Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) was a Japanese daimyo that is considered one of the most prominent, influential figures of the Sengoku Period. After a series of conquests around the middle part of the 16th century, he consolidated a large swath of territory and dissolved the ruling Ashikaga Shogunate in 1573. To many, he is known for his brutality, but also for the innovative military tactics and professionalization techniques he employed to create a successful military force. Dubbed as one of the “Great Unifiers”, Nobunaga is seen as a bridge from the past to the future – a warlord who helped bring a world of chaos, violence, and lawlessness to one of stability, peace, and structure.

There’s much to say about Nobunaga’s conquests and how he broke with the past, but it’s vital to realize that as much as he was a catalyst which ushered the future in Japan, he also operated within the seemingly vestigial structures of governance and authority. This is especially evident through his adherence to the authority of the court in peace negotiations, where many of times he either listened to their guidance or requested it himself. For example, in his struggle with Honganji sectarians, Nobunaga cooperated with the envoys of the Imperial Court (such as Konoe Sakihisa) to establish a peace agreement with his opposition force in 1580. Before that, in 1573 after Nobunaga systematically burned upper Kyoto and marched on the Nijo sanctuary, Emperor Ogimachi sent envoys to him and urged him as well as his opposition to stop the fighting. Nobunaga adhered to this, understanding the weight of emperor’s legitimacy. After all, through aiding and following the court, Nobunaga secured the support of the institution in his military endeavors; courtiers would accompany him to the battlefront, where in his conflict in Settsu Province against the forces of Araki Murashige, a high-ranking courtier named Tsuchimikado Arinaga accompanied him. This sort of accompaniment by someone from the court served as a justification and legitimation for Nobunaga’s conquest, and he knew that by cooperating or utilizing the institution, he could secure more control over Japan. In this way, he was a bridge to a new era, but also was confined to the era he was in and what that era demanded of him.