57 Oda Nobunaga In the hundred years that had passed since the end of the Ohnin War of 1447-57, Japan had fallen into civil war. In this sengoku - or "states at war" - period, the nation became divided and unity was lost. Given this fractured state, it was only natural that someone was needed to be the focus of returning unity to the land. Fortunately, there was the emperor; but the emperor needed someone with military might to unify Japan, and such a person would be difficult to find. Among the warlords vying with each other were two particularly powerful strategists: Takeda Shingen of Kai, and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo. Both of them had ambitions and the confidence to unite Japan under their banners; however, both supported the Ashikaga shogunate and thought to operate under the shougun. Neither was ready yet to extract himself from the old Muromachi reign, and there was none other with the martial power to exert supremacy. It was not until the emergence of Oda Nobunaga in the province of Owari that the opportunity for unification first appeared. (an omission) Akechi Mitsuhide's large force surrounded Honnouji at down on the 2nd day of the 6th month. Although Oda Nobunaga's forces numbered only a few dozen, they fought fiercely, but the odds were clearly against them. Still, they resolved to die gloriously fighting with their lord. His son Oda Nobutata a defensive battle, moving from Myougakuji to the Nijou palace, but he, too, chose suicide. Nobunaga was forty-eight, Nobutada twenty-five. Nobunaga, who had shown his quality in the Battle of Okehazama, who had ushered in a new age with the Battle of Nagashino and the building of Azuchi Castle, the man who had driven the shougun Yoshiaki into exile and put an end to the Ashikaga shogunate, the man who had been hailed by the Imperial Court as a vallued vassal and invited by the Emperor to unify Japan, the man who had attempted this under his policy of "tenka fubu" - had been brought down by a brief moment of unpreparedness.

　

57　織田信長 　 　応仁の大乱より後、百年の間戦国紛乱、群雄割拠の世であった、と云いますのは、つ まり日本と云う国が、統一を失って分裂し、分解していたと云う事であります。その分 裂分解の状態から、再び統一を取り戻す為には、当然中心が無ければなりませんが、中 心は幸いあるのです。天皇がおいでになるのです。その天皇を奉じて天下を統一する武 力が必要でありますが、これが中々出て来なかったのでした。戦国の群雄の中で、特に 戦力の強豪を以て謳われた者は、甲斐の武田信玄と、越後の上杉謙信とでありました。 両人とも、天下の統一に貢献したい希望もあれば、自信もありましたが、然しそれは足 利将軍を輔佐し、その下で働くと云う考えで、まだ室町の旧体制から脱却しておらず、 猶またその武力も到底四海を制圧するには足りませんでした。ところが尾張に織田信長 が出るに及んで、初めて統一の機運が動いてきました。 （中略） 　 　明智光秀の大軍が本能寺を囲んだのは、天正十年六月二日の夜明けでし た。信長の従兵はわずか数十人、いずれもよく奮戦しましたが、何分にも不意を衝かれ た事ではあり、衆寡敵せず、主従共に死を潔くしました。信忠は妙覚寺より二条の御所 に移って防戦し、これも潔く自決しました。信長は四十九歳、信忠は二十六歳でした。 　 　桶狭間の一戦に英雄たる本質を現し、長篠の戦いと安土の築城に新時代開発の武将た る事を示し、そして将軍義昭を追放して足利幕府を否定し、朝廷をうやまってその重臣 たる事を名誉とし、天皇を奉じて天下を統一しようとした信長は、天下布武の志いまだ その半ばにして、わずかの油断の為に倒されてしまったのでした。

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