Oda Nobunaga (June 23, 1534 – June 21, 1582) is the initiator of the unification of Japan under the rule of the Shogun in the late sixteenth century, a rule that ends only with the opening of Japan to the Western world in 1868.

He is also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history.

His opus is continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

He is the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy shugo (military governor) with land holdings in Owari Province.

Nobunaga lives a life of continuous military conquest, eventually conquering a third of Japanese daimyo before his death in 1582.

His successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a loyal Oda supporter, will eventually become the first man to conquer all of Japan and the first ruler of all Japan since the Ōnin War.