Nobunaga Concerto Episode Rating Graph

Saburou Nobunaga

Saburou tries to take Mino by force and fails because of Inabayama castle. He's rejoined by Matsudaira Takechiyo the womanizer. Saburou is in need of a stratagem to scare Mino's people: Tokichirou comes up with the idea of building a fortress in one night. Saburou has also been sending letters to Mino's main retainers who then take Inabayama and side with Owari. Matsudaira changes his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu

The original Nobunaga contacts Saburou and enters his service under the name of Akechi Mitsuhide while keeping his face hidden. Through his connections, they enter Tokyo to petition Ashikaga Yoshiaki to be the new shougun, and succeed, Mitsu taking care of the court formalities in place of Saburou. He also convinces Oichi to accept Saburou's proposal of marrying Azai to strengthen the Oda clan.

Oichi, now married to Azai Nagamasa, has a daughter Chacha. Saburou names four generals: Shibata Katsuie, Niwa Nagahide, Mitsuhide and Tokichirou, who changes his name to Hashiba Hideyoshi for the occasion. Saburou orders Hideyoshi against the Asakura clan. Saburou meets Matsunaga Hisahide, also a time traveler. The shougun asks various daimyou to destroy Nobunaga: the Azai clan answers the call.

After conquering Kanegasaki during the Asakura campaign, the Oda forces are facing a pincer manoeuvre due to the treacherous Azai who attacks from Oumi. Saburou quickly decides to retreat to Kyoto: Hideyoshi volunteers to lead the rear-guard so he can finally exact revenge on the Oda. But Mitsuhide and Takenaka Hanbei from Mino accompany Hideyoshi, which leaves him no choice but to fight valiantly.

The Oda move out against Azai HQ, Odani Castle, but it's too well fortified so they target Yokoyama instead. Azai receives reinforcement lead by Asakura Kagitake and sorties. Ieyasu's army comes to support Oda and defeats Asakura. Hideyoshi and Takenaka Hanbei win and occupy Yokoyama. Saburou goes to Settsu to subjugate the Miyoshi 3: he leaves the rear position of Usayama Castle in Mori Yoshinari's hands. Usayama is attacked by Asakura/Azai on their way to Kyoto. Mitsuhide is sent to Kyoto to strengthen their defense; Shibata handles the rear-guard of Settsu while the rest of Oda return to Usayama. Mori Yoshinari buys them time with his sacrifice. The Asakura/Azai army retreats to Enryaku Temple on Mount Hiei.

The younger sons of Mori Yoshinari become Saburou's pages (including Ranmaru), the eldest son Nagayoshi becoming a general. Saburou meets another time traveler who becomes his bodyguard Yasuke. Several targets are available for the campaign: Azai's Odani Castle, Ishiyama Hongan Temple (Osaka), the Takeda, Mount Hiei (Kyoto). On the counsel of Mitsuhide, Saburou picks the Enryaku Temple of Mount Hiei.