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Updated: September 24, 2025
In November, 1567, the Emperor again sent Tachiri Munetsugu to invite Nobunaga's presence in Kyoto. His Majesty still refrained from the dangerous step of giving a written commission to Nobunaga, but he instructed Munetsugu to carry to the Owari chieftain a suit of armour and a sword.
FROM what has been stated in previous chapters, it is clearly understood that Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu were all well disposed towards foreign intercourse and trade, and that the Tokugawa chief made even more earnest endeavours than Hideyoshi to differentiate between Christianity and commerce, so that the fate of the former might not overtake the latter.
On the way a samurai named Torii Suneemon arrived from the garrison of Nagashino with news that unless succour were speedily given the fortress could not hold out. This message reached Ieyasu, who was awaiting the arrival of Nobunaga before marching to the relief of the beleagured fortress.
It raised him at once to a level with the greatest provincial barons in the empire, and placed him in the foremost rank of the aspirants for an Imperial commission. The battle of Okehazama led to another incident of prime importance in Japanese history. It brought about an alliance between Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
This proved the turning-point in Nobunaga's career. He became as circumspect as he had previously been careless, and he subsequently erected to the memory of his brave monitor a temple which may be seen to this day by visitors to Nagoya. It is frequently said of Nobunaga that his indifference to detail and his lack of patience were glaring defects in his moral endowment.
Nobunaga then gave the province of Suruga to Ieyasu, and divided Shinano and Kotsuke into manors, which were distributed among the Owari generals as rewards. Takigawa Kazumasu was nominated kwanryo of the Kwanto, chiefly in order to watch and restrain the movements of the Hojo family, now the only formidable enemy of Nobunaga in the east.
But the most credible explanation is, at the same time, the simplest, namely, that Hideyoshi's father, having been borne on the military roll of Nobunaga's father, little difficulty offered in obtaining a similar favour for Hideyoshi. Nobunaga was then on the threshold of his brilliant career.
Side by side with it may be set the fact that Hideyoshi, who accompanied Nobunaga in this campaign, employed successfully against the enemy one of the devices recommended by the Chinese strategists, whose books on the method of conducting warfare were closely studied in those days by the Japanese.
At all events, when, as stated above, Hideyoshi's message of invitation reached Nobunaga at Azuchi, the latter gave orders for the despatch of a strong force to Takamatsu, one body, consisting of some thirty thousand men, being placed under the command of Mitsuhide.
The father of this Taira chief was a soldier whose valor had won him a large estate. Nobunaga added to it, built himself a strong castle, and became the friend and patron of the last of the Ashikaga, whom he made shogun. After two hundred and thirty-eight years of dominion the lordship of the Ashikaga thus came to an end.
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