Oda Nobunaga was the first of Japan’s three great unifiers and the most revolutionary. He was the first Japanese commander to use massed firearms in battle, the first to build ironclad warships, and the first to apply industrial thinking to warfare. He destroyed the warrior monks, crushed the old feudal order, and was on the verge of unifying all of Japan when his own general betrayed him at Honno-ji temple.

This episode traces Nobunaga from his reputation as the “Fool of Owari” through the battles that made him Japan’s dominant warlord, the revolutionary military tactics, and the betrayal that cut his unification short.

• Nobunaga’s wild youth as the “Fool of Owari” and the battle of Okehazama that made his reputation
• The introduction of massed firearms at Nagashino and the revolution in Japanese warfare
• The destruction of the Ikko-ikki warrior monks and the feudal order that resisted him
• The Honno-ji incident — the betrayal by Akechi Mitsuhide that killed Nobunaga at the height of his power