Nobunaga's Castle Towns: Azuchi and the Urban Revolution

Nobunaga and the Emperor: The Political Game of Legitimacy

In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore Oda Nobunaga's shrewd manipulation of the imperial court to legitimize his rule. They delve into his entry into Kyoto alongside Ashikaga Yoshiaki, his fraught relationship with Emperor Ōgimachi, and his relentless pressuring for higher court ranks—from ji-jū to naidaijin. The conversation also touches on the arrest of court nobles in 1578, Nobunaga's proposal to abdicate in favor of his son, and the rumors that he aimed to become the new emperor himself. Drawing on primary accounts like the Shinchō Kōki and Jesuit reports, the episode reveals a Nobunaga who understood that in Japan, even a warlord needs an imperial seal. Specific details include the appointment of his heir Nobutada, the confiscation of court lands, and the stark contrast with Tokugawa Ieyasu's later deference to the throne. This is a story of power, prestige, and the delicate dance between military might and tradition. #OdaNobunaga #ImperialCourt #EmperorŌgimachi #AshikagaYoshiaki #SengokuPeriod #JapaneseHistory #CourtRanks #Naidaijin #ShinchōKōki #Kyoto #Legitimacy #Nobutada #TenkaFubu #AzuchiMomoyama #JesuitAccounts #LuisFrois #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Nobunaga's Invasion of Iga The Ninja War That Shook Japan

In 1581, Oda Nobunaga launched a brutal invasion of Iga Province, the homeland of the legendary ninja. Known as the Iga no Ran, this campaign pitted the warlord's massive army against guerrilla fighters using deception, explosives, and psychological warfare. Lucas and Luna explore the two invasions of Iga, the role of defector Takino Jōsuke, the famous Iga tunnels, and how Nobunaga's victory ended ninja independence. With references to the Shinchō Kōki and the later Iga influence on Tokugawa Ieyasu's security, this episode uncovers a turning point in the unification of Japan. #OdaNobunaga #IgaProvince #Ninja #Shinobi #TakinoJōsuke #IgaNoRan #Sengoku #AzuchiMomoyama #ShinchōKōki #IgaTunnels #JapanHistory #Samurai #GuerrillaWarfare #TokugawaIeyasu #EastAsia #History #FexingoHistory #JapaneseWarfare Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Nobunaga's Spies: The Ninja of Kōka and Iga

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Oda Nobunaga's complex relationship with the shinobi of Kōka and Iga. While later episodes covered the failed invasion of Ise and the Kōka ninja, here they dive into the actual siege of Iga in 1581, where Nobunaga's massive army crushed the legendary ninja clans. They discuss the differences between Kōka and Iga shinobi, their guerrilla tactics, the betrayal that allowed Nobunaga to breach their defenses, and the aftermath that scattered survivors across Japan, some ending up as spies for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lucas draws on Shinchō Kōki and other period sources to separate fact from folklore, touching on the ninja's social structure, their use of explosives and espionage, and how their defeat paradoxically cemented their mystique for centuries to come. #OdaNobunaga #Ninja #Kōka #Iga #Shinobi #Sengoku #TenkaFubu #HattoriHanzō #ShinchōKōki #TokugawaIeyasu #JapanHistory #SiegeOfIga #GuerrillaWarfare #AzuchiMomoyama #EastAsianHistory #Samurai #MilitantMonks #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Nobunaga's Sword Hunt: Disarming a Nation

In 1588, three years before his death at Honnō-ji, Oda Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered the 'Sword Hunt' (katanagari) — a nationwide confiscation of weapons from peasants and farmers. But the idea didn't come from nowhere. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the roots of the policy back to Nobunaga's own campaigns against the Ikkō-ikki and his rakuichi rakuza decrees, which began separating warriors from cultivators. They explore how Nobunaga's social engineering — including the castle town system and the kenchi land surveys — created the conditions for Hideyoshi's later sword hunt and the rigid class structure of the Edo period. Along the way, they discuss the myth of the 'peasant samurai', the fate of the defeated warrior-monks, and how a single policy reshaped Japanese society for nearly three centuries. Specific topics include: the Ikkō-ikki uprising, the Azuchi castle town, the role of Kiyomasa Katō, and the aftermath of the sword hunt in Satsuma. #OdaNobunaga #SwordHunt #Katanagari #ToyotomiHideyoshi #Ikkōikki #RakuichiRakuza #Kenchi #Azuchi #EdoPeriod #SocialEngineering #JapaneseHistory #Sengoku #PeasantSamurai #WarriorMonks #KiyomasaKatō #Satsuma #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]

Nobunaga's Azuchi Screens The Lost Visual Propaganda

What if the most powerful piece of propaganda in 16th-century Japan wasn't a battle or a castle, but a pair of folding screens? In this episode, Lucas and Luna dive into the lost Azuchi Screens, commissioned by Oda Nobunaga and painted by Kano Eitoku. These screens, destroyed in a fire in 1645, once depicted Azuchi Castle and its surroundings in vivid detail, serving as a visual manifesto of Nobunaga's unification project. Through contemporary descriptions by Jesuit missionary Luis Frois and a later 17th-century copy, we reconstruct what the screens showed: the seven-story tenshu, the bustling castle town, the Nakasendo road, and even the aftermath of the Ikkō-ikki wars. We explore how Nobunaga used art to project power, control his image, and literally frame his legacy. The episode also touches on the Kano school's rise as the official painters of the shogunate, and what the screens reveal about Azuchi's political symbolism. A fascinating glimpse into the intersection of art, power, and historical memory in Azuchi-Momoyama Japan. #OdaNobunaga #AzuchiScreens #KanoEitoku #AzuchiCastle #LuisFrois #Sengoku #AzuchiMomoyama #JapaneseHistory #FoldingScreens #Byobu #TenkaFubu #ArtAndPower #KanoSchool #JesuitMissionaries #Nakasendo #Ikkōikki #EastAsianHistory #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo [https://buymeacoffee.com/fexingo]