Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582)

Japanese feudal lord, who started the unification of the country, torn by wars between the rival daimyo of the so-called Sengoku (Warring State) period (1467-1568). Working from a modest family base in the province of Owari as lord of Nagoya Castle, he destroyed opposing clans in brilliant campaigns against superior forces, being the first daimyo general to adopt the newly imported Western muskets. He gradually gained control of the region round the capital Kyoto, which he took in 1568. Now opposed by a daimyo coalition and militant Buddhist sects, he brutally destroyed the latter, razing the great Tendai monastery of Enryakuji in 1571 and massacring its occupants. To counter the sects, whose adherents he slaughtered, he encouraged Christian missionaries. In 1573 he deposed the last Ashikaga shogun, though Ashikaga rule nominally continued until 1597. With the surrender of the last great Buddhist fortress-monastery in Osaka in 1580, he became master of all central Japan. Before he could subdue the whole country, however, he was cornered by a rebellious vassal and committed hara-kiri. His general Toyotomi Hideyoshi went on to unify Japan.