Nobunaga's advantage over the Honganji

Nobunaga had some important advantages over the Ishiyama Honganji.  Here are a few.

• Kennyo Kosa did not have the stomach for a massive all out war against Nobunaga.  Sure, he could not stand Nobunaga, but knew he would lose against him.  The longer the war against Nobunaga, more painful it was.  So at times, he was interested in peace gains, even under less favorable conditions.  A huge advantage for Nobunaga.
• Kennyo Kosa was more likely to obey Imperial or shogunal orders.  Nobunaga did too, but only to his advantage.  Once Nobunaga banished Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki in 1573, Nobunaga had more control over his rivals.
• The Ishiyama Honganji did not have a powerful field marshal on their side.  Sure, Kosa had the aid of the Asakura and the Azai at times, but they did not fight under the Honganji flag.  Nobunaga on the other hand, delegated Sakuma Nobumori to fight the Honganji.  A huge advantage since Nobunaga sent his other captains to fight on several fronts.
• The Asakura in Echizen and the Uesugi in Echigo were preoccupied with controlling the monto in their own domain.  They had little time to engage with Nobunaga and kept them at bay.
• The monto were not powerful in Owari nor Mino.  Had Nobunaga been plagued by Ikko uprisings in his early years, unifying would have been extremely difficult.

Tenka no tame!

Happy 2019

Happy 2019 everyone!

From the The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (p. 278), people paid their respects to Nobunaga at Azuchi in 1578.

"On the first day of the First Month, everyone who was anybody in the Home Provinces and in Wakasa, Echizen, Owari, Mino, Omi, Ise, and the neighboring provinces came to Azuchi.  They all presented themselves before Nobunaga and paid their respects to him."

I will be back in Japan in May doing work as a tour guide at the Okehazama battlefield.  Also I plan to write more on McMullin's thesis and young Nobunaga.

Nobunaga no tame!  Tenka no tame!