ODA NOBUNAGA

WHEN the Taira sept was shattered finally at Dan-no-ura, a baby
grandson of Kiyomori was carried by its mother to the hamlet of
Tsuda, in Omi province. Subsequently this child, Chikazane, was
adopted by a Shinto official of Oda, in Echizen, and thus acquired
the name of Oda. For generations the family served uneventfully at
the shrine in Omi, but in the disturbed days of the Ashikaga shoguns,
the representative of the eighth generation from Chikazane emerged
from the obscurity of Shinto services and was appointed steward
(karo) of the Shiba family, which appointment involved removal of his
residence to Owari. From that time the fortunes of the family became
brighter. Nobuhide, its representative at the beginning of the
sixteenth century, acquired sufficient power to dispute the Imagawa's
sway over the province of Mikawa, and sufficient wealth to contribute
funds to the exhausted coffers of the Court in Kyoto.

This man's son was Nobunaga. Born in 1534, and destined to bequeath
to his country a name that will never die, Nobunaga, as a boy, showed
much of the eccentricity of genius. He totally despised the canons of
the time as to costume and etiquette. One of his peculiarities was a
love of long swords, and it is related that on a visit to Kyoto in
his youth he carried in his girdle a sword which trailed on the
ground as he walked. Rough and careless, without any apparent
dignity, he caused so much solicitude to his tutor and guardian,
Hirate Masahide, and showed so much indifference to the latter's
remonstrances, that finally Masahide had recourse to the faithful
vassal's last expedient--he committed suicide, leaving a letter in
which the explanation of his act was accompanied by a stirring appeal
to the better instincts of his pupil and ward. 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. But
that accusation can scarcely be reconciled with facts. Thus, when
still a young man, it is related of him that he summoned one of his
vassals to his presence but, giving no order, allowed the man to
retire. This was repeated with two others, when the third, believing
that there must be somet