Nobutaka was born as the third son of
Oda Nobunaga and he was called
San Shichi (三七), possibly because he was born on the seventh day of the third month, in the Japanese lunar calendar system. His mother was a concubine named
Sakashi (坂氏). A theory has it that Nobutaka was actually born twenty days earlier than Nobunaga's second son
Oda Nobukatsu but it was reported later than Nobukatsu's birth to Nobunaga and thus he was acknowledged as the third son. According to this theory, it is also believed that the low status of his mother's parents had played a factor as well. In 1568, after Nobunaga controlled
Ise Province, Nobutaka was installed as the head of the Kanbe clan, whose seat was
Kanbe Castle, near present-day
Suzuka, Mie. The next year, his elder brother, Nobukatsu, became an adopted member of the
Kitabatake clan, and ruled a much larger area of southern
Ise Province. Nobutaka was reported by missionaries to have a better character than the older Nobukatsu but was ranked lower and held less territory than he did. In 1577, he besieged Ōta Castle (near the site of present-day
Wakayama Castle) and defeated a Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist (
Saika Ikki) uprising in
Kii province. In 1582, Nobutaka was commanded to lead an army against
Shikoku and had such retainers as
Niwa Nagahide and
Tsuda Nobuzumi, who was the son of Nobunaga's younger brother Nobuyuki, under his command.
Death of Nobunaga While readying his army to cross the sea at
Sakai, Nobunaga died at
Honnō-ji during an attack by
Akechi Mitsuhide. Nobutaka turned back and at
Osaka, killed Nobusumi, who was married to a daughter of Mitsuhide. While Nobutaka's suspicion did make some sense, no evidence had turned up that would connect Nobusumi to Mitsuhide. Nobutaka then joined
Hashiba Hideyoshi who had turned back from his own campaign, and they fought the Akechi forces at the
Battle of Yamazaki. Nobutaka and his brother
Oda Nobukatsu then quarreled over Nobunaga's succession at a council held in
Kiyosu Castle.
Oda Hidenobu was then declared heir. Nobutaka gained
Mino Province where the eldest son,
Oda Nobutada, had ruled before his death by Mitsuhide, but this was still far short of what he had hoped to gain.
Conflict with Hideyoshi In 1583, he later allied with
Shibata Katsuie and
Takigawa Kazumasu to start a war against Hideyoshi, but while Nobutaka was surrounded at
Gifu Castle by Nobukatsu, Katsuie lost the
Battle of Shizugatake. Kazumasu also lost at
Kameyama Castle (Mie), and Nobutaka surrendered. Nobutaka was sent to
Daimidoji at Noma,
Chita county, in
Owari Province where
Minamoto no Yoshitomo had been assassinated at the end of the
Heian period. ==Death==