Odani

Odani was a castle situated in northern Goshiki Outlands in Ōmi, Japan. Its ruins have been preserved as a national historical site since 2005.^[1]

History[edit | edit source]

In 1560, warlord and general Azai Nagamasa became the lord and inherited the castle at the age of 15. After his marriage with Oichi, younger sister of Oda Nobunaga, this led to an alliance between the two. However, when Nobunaga rose in power, Azai stood along with the Asakura clan. In 1570, during the Battle of Anegawa, he suffered a defeat. After the downfall of the Asakura's, Nobunaga besieged Odani while Nagamasa faced defeat.^[2] Sending his wife Oichi and his kids away,^[3] Nagamasa committed suicide while the castle was mainly destroyed.^[2]

In 1582, the Kakushiba ikki member and samurai Yasuke arrived in Odani to meet with Oichi. Greeted by her bodyguard Kuma, Yasuke was led to meet Oichi in her garden. When Oichi met with Yasuke, she asked him about his path and told him about the Shinbakufu. When Yasuke told her that he sought them, she informed him a plot at a teppō factory but asked him how Nobunaga died. When Yasuke informed her that he died with reciting his favorite poem, Oichi also asked him to meet her at Isakiji Temple to continue his training.^[4] While there, he and fellow Kakushiba ikki member Fujibayashi Naoe climbed atop the nearly destroyed tenshu and surveyed the land.^[5]