Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga is represented in the linked historical fiction and non-fiction through court politics and dynastic power, military command and battlefield decision-making, and crime, espionage and covert power. These works approach the figure through the surrounding events, relationships and political conflicts rather than through a standalone biography.

In Eiji Yoshikawa’s Taiko, born into poverty as Hiyoshi, the future Toyotomi Hideyoshi uses intelligence, energy and an instinct for people to rise through the armies of Oda Nobunaga.

In non-fiction, Oda Nobunaga is discussed in John Man’s Ninja. In John Man’s Ninja, the unification campaigns of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu reduced the independent military role of ninja communities, but their reputation continued to evolve in manuals, theatre, fiction and film.