Oda Nobukatsu

Oda Nobukatsu (織田 信雄^?, 1558 – June 10, 1630) was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the second son of Oda Nobunaga. He survived the decline of the Oda clan from political prominence, becoming a daimyo in the early Edo period. Though often described as an incompetent general, Nobukatsu was a skilled warrior. In the battle of Komaki and Nagakute, he used a 13th-century tachi of the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, to slay a samurai known as Okada Sukesaburō, therefore the blade was known as Okada-giri Yoshifusa, now a national treasure.

In 1570, Nobukatsu became an adopted heir of the Kitabatake clan and married a daughter of the former lord of Kitabatake, Tomonori. The true nature of this marriage was a condition of truce forced by the Oda clan to the Kitabatake clan. In 1575, Nobukatsu officially became the head of the family. The next year, he killed his father-in-law, imprisoned the previous lord, who was his father by adoption, and completely took over the Kitabatake clan.

In 1579, eager to achieve fame, Nobukatsu directed an invasion of Iga, which only ended in disastrous failure and severe rebuke from his father. Two years later, Nobunaga himself led another invasion with an army of several ten thousand and destroyed the whole region.

When Nobunaga and his heir, Nobutada, died at the Incident at Honoo-ji in 1582, problems arose about who would succeed the lordship of Oda clan. Though Nobukatsu's younger brother Nobutaka intended to become the new lord, the retainers decided on the two-year-old son of Nobutada, Oda Hidenobu. It is said that the opinion of Toyotomi Hideyoshi was most influential on this decision, and Hideyoshi, Nobukatsu and Nobutaka were assigned to the custodian of the new lord. At this point, Nobukatsu changed his surname back to Oda. He succeeded his father as lord of Mino, Owari, and Ise Provinces.

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