Dates: 1510-April 8, 1551
Kanji: 織田信秀
Other Known Names: N/A

Oda clan mon

Oda Nobuhide is most famous for being the father of Oda Nobunaga. He was born in 1510 in Shobata Castle in Owari Province. He was the eldest son of Oda Danjō no chu Nobusada. He was known for being a spirited leader, brave, but sometimes reckless, and intemperate. He was a cultured man, for Nobuhide was an avid collector of karamono (imported Chinese artworks), mainly Chinese ceramics and paintings by Mu Qi. While he was a powerful figure in Owari, Nobuhide was never a daimyo, but rather an elder of the Kiyosu branch the Oda clan, which gave him power in Owari.

There is no information on his childhood, with most sources jumping to his many battles. Nobuhide fought in many regional skirmishes, mainly against the Matsudaira clan in Mikawa, the Imagawa clan in Suruga and Tōtōmi, and the Saitō clan in Mino. In 1542, Nobuhide defeated the Imagawa at the first battle of Azukizaka in Mikawa. He was defeated by Saitō Dōsan at the Battle of Kanoguchi in 1547, a battle where he lost two close relatives. The rivalry between these two clans ended with the marriage of Nobuhide’s son, Nobunaga, and Dōsan’s daughter, Nōhime. He suffered another defeat by the hands of the Imagawa once again, at the second battle of Azukizaka in the spring of 1548.

Nobuhide was one of the few samurai who embraced the new Western technology: arquebus. Both he and his son, Nobunaga, trained with Hashimoto Ippa, a famous gunnery instructor who resided with the Kunitomo gunsmiths, which was a ironworking centre near Lake Biwa. In 1549, Nobuhide placed in order from Kunitomo for 500 arquebuses, which was the biggest order at the time. In that same year, Nobuhide was able to take Anjo Castle from the hands of the Matsudaira clan.

It is unclear what happens to Nobuhide from 1549, but he does fall in in 1551. He died on April 8, 1551 at Suemori Castle. His funeral was carried out at Bansyōji, and it was disrupted by Nobunaga throwing incense at the alter. Oda Nobuhide is buried at Obai-in Temple in Kyōto.