"The Oda Nobunaga’s Generalship 2" Topic

"In the wake of the Battle of Nagashino, Oda Nobunaga went on to conquer much of central Japan before he was ambushed by a traitorous subordinate, Akechi Mitsuhide, in 1582. Mitsuhide's men surrounded the temple at Honno-ji and fought their way into the courtyard, where one of them shot Nobunaga in the side with an arrow. Supposedly he pulled out the arrow, then took up his own bow and killed many of the attackers. He finally received a musket ball in his arm, which ended his resistance. It is said he turned and walked into a burning temple to end his own life.

Modern judgments of Oda Nobunaga's character are not kind. Unlike many of the generals discussed thus far, he had few redeeming characteristics. One thinks of modern views of Alexander, best summed up in the title of one of his recent biographies, "killer of men." But as George Sansom notes in his history of Japan, Oda's methods "were utterly ruthless in a ruthless age." A successful general, he was not an inspirational leader, though he received the loyalty of two talented men, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who would lead his armies and succeed him as unifiers of Japan.

Perhaps his primary military importance in Japan was his ability to innovate. He was among the first to recognize the potential of match-locks, learning how to shoot and acquiring as many manufacturing centers as possible. Here he also encouraged the production of cannon. These had been used, as had the teppo, by pirates, but Nobunaga was the first to use them on a large scale on land, for both offense and defense. It is the arquebus, however, that is most important. Most accounts of the Battle of Nagashino credit Nobunaga with ordering firing according to rank, one group firing while the others reloaded. If indeed he fought in this manner, he was decades ahead of armies in Europe. As we will see in the next chapter, it was Gustavus Adolphus who introduced massed matchlock fire into European warfare during the Thirty Years War a half-century after Nagashino. Oda Nobunaga promoted the manufacture of gunpowder as well, in order to be less dependent on foreign supply. He promoted the use of ashigaru as regular troops rather than militia, and by making them full-time soldiers gave them discipline and status that heretofore had only been in the hands of the samurai. He also began his own navy and experimented with the concept of ironclad ships…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

>it was Gustavus Adolphus who introduced massed matchlock fire into European warfare

Afaik effective massed small arms fire goes back to well over 100 years before Gustav Adolf and 50+ years to Nagashino. Bicocca or Cerignola come to my mind, and even at Neuss 1475 reports of massive (though widely ineffective) handgun fire is reported.

The Italian Wars had arquebusiers firing by introduction and reduction, in single line but not what we consider to be volley fire. I've seen period training illustrations of the process and it was not volley.

Perhaps certain units were so professional that their rate of fire was exceptional compared to their adversaries so recieved commentary.

Volley fire does appear to have been originated by the Japanese.