Oda Nobuhiro (織田信広)
Nobuhiro ODA (date of birth unknown - October 23, 1574) was a military commander in the period of warring states. He was a son of Nobuhide ODA. He was Nobunaga ODA's elder brother by a different mother. He was also called Nobuhiro TSUDA. He had a daughter (who became Nagahide NIWA's wife) and an adopted son, Nobumasa ODA. His official rank was the Governor of Osumi Province.
Summary
Although Nobuhiro was Nobuhide's eldest son, he didn't have a hereditary right to Oda's family estate because his mother was Nobuhide's concubine. In general, he was not regarded as Nobunaga's elder brother but as a member of the Oda Danjonojo family. In November 1549, when Nobuhiro was the lord of Ansho-jo Castle, Yoshimoto IMAGAWA's strategist Sessai TAIGEN attacked the castle and captured Nobuhiro alive. Later, Nobuhiro was sent back to the Oda clan in exchange for Oda's hostage Takechiyo MATSUDAIRA (Ieyasu TOKUGAWA). There was conflict between Nobuhiro and Nobunaga for a while such that, in 1556, Nobuhiro tried to take over Kiyosu-jo Castle in conspiracy with Yoshitatsu SAITO of Inaba-jo Castle in Mino province; however, he was later forgiven by Nobunaga.
After that, he served Nobunaga; from 1569 to 1570, he stayed in Kyoto and worked as a negotiator for the Muromachi bakufu; he moved from place to place to fight and accomplished military exploits such as coming to the rescue of Iwamura-jo Castle in 1572. In 1573, Nobuhiro, as Nobunaga's representative, made a compromise with Yoshiaki ASHIKAGA, who had been in discord with Nobunaga.
In 1574, Nobuhiro joined the last attack on the uprising of Ikko sect followers in Nagashima in Ise Province called 'Nagashima Ikko Ikki'. On October 23, Nagashima Gansho-ji Temple was unable to withstand the starvation policy both from land and sea, agreed to a surrender. Nobunaga pretended to accept the proposal, but when just as about half of the rebels left Gansho-ji Temple, made a raid on them. Sagyo of Hongan-ji Temple, the leader of the uprising, and Raitan SHIMOTSUMA were shot and killed, and the surviving rebels became furious at the deception, fought back desperately and burst into the attackers' headquarters, which Nobuhiro couldn't stop and died in the battle.
Descendants
According to the public record of the family trees of the Oda clan, Nobuhiro had a daughter, who married Nagahide NIWA as Nobunaga's adopted daughter, but did not have a son. According to another view ("招提寺内興起後聞併年寄分由緒実録"), although it lacks credibility, Nobuhiro also had a son named Takeishi Goro Nobuoki, who lived in Takeishi, Saku county, Shinshu; another daughter Kyohime, who was Nobumasa ODA's legal wife, and another daughter Chiyogimi, who was the mother of both Yoshisato ROKKAKU, a member of the legitimate ROKKAKU clan, and Hidetsuna HACHIMANYAMA. It is said that Chiyogimi's son Hidetsuna was adopted by Hidenobu ODA, the legitimate heir to the Oda family. If Hidetsuna was the heir to the Oda family, Nobuhiro's bloodline was maintained in the legitimate Oda family through the maternal side.
If Nobumasa (Nobunaga's eldest son, who was born out of wedlock but later adopted by Nobunaga) became head of the Nobuhiro family, it means that the position of head of the main line of the Danjonojo family was passed to the eldest brother in subsequent generations; because both heirs were treated as legitimate, this adoption is highly probable if the brothers Yoshisato and Hidetsuna actually existed.