I think I'm going to regret this....
Looking at the roots of the Oda family I have started to have a few questions. For instance, when exactly did the Oda family start to serve the Shiba clan? Why did the Oda family have one of the Kamon of the Asakura family, when technically they were both serving the same Shiba family and so should have been on equal terms? What was happening in Echizen before 1393 (i.e., the year when we first see some hint of the Oda family in the historical record)? What is the broader political context that all of this is happening in?
Searching for answers to these is dragging me further and further back in Japanese history. I'm trying to get closer to Nobunaga's own birth but I keep going backwards. I have now started to look at the Northern-Southern Dynasties (Nanboku Tyou 南北朝) era. This is the time between 1336 and 1392 when there were 2 competing lines of Emperors in Japan.
At this early stage of reading into this subject, it appears to me to be a very important time for the eventual Oda family. Basically the Oda served the Shiba, the Shiba served the Ashikaga, and the Ashikaga came out on top of this NanBoku rift. I am going to use this page to start and gather thoughts/facts as I learn them. Eventually I hope it will be some kind of reasonable summary of the NanBoku era.
At this point this portion is based on the Japanese wikipedia entry as it serves as a nice summary. I will clean it up and cross-check with more reliable sources as I learn more.
There were two competing sides within the Emperor's family. These were the Jimyouin side 持明院統 and the Daikakuji side 大覚寺統. In a system called Ryou Tou Tetsu Ritsu 両統迭立, successive emperors were chosen from alternating sides of the family. This system was in place since about the 1240's. Apparently it never smoothed things out as much as was meant to be.
In 1333, the Emperor of the time (Go-Daigo 後醍醐天皇) was from the Daikakuji side. He sent direct orders to important samurai, over the head of the Shogun, and ordered them to destroy the Kamakura Shogunate. Two key actors in this were Ashikaga Takauji 足利尊氏 and Nitta Yoshisada 新田義貞. Shiba Takatsune 斯波高経 is serving Takauji.
What is the background of this? How did the Ashikaga already get to be such a powerful family as to be in direct communication with the Emperor? I'd like to know but afraid of getting pulled ever further back.....
This move was successful, the Kamakura Shogunate was closed down, and the Emperor set up a politcal sysem called Kenmu no Shinsei 建武の新政, controlled by him. But, eventually this system broke down and Takauji couldn't be consolidated into the system (did he "rebel"? Was he "kicked out"?). Many other military families followed Takauji out the door (did he call them? Did they agree politically with him? Did they follow him because he was more likely to win?).
The emperor now tried to subdue Takauji, and sent Nitta Yoshisada and Kitabatake Akiie 北畠顕家 to do the job. After a couple of battles, in early 1336 the Emperor's army successfully broke Takauji at a battle near Kyoto. Takauji fled to Shikoku. Things looked good for Go-Daigo at this point.
By this time there was a huge rift and powerful families began taking sides. Go-Daigo's side pressed Takauji probably in an attempt to consolidate victory; Takauji gathered allies. At the battle of Tatarahama 多々良浜の戦い (Modern day Fukuoka city) in 1336, Takauji defeated the forces friendly to the Emperor. With this victory Takauji held Shikoku, and marched back on Kyoto.
On the way to Kyoto while passing through modern Kobe, Takauji's forces met the Emperor's forces at Minatogawa 湊川. On the emperor's side included old Nitta Yoshisada. On Takauji's side we see again Shiba Takatsune 斯波高経. Ashikaga forces win the battle of Minatogawa.
At this point Go-Daigo concedes victory to Takauji. Takauji somehow gets the royal paraphenalia from Go-Daigo, and installs the next emperor, Koumyou 光明天皇. Koumyou is from the Jimyouin faction of the imperial familay - the opposite faction of Go-Daigo. This line is known as the "northern dynasty".
Go-Daigo goes into exhile in Yoshino. He claims that the imperial paraphenalia which were passed to Koumyou are fakes, and maintains that he himself is still the true Emperor. This line is known as the "southern dynasty".
Also importantly, in 1338 Ashikaga Takauji publishes a new political framework called the Kenmu Shikimoku 建武式目 and is named Shogun by Emperor Koumyou. This is the start of the so-called Muromachi Bakufu 室町幕府.
The rest of the NanBoku period is filled with political intrigue, people switching sides, gaining power, losing power, and similar manuvers. This includes Shiba Takatsune, as well as Ashikaga Takauji himself. At one point in 1351 things get so bad for the Northern Dynasty that Takauji's son Yoshiakira 足利義詮, who had taken over the actual running of the government, is forced out of Kyoto by the Southern Dynasty. At this point the imperial paraphenalia again fall into Southern Dynasty hands. Yoshiakira quickly takes Kyoto back, only to lose and regain it at least once more.
After years and generations of this scheming, the NanBoku era finally ends in 1392. The Southern Dynasty passes away when the then Southern Emperor Go-Kameyama 後亀山天皇 resigns and passes the paraphenalia back to the Northern Emperor Go-Komatsu 後小松天皇. This detente was brokered by the third Ashikaga Shogun, Yoshimitsu 足利義満. Key considerations were that the RyouTou TetsuRitsu system would be respected in the future. Which apparently it was not....
1392 takes us to an interesting year in our story. 1393 is the year we see the famous 置文 oki-bumi at the Tsurugi Shrine in Echizen (modern day Fukui prefecture). This document was given to the Shrine by Fujiwara Nobumasa 藤原信昌 and his son, Masahiro 将広. These are believed to be Oda Nobuanga's own ancestors.
Interesting to think if the Tsurugi Shrine had fallen into disrepair - or had even suffered violence - during the Northern-Southern Dynasty period. Interesting also to wonder if Masahiro was along with Shiba Yoshimasa in so many interesting episodes of the NanBoku period.
What?
Here is where the Oda clan start to come in
