ODA NOBUNAGA'S WOMEN
The One Oda Nobunaga Never Cared About :
LADY
SAITO NOU
OF MINO
( LADY ODA NOH)
Status: W I F E
crest of Saito clan
Oda Nobunaga was a second son, but he got the family inheritance anyway because he happened to be the only one up to it. Oda Nobuhide, his dad, only left two districts in the province of Owari (just a part of the Aichi Prefecture today) when he died, leaving Nobunaga in charge of these areas and assumed the tasks of the head of his family, when the fiery son was only 15 years old (click here for pictures around this subject, and about Oda's brothers, mom, and uncle, too). Before he died and left Oda Nobunaga to his advisors (while the other son Oda Nobuyuki was to remain with their mom), Nobuhide had arranged the political marriage intended to keep mutual hostilities between the provinces of Owari and Mino at bay. Oda Nobunaga was already engaged to Lord Saito Dosan's daughter when both were kids. He eventually married this woman, as his father wanted him to. There's a famous story about how Saito met Oda for the first time; he hid inside a farmer's hut and took a peek out of the rustic wall, and besides himself with laughter. "That's a handsome kid," he said to his men, "But gods, look at him! He dresses like an expensive bum!" (click here to see pictures of how Oda Nobunaga looked like that day). Oda knew he was there, but he pretended not to notice anything. What shocked Saito was when Oda got to the reception hall and to the banquet he had prepared at his favorite hangout, the Nichiren sect's Shotoku temple -- the 19 year-old Lord of Owari looked like the Lord of Owari there, or even some said like somebody at the Emperor's court; gone were all the typically Nobunagaist acid colors and flowing long hair. After his 21st birthday, Oda took control of the entire clan. This was done the classical way -- by getting rid of his incompetent uncle and brothers and cousins via internal war (and I mean war). Meanwhile, Oda's brother in-law, Saito Yoshitatsu, was at war with his dad (actually a foster father, that was), ended with the death of Saito Dosan, Oda's father in-law. This was a good pretext to take up arms against Saito Yoshitatsu. Oda won the vast and fertile province of Mino this way, gaining Gifu, his home from then on (click here for pictures).
About Oda Nobunaga's wife, the former Lady Saito Nou (I won't translate the Japanese word 'hime' into 'Princess' unless we're talking about the Emperor's daughter), very scanty is the material. All we know is that she did exist once. And everyone in their times said Oda Nobunaga never even pretended to like this woman; she for her part didn't love him either, so it was mutual. Once, Oda deliberately leaked false strategic info to Lady Nou, because he wanted to make sure if Nou was worth bothering about or was she a 100% James Bondian woman -- i.e. sent there in place of someone from the Central Intelligence Agency of the Saito clan. "Don't say anything to anyone," Oda told her, "but I have found allies within your daddy's administration. It's Lord so-and-so and General X." Then, next time Oda's ninjas went out, he got back with the news that the two Saito faithful retainers had been given death-sentence by Lady Nou's father, accused of treason. Oda only needed this kind of evidence once. After that, Oda Nobunaga never said or did anything to or about Lady Nou again. After Lord Saito Dosan's war against Lady Nou's own brother Yoshitatsu, and then it was followed by the daddy's death in 1556, whatever Lady Nou was supposed to be ceased to matter entirely, and they said she lived on in seclusion since. She never had a kid from Oda Nobunaga, so this was easy for Oda himself, too. Nevertheless, 21st century computer gamers know the character via what they dabble in; since most of them don't even care about who Oda Nobunaga The Evil One (or whatever he is dubbed there in the area) was, the knowitall game designers just threw in anything they want without anybody protesting against it. The real-life Lady Nou is as obscure as the mist on the moutains where she once dwelt at. But we know she wasn't the love of Oda Nobunaga's life. It was someone else.
The
One Who Brought Forth Oda's Ne'er-Do-Well Son :
Lady Ikeda Mikoto was even less known about. First of all, she was a concubine, so naturally in official records nothing of her was noted down. She came from 'the right family'; the Ikedas were a size-M clan with enough resources to help Oda Nobunaga mobilizing a sensibly strong joint army. What made history remember Lady Ikeda is that she gave birth to Oda Nobuo, the second son of Nobunaga, whose exploits in the post-Nobunaga years when he was nearing 20 played a part in ensuring the crumble of the Oda clan into oblivion, and handing Japan over to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu instead of to anybody from the Oda family tree, including and especially his own half-brother Oda Nobutaka. (Click here to see what Oda Nobuo did, with pictures). Lady Ikeda's alliance with Oda Nobunaga was not a 'happily-ever-after' stuff, but not as miserable as Tokugawa Ieyasu's marriage (to a certain Lady Imagawa), and not as magnificently NOTHING as Oda Nobunaga's marriage to Lady Saito Nou. The Ikeda clan still couldn't see Oda as anything else but the one who destroyed their geographic spot, Lady Ikeda herself included. That's all we know now.
The
One & Only Love of Oda Nobunaga's :
Oda Nobunaga was only human. He fell in love once, and fell for the same woman all her life; the object of what has been said of as Oda Nobunaga's true love was the widow of Captain Dota Yaheji who died fighting with Akechi Mitsuhide to annex the province of Tamba. After the death of her husband, Ms. Dota Kitsuno assumed her maiden name again and got back to her father's mansion, and met Oda Nobunaga there when he dropped by to see Ikoma Iemune, Kitsuno's dad. And they fell in love at the first sight, or at least so lachrymal medieval Japanese storytellers told us. Lady Ikoma Kitsuno was surely something; Oda Nobunaga couldn't stand most people -- not even those that were supposed to be close enough to him. If he not only could bear spending time with her but also intentionally sought the way to do so, then we better believe that he was really loving the lady. As about all the 'she was supportive', etcetera, well, if you were a concubine of the most powerful warlord in Japan in 1560's, what would you be but that? Summoning the IRS to keep your man meekly homebound? In 1557, Lady Kitsuno gave birth to Oda Nobunaga's best son, Oda Nobutada. He got all the father's looks and abilities, without the temper. At 25 he was already a General, and for real, too, unlike the other sons who got there solely by DNA (click here for pictures). And at that age he died fighting against Lord Akechi Mitsuhide's soldiers that ambushed him and his dad in Kyoto, intending to seize power (click here for story and pictures of this Akechi). A year later or so, another son, Oda Nobutaka, was born at the same year as the birth of Lady Ikeda's Oda Nobuo. And then Lady Kitsuno gave birth again to a girl, Lady Oda Toku. Afterwards, Lady Ikoma Kitsuno died. She was only 28. Oda Nobunaga was heartbroken for some time, and wouldn't see any other woman again. He found a way to give the area where Lady Kitsuno's grave was to Oda Nobutada, and told him to keep it in order; little did both knew that they wouldn't be there long enough to do so.
As was the custom, Oda Nobunaga got into marital politix again as a father, giving his foster daughter to the son of Lord Takeda Shingen of Kai, Takeda Katsuyori (click here for pictures). So, Shingen's famous grandson Takeda Taro (or Takemaru) was Oda Nobunaga's grandson, too. Takemaru is still remembered today for his 'beautiful death' when fighting the last battle at the side of his father Katsuyori, surrounded by the mighty Oda warriors. He fought until the very end. Even Oda Nobunaga's official bio of that same century spared a large space on the scroll for this kid -- when he died, Takemaru was only 14 or 15 years old. Virtually the entire Takeda clan perished in a war against Oda and Tokugawa in late 1570's. That's heartbreaking for the 21st-century civilization, but it was a mere routine and boring event in Oda's time. |
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