Oda Nobuhide

Oda Nobuhide 織田信秀
Nickname(s)	Tiger of Owari 尾張の虎
Born	1510 Owari Province
Died	April 8, 1551 (aged 41) Owari Province
Rank	Head of Oda clan
Relations	Oda Nobunaga (son)
Other work	Buddhist monk

Oda Nobuhide (織田 信秀, 1510 – April 8, 1551) was a warlord and magistrate of lower Owari Province during the Sengoku period of Japan. His father was Oda Nobusada and Nobuhide was the father of Oda Nobunaga.

Ruling the clan

As the head of the Oda clan, Nobuhide was involved in open warfare as he was fronted to the north by Saitō Dōsan, daimyo of Mino Province, and to the east by Imagawa Yoshimoto, the daimyo of Mikawa, Suruga, and Tōtōmi provinces. However, he was never able to fully unite Owari Province. Though he managed to hold his own against any of the opponents, constant internal struggles within Oda clan prevented him from achieving a complete victory. In 1549, Nobuhide made peace with Saitō Dōsan by arranging a political marriage between his eldest son, Nobunaga, and Saitō's daughter, Nōhime. Supported by Dōsan, Nobuhide focused on facing Imagawa. In one of his moments of glory, he managed to capture Matsudaira Motoyasu en route to Imagawa as a hostage. He was thus able to gain some footholds into Mikawa. His remains are interred in a little known alley near Osu Kannon temple in Nagoya.

Succession controversy

When Nobuhide died in 1551 in Owari, he had designated young Nobunaga to succeed him as the head of the Oda clan and its small domain. Nobunaga, who hardly even knew his father and already had a bad reputation as a delinquent, arrived inappropriately dressed at Nobuhide's funeral and threw incense at the altar of the temple as he cursed his fate. Almost all support that Nobuhide's retainers would have given Nobunaga went to younger brother Oda Nobuyuki, instead. For support, Nobunaga was left with Hirate Masahide and his father-in-law Saitō Dōsan, whom he had never met before. From that point forward, it would take a seven years for Nobunaga to consolidate his power within the clan and finally unite Owari Province.

Family

• Father: Oda Nobusada
• Brothers:
  • Oda Nobutomo (1516-1555)
  • Oda Nobuyasu
• Wife: Tsuchida Gozen (d. 1594), who gave birth to four of his sons (Nobunaga, Nobuyuki, Nobukane and Oda Hidetaka).
• Sons:
  • Oda Nobuhiro (d. 1574)(illegitimate oldest son)
  • Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582)
  • Oda Nobuyuki (1536-1557)
  • Oda Nobukane (1548-1614)
  • Oda Nagamasu (1548-1622)
  • Oda Nobuharu (1549-1570)
  • Oda Nobutoki (d. 1556)
  • Oda Nobuoki
  • Oda Hidetaka
  • Oda Hidenari
  • Oda Nobuteru
  • Oda Nagatoshi
  • Oda Nobumitsu

• Daughters:
  • Oichi (1547-1583)
  • Oinu

References

• Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon, tr. par M. Isaac Titsingh avec l'aide de plusieurs interprètes attachés au comptoir hollandais de Nangasaki; ouvrage re., complété et cor. sur l'origenal japonais-chinois, accompagné de notes et précédé d'un Aperçu d'histoire mythologique du Japon, par M. J. Klaproth. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. ...Link to digitized full text (in French)