Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長; 23 June 1534 - 21 June 1582) was a Japanese daimyo and a key figure during the Sengoku period. He is regarded as Japan's first "Great Unifier."

Nobunaga was the powerful Oda clan's leader when he launched a war against other daimyos to unify Japan in the 1560s. In 1573, Nobunaga became the most powerful daimyo, deposing the nominally ruling shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and dissolving the Ashikaga Shogunate. By 1580, he had conquered most of Honshu island and had defeated the Ikkō-ikki rebels. Nobunaga's reign was notable for innovative military tactics, the promotion of free trade, civil government reforms, and the beginning of the Momoyama historical art period, but also for the brutal suppression of those who refused to cooperate or yield to his demands. In the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582, Nobunaga's retainer Akechi Mitsuhide ambushed him in Kyoto and forced him to commit seppuku. Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga, and he and Tokugawa Ieyasu completed their war of unification shortly after.

Nobunaga is regarded as one of the three great unifiers of Japan, along with his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi later united Japan in 1591 and invaded Korea the following year. He died in 1598, however, and Ieyasu took power after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, becoming shogun in 1603, and bringing the Sengoku period to an end.