Oda Nobukatsu

Oda Nobukatsu (1558-1630) was born as the second son of Oda Nobunaga and was a warrior and daimyō who inherited the Oda family name after his father's death. At the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute in 1584 (Tenshō 12), he allied with Tokugawa Ieyasu to oppose Toyotomi Hideyoshi, influencing the political situation in the late Sengoku period. Despite a life filled with tumult, he lived to the age of 73, one of the few Sengoku daimyō who survived into the early Edo period.

Nobukatsu was born in 1558 (first year of Eiroku) as the second son of Oda Nobunaga. His childhood name was Chasenmaru. As an adopted son of the Kitabatake clan, he was given control of Iga and Ise. During the Mise no Hen of 1576 (Tenshō 4), he defeated the former lord Kitabatake Tomoaki and others to establish control of Ise. When Nobunaga was killed in the Honnō-ji Incident (1582), Nobukatsu was promoted by Hashiba Hideyoshi and came into conflict with the factions of Shibata Katsuie and Oda Nobutaka at the Battle of Shizugatake.

In 1584 (Tenshō 12), Nobukatsu formed an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu and raised troops against Toyotomi Hideyoshi. At the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, under Ieyasu's command, he engaged Hideyoshi's forces on equal or superior terms. However, in November of the same year, Nobukatsu independently concluded peace with Hideyoshi, surprising Ieyasu. Through Nobukatsu's unilateral peace settlement, the war was effectively ended. After this, he continued as a daimyō under the Hideyoshi administration, but following the Odawara Campaign of 1590 (Tenshō 18), he was deprived of his domain for refusing a transfer to Ieyasu's former territories. After the Battle of Sekigahara, with Ieyasu's support, he was restored as a daimyō and survived into the early Edo period.

In his relationship with Japanese swords, Nobukatsu is positioned as an inheritor of the sword culture passed down from Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga was a renowned sword collector who possessed famous blades including "Yakumaru Tōshirō" and "Heshikiri Hasebe." Nobukatsu inherited a portion of these and carefully preserved them as Oda family heirloom swords. Nobukatsu also possessed a cultured side, enjoying the tea ceremony, and had the discernment to appreciate swords as works of art. The swords related to the Oda family, which Nobukatsu guarded and transmitted through his tumultuous life, are a legacy passed down to future generations together with Nobunaga's great achievements.