What were Oda Nobunaga’s ambitions?

[GameBawesome]

Oda Nobunaga. One of the most famous men during the Sengoku Jidai. From his home province, he manage to expand, and unify most of Japan, defeating the Azai, Asakura, the Ikko-Ikki, and the Takeda. He almost succeeded in unifying most of Japan, before he was assassinated at Honnō-ji, by Akechi Mitsuhide. Later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would unify the rest of Japan, and after a disastrous campaign in Korea, Tokugawa Ieyasu would become Shogun.

But what were Oda Nobunaga’s ambitions, besides unifying Japan and ending the Sengoku Jidai? What did he want after that? Why didn’t he become shogun, or would he ever become shogun? What did he want to do with Asia and the rest of the world? What were Oda’s Nobunaga’s goal?

 

[stevej713]

I could be wrong, but my suspicion is that Oda was like Napoleon or Alexander the Great, whose ambitions were simply to keep winning bigger victories. This could also be said of Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Oliver Cromwell, Adolf Hitler, etc. Such men get bored quickly and try to dream up plans for greater glory. At their deaths, nearly all of them had plans for a future campaign.

With that said, Oda likely wouldn't have said "okay, I've done everything I wanted to do, time to consolidate". He probably would have kept fighting, either in Japan, or Korea, or China, until he gets defeated. If he is able to survive a major defeat with his power intact, he might focus more on domestic issues and accept the position of Shogun, though he liked the freedom of action of not being Shogun (similar to Cromwell refusing to be crowned king). Some have even speculated that he was ambitious enough to consider overthrowing the Emperor himself.

His rule would likely be chaotic and would lead to a lot of social changes as he didn't care much for Japan's social, political, and religious norms. However, he would be pragmatic enough to recognize the threat Catholicism posed to Japan's stability and there would likely be a crackdown on the Jesuits as IOTL.

Ultimately, and this is just my opinion, I think there would eventually be a strong conservative reaction at some point after his reign. He was too iconoclastic and would alienate too many people. In the end, it might be the Oda Shogunate that gets overthrown in the 19th century, assuming it survives post-Nobunaga.

 

[Rizkyss]

I could be wrong, but my suspicion is that Oda was like Napoleon or Alexander the Great, whose ambitions were simply to keep winning bigger victories. This could also be said of Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Oliver Cromwell, Adolf Hitler, etc. Such men get bored quickly and try to dream up plans for greater glory. At their deaths, nearly all of them had plans for a future campaign.

With that said, Oda likely wouldn't have said "okay, I've done everything I wanted to do, time to consolidate". He probably would have kept fighting, either in Japan, or Korea, or China, until he gets defeated. If he is able to survive a major defeat with his power intact, he might focus more on domestic issues and accept the position of Shogun, though he liked the freedom of action of not being Shogun (similar to Cromwell refusing to be crowned king). Some have even speculated that he was ambitious enough to consider overthrowing the Emperor himself.

His rule would likely be chaotic and would lead to a lot of social changes as he didn't care much for Japan's social, political, and religious norms. However, he would be pragmatic enough to recognize the threat Catholicism posed to Japan's stability and there would likely be a crackdown on the Jesuits as IOTL.

Ultimately, and this is just my opinion, I think there would eventually be a strong conservative reaction at some point after his reign. He was too iconoclastic and would alienate too many people. In the end, it might be the Oda Shogunate that gets overthrown in the 19th century, assuming it survives post-Nobunaga.

i disagree, unlike Alexander he try to consolidate what he has gain, it can be seen that he have plan b, that is his succesor, if he death before he can unified Japan. Just that his plan b fail

 

[Monter]

But what were Oda Nobunaga’s ambitions, besides unifying Japan and ending the Sengoku Jidai?

His goal was to restore order to all Japan under his, direct or not, hegemony but he died before archiving it so what would come up next is anyone's guess unless they find Nobunaga's diary tomorrow.

Why didn’t he become shogun, or would he ever become shogun?

The fact Ashikaga Yoshiaki was still alive and still holding on the title of Sei-i Taishogun may have influenced it, Nobunaga was reportedly presented the choices of becomes Kanpaku (Regent), Daijo-Daijin (Prime Minister) or Sei-i Taishogun, he died one month later without giving a answer so who knows, Hideyoshi went for Kanpaku and Ieyasu for Shogun, would Nobunaga go for Daijo-Daijin? That's a silly reason, but there is no concrete answer.

What did he want to do with Asia and the rest of the world? What were Oda’s Nobunaga’s goal?

Toyotomi did claim his Asian campaign was Nobunaga's vision of unifying all under heaven by force (Tenkai Fubu), but how much was the truth and how much was just propaganda to justify Hideyoshi's ambitions is not really clear, there is no explicit account of Nobunaga proclaiming to want to rule the entire world under him, but much of what we know about the man isn't taken directly from him either, but through people who knew and interacted with him (including Hideyoshi).