The New International Encyclopædia/Nobunaga

​Nobunaga, nō′bo̅o̅-nä′gȧ (1533–82). A Japanese soldier and ruler, who brought order out of anarchy in the latter half of the sixteenth century. Born of an humble family, he was free from the hatreds and jealousies of the nobles, and won his way by his own powers as an intrepid and skillful soldier. He was victorious in many contests, and, notably, he humbled the militant Buddhist priests, destroying two strongly fortified monasteries and putting the monks to the sword. Buddhism never regained its political power. As an aid in the contest with Buddhism he welcomed the Jesuit missionaries, his own son becoming a Christian. But his favor was wholly for political purposes. Nobunaga was a jovial, pleasure-loving man, a patron of the fine arts and of wrestling. His private life was stained not only by the vices common to the military men of his age, but by treachery. In consequence of his failure to respect a pledge given by one of his lieutenants he was assassinated, his murder being speedily avenged. In a desperate age Nobunaga began the work which was carried to its completion by his greater successors, Hideyoshi (q.v.) and Iyeyasu (q.v.). Consult: Brinkley, Japan (Boston, 1901); Griffis, The Mikado’s Empire, new ed. (New York, 1883).