Oda Nobunaga (織田信長, 1534-1582) was the first of the "Three Unifiers" and the prime mover of Japan's 16th-century reunification after a hundred years of strife in what would later be known as the Warring States period (戦国時代 Sengoku Jidai). The Sengoku period (1467-1568) ended, and the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568-1600) started with his rise to power.
From humble beginnings, Oda Nobunaga rose to power and unified central Japan under a single ruling authority, establishing himself as the supreme hegemon through an extraordinary series of military conquests. Before his ascendancy, Japan was a fragmented landscape of competing territories, but by the time of his violent death, his dominion (天下 tenka) encompassed nearly a third of the country. His strict governing system, known as shokuhō seiken (織豊政権), laid the groundwork for the two other great unifiers, his vassal Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616). While Nobunaga is often remembered for his ruthless treatment of adversaries and his reputation as a brutal warlord, he was also a figure of remarkable cultural and institutional influence. A devoted patron of the arts, he played a pivotal role in shaping the distinctive cultural landscape of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.
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