Oda clan (Owari)

The Oda clan kamon.

• Japanese: 織田家 (Oda-ke)

The Oda of Owari province were originally retainers of the Shiba shûgo family (starting from around 1400). When the Shiba's power dwindled in the early Sengoku Period, the Oda became lords of Owari, though nominal respect was shown the Shiba lord until the 1550's. Two main rival factions of the Oda, known as the Kiyosu and Iwakura branches, contended for decades, with the Kiyosu faction, eventually led by Oda Nobunaga, becoming dominant by 1555. The Oda rose rapidly with Nobunaga's drive for national hegemony but lost most of its influence following his death. The Oda's roots are obscure and while Nobunaga claimed Taira descent, this was and is impossible to confirm. In fact, it is unclear just how the Iwakura and Kiyosu Oda had been related.

In the Edo period, the Oda clan had divided into four houses. One of these, descended from Nobunaga's brother Oda Uraku, became the only one of the four houses to be granted "castle holder" (shiro-nushi) status.

Generals of the Oda clan during the Sengoku Period

Oda Nobuhide Oda Nobunaga Oda Nobuyuki Oda Nobumasu Oda Nobuharu Oda Nobutada Oda Nobuo Oda Nobutaka Akechi Mitsuhide Ando Morinari Araki Murashige Asakura Kageakira Fuwa Mitsuharu Gamô Ujisato Hachisuka Masakatsu Harada Naomasa Hashiba Hideyoshi Hirate Kiyohide Hori Hidemasa Hosokawa Fujitaka Ikeda Nobuteru Ikoma Ienaga Inaba Ittetsu Kanamori Nagachika Kûki Yoshitaka Maeda Gen'i Maeda Toshiie Matsunaga Hisahide Mori Yoshinari Murai Sadakatsu Nakagawa Kiyohide Niwa Nagahide Sakai Masahisa Sakuma Nobumori Sakuma Morishige Sassa Narimasa Shibata Katsuie Takayama Ukon Takigawa Kazumasu Tsutsui Junkei Ujiie Namoto Wada Koremasa Yamauchi Kazutoyo