Oda Nobutada

was a samurai and the eldest son of Oda Nobunaga, who fought in many battles during the Sengoku period of Japan. He commanded armies under his father in battles against Matsunaga Hisahide and against the Takeda clan. Biography Oda Nobutada was born in Owari Province (尾張国) around 1557 as the eldest son of Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) (the second son if Oda Nobumasa actually exists). His nanny was Jotoku-In, daughter of Takigawa Kazumasu (滝川一益), who was one of the senior vassals of Oda Nobunaga. There is also a theory that Nobutada was adopted by Nohime. His childhood name was Kimyo-Maru (Kimyo means strange in Japanese). He first called himself Oda Kankuro Nobushige (織田勘九郎信重), and later changed to Nobutada (織田信忠). During the Eiroku era, the Oda clan came into contact with the Takeda's territory in Kai Province (甲斐国) through Mino Province (美濃国), and the daughter of Toyama Naokado (遠山直廉), a warlord (国人) in southeast Mino province, became the adopted daughter of Nobunaga and married Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼), the eldest son of Takeda Shingen. And then the alliance was formed. According to the Koyo Gunkan, the wife of Katsuyori died in November 1567, and an engagement was established between Nobutada and Takeda Shingen's sixth daughter, Matsuhime, to reinforce the alliance with the Takeda. Takeda and Oda continued to maintain a friendly relationship, but during the Eiroku era, the Takeda began invading the territory of Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康), an ally of Oda, in the direction of Mikawa (三河国) and Totomi (遠江国). In the 3rd year of Genki (1572), in response to a call from Yoshiaki Ashikaga, a shogun who had been hostile to Nobunaga, Shingen began invading Oda territory (Operation Seizyo (西上作戦)). The engagement was virtually broken due to Shingen's death and the marriage of Oda Nobutada was canceled. These events contributed to the destruction of the Ashikaga shogunate in 1573. After that, the Takeda clan tried to improve the relationship with the Oda clan at the end of Katsuyori's reign, but Nobunaga refused to reconcile.