Volume 1 – Chapter 3

Nobunaga’s First Battle

The same year I was born (Tenbun 15, or 1546), Oda Nobunaga underwent his coming-of-age ceremony and became the lord of Nagoya Castle at the age of twelve.

The following year (Tenbun 16), he marched out to Kira-Ohama in Mikawa Province.

Hayashi Hidesada, who performed a divination for the campaign, found the movement of the stars to be unfavorable.

「Young Master, today’s date is inauspicious. Please postpone the march.」

「Old man, this battle concerns Anjo. If we do not set out today, then when?」

「The date is inauspicious. I urge you to exercise caution.」

「I put no faith in divination.」

There was no way Nobunaga would put his faith in such baseless fortune-telling, so he pushed his way through Hidesada and set out for battle.

However, the divination turned out to be right, as the Imagawa forces were waiting for him with an army of two thousand soldiers.

Nobunaga had brought only eight hundred