibly because at this point he was on the rise to being one of the most powerful men in Japan and we wanted to avoid the low social standing of his early years 

Hideyoshi would eventually surpass his lord nobunaga and become the most powerful man in japan. Something he in large part must thank on the chaos and instability of the time as well as his lord oda nobunaga.

Between Oda Nobunaga and Kyoto, seat of the Ashikaga Shogun, lay The Saito clan in Mino province, It was said that who controls Mino controls Japan.

The leader of the Saito clan was Saito Dosan, father-in-law to Oda Nobunaga.

Dosan, nicknamed “the Viper of Mino” for his ruthless tactics was a prime example of the changing times that was Sengoku Jidai,

Dosan was originally a monk turned travelling oil merchant and due to gekokujo (the Japanese word for the lower overtaking the higher) he was able to move up the social latter eventually becoming Damiyo of Mino.

He defeated Nobunaga’s father in battle and the two agreed to marry Nobunaga off to Saito’s daughter, Nohime or Lady No, to secure peace and so that the Oda could focus on fighting the powerful Imagawa clan. 

Years later, while Nobunaga was consolidating his power in Owari province and fighting off the Imagawa

Rumors began circulating that Dosan’s fistborn son Saito Yoshitatsu was not his natural son, and that Dosan was beginning to consider another son or even Nobunaga, who had impressed him with his natural leadership abilities, as his heir.

Infuriated Yoshitatsu staged a coup and murdered his two younger brothers.

He then assembled a large army and met his father in battle

Dosan was only able to amass an army of 2,700 soldiers, including one Akechi Mitsuhide.

Mitsuhide who was a native of Mino province would grow to be one of Nobunaga’s topmost trusted generals. 

Dosan’s son fielded a massive 17,500 soldiers.

Nobunaga tried to help his father-in-law but was too late, Dosan was decisively defeated and killed.

By the year 1561 Nobunaga after his triumph over the Imagawa, decided it was time to move on the now hostile Mino, however for 3 years he was in a stalemate due to the impregnable moutainous Inabayama castle seat of the lord of Mino.

Yoshitatsu died of illness a few years later and his son Saito Tatsuoki inherited 

Nobunaga recognizing the great talents of his Gekokujo former sandal bearer, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent him in to handle the situation.

Hideyoshi excelled in diplomacy. Through bribes appeals and threats Hideyoshi turned almost all of Saito’s retainers against him.

Now Nobunaga needed a base of operations, so he ordered Hideyoshi to build a castle between the fork of the Sai and Nagara rivers where they both converged at Sunomata. This new castle would serve as a staging point for the Oda forces from where they could launch an attack against Inabayama Castle. However, Sunomata was located within enemy territory and any construction work was likely to be hampered by Saito’s forces. But Hideyoshi had a plan.

Hideyoshi began by felling trees on the opposite bank of the Nagara River and fashioned them into prefabricated sections of the castle walls and towers. These were then floated down the river on rafts and re-assembled at Sunomata within the course of a single night. Early next morning when Saito Tatsuoki gazed down from Inabayama, there was a new fort, which had seemingly appeared overnight, a chill went down his spine. In reality, the “fort” was little more than a skeleton with a façade, intended to psychologically intimidate, surprise and demoralize the enemy. 

In 1567, with Hideyoshi’s assistance, Nobunaga was able to launch the assault on Inabayama Castle. His army of around five thousand troops crossed the Kiso River and marched straight to the castle town of Inoguchi (now Gifu city)

Hideyoshi’s newly acquired Saito Retainers joined them along the way. The defenders were demoralized to see the banners of Saito retainers among the attacking army, but the mountaintop castle was still in a nearly impregnable position. The siege took about two weeks. Towards the end of the siege, Hideyoshi led a small party up the steep cliffs of the mountain , infiltered the castle from the unguarded rear lit fire to the ammo depo, and threw open the front gates, allowing the attacking forces to enter. After Tatsuoki was defeated, Nobunaga claimed the castle and renamed it Gifu Castle.

Nobunaga recognized Hideyoshi after his masterful handling of Inabayama castle, he set him up as a vassal lord in Mino.

Nobunaga having captured Mino province was now in prime positioning to become the new Shogun, however he had one problem. To do so would be seen as treason and tyrannical and might cause the other Daimyo clans to ally against him,

After the death of Saito Dosan, Akechi Mitsuhide found himself in service of one Ashikaga Yoshiaki, a claimant to the Shogunate. Mitsuhide distinguished himself greatly while bravely defending “the wandering Shogun” and it caught the attention of Nobunaga.

Mitsuhide suggested they go to Nobunaga for help.

A civil war broke out between members of the Ashikaga Shogunate, Japan was currently on its 14th Ashikaga shogun. and Nobunaga threw his support behind Ashikaga Yoshiaki the brother of Ashikaga Yoshiteru the 13th Ashikaga shogun,

The plan for Yoshiaki was to usurp the title of Shogun from his nephew, a position he saw as rightfully his.

