Oda Nobunaga, the ‘Demon King’ of Japan’s Sengoku period, was a revolutionary warlord who shattered the old order and laid the groundwork for a unified Japan. Between 1534 and 1582, Nobunaga rose from a minor daimyo in Owari Province to the most powerful military leader in the archipelago, crushing rival clans like the Imagawa, Takeda, and Mori, and breaking the political and military power of the Buddhist warrior-monks of Mount Hiei and the Ikko-ikki. His innovations—the use of massed arquebusiers at the Battle of Nagashino (1575), the construction of the magnificent Azuchi Castle, and his patronage of the tea ceremony and Christianity—transformed Japanese warfare, architecture, and culture. But Nobunaga’s brutal methods, including his burning of temples and slaughter of opponents, earned him both fear and hatred. In 1582, betrayed by his general Akechi Mitsuhide at Honno-ji Temple, Nobunaga’s death set the stage for Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu to complete his mission. Join hosts Lucas and Luna as they dissect the life, legacy, and contradictions of the man who began Japan’s unification, exploring how his ambition, military genius, and ruthless pragmatism still echo in modern Japan’s identity.
