Episode 2Spying on the 'Fool,' He Saw 500 SpearsThe Meeting at Shotoku-ji Temple

The original story behind this episode

Nobunaga Meets Saito Dosan at Shotoku-ji: The 'Fool' Story Explained

In short: The meeting at Shotoku-ji is the episode in the Shinchō Kōki, Ōta Gyūichi's chronicle of Oda Nobunaga's life, in which the warlord Saito Dosan hides in a shack to laugh at his son-in-law, the rumored "fool" of Owari. Instead he sees Nobunaga lead about five hundred long crimson spears and five hundred bows and guns, then appear at the temple in perfect formal dress. Dosan leaves shaken and predicts that his own sons will one day serve this "fool."

The Original Story: The Meeting at Shotoku-ji

In the first book of the Shinchō Kōki, a chronicle of Oda Nobunaga written by his retainer Ōta Gyūichi, there is a short and famous scene. Late in the fourth month, Saito Dosan (called Yamashiro Dosan in the text), the lord of Mino Province, sends word to his young son-in-law, Oda Kazusanosuke Nobunaga of Owari. Dosan proposes that they meet at Shotoku-ji, a temple in Tonda, a wealthy temple town of around seven hundred households that held permits from both Mino and Owari. The chronicle does not give the year, but the meeting is usually dated to 1553.

Dosan has a private reason for the invitation. People everywhere call Nobunaga a tawake, a fool, and Dosan wants to see the fool with his own eyes and have a good laugh. He lines up seven or eight hundred of his senior retainers in stiff, formal clothing along the veranda of the temple hall, so that Nobunaga will have to walk past them. Then Dosan slips away to a small house on the edge of town to watch the procession in secret.

What Dosan Saw: A Fool, and an Army

Nobunaga looks exactly as the rumors say. His hair is tied up in a tea-whisk topknot wrapped with a light-green cord, he wears a thin bathing robe with the sleeves removed, the hilts of his swords are bound with rope, and seven or eight pouches and gourds hang from his waist like a street monkey-trainer's. His half-length trousers are made of tiger and leopard skin.

But behind this strange figure march seven or eight hundred men. Fast runners go ahead, and the troops carry around five hundred crimson spears with shafts three and a half ken long (roughly six meters), plus some five hundred bows and guns. The fool, it turns out, arrives with a serious and well-equipped force.

At the temple, Nobunaga has folding screens set up around him. Behind them he ties his hair into a proper formal topknot for the first time in his life, puts on long brown formal trousers that no one knew he had prepared, and wears a short sword he had made in secret. When he steps out, his own men are stunned and wonder whether all his foolishness had been an act.

Nobunaga walks past the rows of Mino samurai as if they were not there and leans against a pillar on the veranda. Dosan's men, Kasuga Tango and Hotta Dōkū, urge him to come inside. After a while Dosan himself pushes aside a screen and enters. When Hotta Dōkū announces that this is Lord Yamashiro, Nobunaga answers with a short "Dearu ka" (roughly, "Is that so?"), steps in, bows, and takes his seat. They eat yuzuke, rice in hot water, exchange cups of sake, and part without trouble.

The Ride Home: Dosan's Bitter Prediction

Dosan leaves with a face like someone chewing bitter medicine, saying only that they will meet again soon. Nobunaga's side escorts him about twenty chō (around two kilometers). The chronicle notes a telling detail: the Mino spears are short, while the Owari spears are long. Dosan rides home in silence.

At a place called Akanabe, his retainer Inoko Hyōsuke remarks that, however you look at it, Nobunaga is a fool. Dosan replies that this is exactly what makes him bitter: his own sons will surely end up tying their horses outside that fool's gate, meaning they will become Nobunaga's followers. From then on, the chronicle says, no one called Nobunaga a fool in front of Dosan.

What This Story Tells Us: The Warring States Background

This scene is set in the Sengoku, or Warring States, period, when regional warlords fought for land and survival. Marriage alliances were a common way to keep peace between neighbors, and Nobunaga had become Dosan's son-in-law in this way. A meeting between the two was a test: each side was measuring the other's strength.

The episode works on two levels. On the surface it is a comic reversal, with the trickster outwitting the man who planned to laugh at him. Underneath, it shows how a sharp old warlord reads power. Dosan does not care about the bathing robe; he notices the long spears and the guns. Readers who know later history will see the irony: Dosan's prediction largely came true, as Nobunaga eventually took control of Mino Province some years after Dosan's death. The chronicle itself, however, simply ends the scene with Dosan's warning.

What the Manga Changes or Adds

The Shinchō Kōki is brief. It says the two men ate yuzuke and drank together, but it records no conversation beyond Nobunaga's "Dearu ka." The manga gives them a few short lines in the meeting room, kept to a minimum so the original scene stays recognizable.

The manga also adds Dosan's facial expressions and muttered remarks while he peeks from the shack, his exchanges with attendants, the small details of Nobunaga changing behind the screens and anyone helping him, and a backstory for how he secretly prepared his formal clothes (the source only says no one knew). Weather, the season, the temple buildings, the streets of Tonda, and the exact types of guns and marching order are also the artist's invention. Nobunaga's wife, Dosan's daughter, does not appear in this part of the chronicle, so any scene involving her is creative addition rather than recorded history.

Where to Read It

If you want to see the shack, the crimson spears, and that sudden change of clothes come to life, Episode 2 of ODA NOBUNAGA: The Demon King of the Warring States tells the story panel by panel, following the Shinchō Kōki closely while filling in the moments the chronicle leaves out. Like every series on Manga Portal, it is free to read with no sign-up, so you can start from Episode 1 or jump straight into the meeting at Shotoku-ji.

Characters in this episode

Oda Nobunaga (Kazusanosuke)

The young lord of Owari, mocked as a 'fool,' who arrives in outlandish clothes with a powerful army and then appears in flawless formal dress.

Saito Dosan (Yamashiro Dosan)

The aging lord of Mino and Nobunaga's father-in-law, who plans to laugh at the 'fool' but leaves the meeting worried about the future.

Hotta Dōkū

Dosan's retainer who urges Nobunaga inside, introduces Dosan to him, and serves the meal.

Kasuga Tango

A Mino retainer who, with Hotta Dōkū, asks Nobunaga to enter the hall.

Inoko Hyōsuke

Dosan's retainer who insists on the way home that Nobunaga is still a fool, prompting Dosan's famous prediction.

FAQ

Why did Saito Dosan want to meet Oda Nobunaga?

According to the Shinchō Kōki, people were calling Nobunaga a fool, and Dosan wanted to see him in person and laugh at him. He even arranged hundreds of formally dressed retainers and secretly watched Nobunaga's procession from a small house.

When did the meeting at Shotoku-ji happen?

The chronicle only says it was late in the fourth month and does not give a year. It is usually dated to 1553 (Tenbun 22).

What does "Dearu ka" mean?

It is Nobunaga's short reply when told that Dosan has arrived, meaning roughly "Is that so?" Its calm, almost indifferent tone has made it one of the best-known lines associated with Nobunaga.

Was Nobunaga really a fool?

The Shinchō Kōki suggests not. His army was well armed, and when he changed into formal dress, even his own men wondered if his foolish behavior had been deliberate. Dosan himself concluded that his sons would end up serving Nobunaga.

What is the Shinchō Kōki?

It is a chronicle of Oda Nobunaga's life written by Ōta Gyūichi, who served under him. It is one of the main sources historians use for Nobunaga, and its first book covers his early years, including this meeting.

Read the manga from the start (free)