Young Nobunaga

Nobunaga's wild and crazy youth prepared him for the future.  Sounds strange, but it was true.  His free thinking and I do not care attitude made him a man to be feared later in life.

Shincho-Ko ki/The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga by Ota Gyuichi. (Elisonas/Lamers, pp. 58-59)

"Into the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth year of his life, Nobunaga knew no other pastimes but these: He practiced riding every morning and evening.  From the Third to the Ninth Month he swam in the river, which made him an excellent swimmer.  Once when he was a training bout with bamboo spears, he observed: 'if your spear is short, you'll be at a disadvantage no matter what.'  So he made spears with a shaft of three to three and a half ken [5.4 to 6.3 meters].

As for young Nobunaga's manner:  He had on a bathrobe (yukatabira) with its sleeves removed, wore trousers (hanbakama) over it, and carried any number of pouches for flints and that sort of thing around his waist.  He kept his hair straight up like a tea whisk, tied with crimson and fresh-green cords.  He bore a great sword with a vermillion sheath and ordered all the samurai of his retinue to outfit themselves in vermillion.  He employed Ichikawa Daisuke to guide him in archery practice and trained on the harquebus with Hashimoto Ippa as his master.  Hirata Sanmi, whom Nobunaga kept constantly at his side, was his instructor in military science and tactics.  The two of them went also went hawking together."

All that training such as swimming, riding horses, guns, and the bow prepped Nobunaga for the future. One must remember that Nobunaga's early use of guns made him a genius.

Nobunaga no tame!

Owari ni hikari wo.