History

While many of us have worked for managers or employers whom we felt were a couple of chopsticks short of a bento box, it is doubtful that your mortality was in their hands. However, for the samurai of Owari Province (latter-day Aichi) in the late 16th century, it must have been somewhat disconcerting to know that your all-powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga, was known locally as The Fool of Owari. Yet, when this fool grew up, he was to become one of the most powerful men Japan had ever known. To be a samurai nepo baby In the early 16th century, the Owari Domain was ruled by the powerful Oda Clan, at the head of which sat Oda Nobuhide (1510-1551). As a shugo, a military governor appointed by the shogun, Nobuhide, also known as The Tiger of Owari, held enormous power, a power that was set to be handed down to his one legitimate son, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582). One may think that receiving advantages such as homes in the original Nagoya Castle and the more auspicious Kiyosu Castle, while being groomed for greatness under the guidance of some of the most respected warriors in the area, young Nobunaga would have been…