Editing Oda Nobunaga (section)

==Early life (1534–1551)==
[[File:Portrait of Oda Nobunaga (Hideyoshi Kiyomasa Memorial Hall) Cropped.jpg|thumb|250px|Portrait of Oda Nobunaga in colour on silk (1583, in Kobe City Museum, Important Cultural Property)]]
Oda Nobunaga was born on 23 June 1534 in [[Nagoya]], [[Owari Province]], and was the heir of [[Oda Nobuhide]], the head of the powerful [[Oda clan]] and a deputy {{transliteration|ja|[[shugo]]}} (military governor), and his lawful wife [[Dota Gozen]].<ref name= "Jansen">Jansen, Marius (2000). ''The Making of Modern Japan, '' p. 11.</ref> Nobunaga was previously thought to have been born in [[Nagoya Castle]], but in recent years the theory that he was born in Shobata Castle has become more accepted. Nobunaga was given the childhood name of {{nihongo|'' Kippōshi''|吉法師}}, and through his childhood and early teenage years became well known for his bizarre behavior.

Nobunaga mostly spent his time between the age of 13 (the age of maturity at the time) and 18 in hunting, riding, practicing archery and shooting [[Tanegashima (gun)|arquebus]] (still a novelty in Japan at the time), but also wrestling, swimming, watching [[sumo]] and visiting taverns and brothels with his friends. He also showed complete disdain for formal clothing and proper social behavior of a lord, wearing sleeveless bathrobes and short trousers tied with hemp rope in public, eating melons while riding backwards on his horse, and often dancing in female clothing in taverns, gaining the nickname ''The Fool of Owari''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Chaplin |first=Danny |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1111714915 |title=Sengoku Jidai. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu : three unifiers of Japan |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-9834-5020-4 |location=[United States?] |pages=55–63 |oclc=1111714915}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Ōta |first=Gyūichi |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/743693801 |title=The chronicle of Lord Nobunaga |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |others=J. S. A. Elisonas, Jeroen Pieter Lamers |isbn=978-90-04-20456-0 |location=Leiden |pages=64–66 |oclc=743693801}}</ref>

[[File:Nagoyajou1.JPG|thumb|Site of [[Nagoya Castle]] (那古野城跡)]]
Nobunaga was given Nagoya Castle by his father at the age of 8 and lived there for 13 years until he took [[Kiyosu Castle]] at the age of 21. He had one or two older brothers, but they were illegitimate sons. As the first legitimate son, Nobunaga was intended to succeed Nobuhide as leader of the Oda clan, and so he was separated from his mother and given special education. Four [[karō]] (chief retainers), [[Hayashi Hidesada]], [[Hirate Masahide]], Aoyama Nobumasa, and Naitō Shōsuke (or Katsusuke), were assigned to train and educate him for his future role.<ref name="chunichi20120928">{{cite news |date=28 September 2012|last = Mizuno|first = Seishiro|title=信長が育った那古野城、泳いだ庄内川|trans-title= Nakono Castle, where Nobunaga grew up, and the Shonai River, where he swam |url= https://plus.chunichi.co.jp/blog/mizuno/article/233/417/ |language=Ja |work=[[Chunichi Shimbun]]|location=Tokyo |access-date=7 August 2023}}</ref>

Nobunaga came to manhood and took the name Oda Saburō Nobunaga in 1546. He then led the forces of the Oda clan against rival Kira and Ohama in Mikawa for his first campaign in 1547.

In 1548 or 1549, Nobuhide made peace with [[Saitō Dōsan]], lord of [[Mino Province]] (which had previously been hostile to Owari) through a political marriage between his son Nobunaga and Dōsan's daughter, [[Nōhime]]. Nobunaga took Nōhime as his lawful wife, and Dōsan became Nobunaga's father-in-law.<ref name=Turnbull/> Nobunaga also became involved in government affairs at this time, gaining valuable political experience and insight.