Nobunaga using his power and vast array of generals quickly conquered the remaining clans in his way and by the end of 1568 he entered Kyoto

Ashikaga Yoshiaki the newly installed, naïve shogun thought Nobunaga would be loyal to him as he was the “rightful” Shogun heir, however this wasn’t the case. He first tried to give Nobunaga titles which would show Nobunaga as an inferior to the Shogun, Nobunaga refused these titles.

Shogun Yoshiaki grew tired of Nobunaga’s control and in secret began forming an anti-Nobunaga alliance. Sending letters to the great clan leaders throughout the country…

Nobunaga had Yoshiaki send letters to the great Daimyo nearby, inviting them to have dinner in Kyoto and see Nobunaga in all his greatness, this would have not only been embarrassing for Yoshiaki but would have shown the Daimyo who the real power in Kyoto was.

The Daimyo of the Asakura clan saw through Nobunaga’s dinner plans and openly rejected it. Nobunaga using the Shogun had him declared a traitor and raised an army to overthrow the Asakura located at the northern tip of Japan above Kyoto

Nobunaga marched his army north through the Azai lands between Koyoto and the Asakura homeland to meet the Asakura in battle, the Azai clan’s leader was married to Nobunaga’s sister and Nobunaga was confident of their loyalty

One of the things that made the Tokugawa-Oda alliance so important was the loyalty of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Daimyo more often than not backstabbed each other leading to a situation where nobody really trusted anyone, however Ieyasu and Nobunaga were loyal to one another.

And remember where someone like Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a lord and vassal to the Oda clan the Tokugawa clan were fully independent (however as the power of Nobunaga grew the Tokugawa would fall into more vassal like conditions)

The Azai were also one of those loyal clans, however they were loyal, to their old ally the Asakura, and as soon as Nobunaga’s forces crossed the Azai territory into the Asakura lands, The Azai backstab Nobunaga and revolted, trapping Nobunaga between two powerful armies far away from friendly lands.

Nobunaga was furious, he made it his goal to personally kill his brother-in-law. He wanted to fight both the Azai and Asakura then and there, however his generals were able to convince him without his supply lines they would surely be doomed. 

Nobunaga decided to split his army up and sneak back home to Kyoto using country roads. During this march home an assassin lay in wait of Nobunaga.

One night while Nobunaga was crossing undetected with his army the assassin saw him

The assassin fired an Arquebus at Nobunaga, then picking up another primed one he fired another shot, both hit Nobunaga and knocked him from his horse. Accounts differ on the severity of the damage caused some say his armor stopped both bullets and other say only one bullet grazed him.

During his life Nobunaga survived 3 assassination attempts including this one with a gun, this alongside his ruthlessness is why Nobunaga earned the nickname Oni Daimyo (the Demon King)

He is often portrayed as a demon in Japanese pop culture and video games, like the Onimusha series which takes place during the Sengoku Jidai period and Nobunaga’s rise to power.

The assassin was eventually captured and suffered the wrath of Nobunaga

“Sugitani was punished in a way Nobunaga had specially designed: Sugitani was buried upright to his shoulders, and then his head was sawed off. Thus Nobunaga dispelled his long felt anger. Everyone, high and low, was very satisfied with this punishment.”

Now safe in Kyoto Nobunaga rallied his ally Tokugawa Ieyasu and vassal Toyotomi Hideyoshi Nobunaga returned to his brothers-in-law’’s land of Azai for his revenge.

The Battle of Anegawa took place with Ieyasu facing the Asakura forces and Nobunaga facing the Azai.

The battle began early in the morning on a shallow river, Blood ran red through the water as samurai fought each other in brutal hand to hand combat, Nobunaga's forces fought the Azai upstream, while the Tokugawa warriors fought the Asakura downstream. The battle wasn’t going well for Nobunaga and at one point an Azai samurai almost decapitated him

Downstream Ieyasu was fighting to a stalemate until Ieyasu’s made a successful flank attack, forcing the Asakura to retreat. The Tokugawa forces claimed some 1,100 enemy heads in the battle.

Just as the Oda forces were about to flee, Ieyasu crashed into the right flank of the Azai. The Azai disintegrate and the day was saved thanks to Tokugawa Ieyasu

The battle noted Nobunaga’s prodigious use of firearms something in time he would become famous for, he had about 500 arquebusiers.

Another Hyperbolized aspect of the Samurai is their disdain of firearms, made popular by movies like the Hollywood blockbuster The Last Samurai, Samurai actually didn’t find the use of firearms dishonorable. The Daimyo lords saw the benefit of firearms and knew they would be essential to gaining power. 

This disdain was more directed at the peasant classes who had the ability to kill a Samurai in just one shot.

The battle of Anegawa was also the first time that Hideyoshi led troops into open battle.

Before this Ieyasu had only defended Nobunagas flank from the great clans to the east however this was also the first battle where both Oda and Tokugawa fought alongside one another.

Due to the Pyrrhic victory of the Oda forces Nobunaga could not pursue his brother-in-law and had to return home to Kyoto.