Who Is Azai Nagamasa (Asai Nagamasa)?
The brother-in-law who betrayed Nobunaga
Azai Bizen-no-kami Nagamasa
Azai Nagamasa was a Warring States lord who ruled northern Omi (today's northern Shiga Prefecture) and was the husband of Nobunaga's sister, Lady Oichi. Based at Odani Castle, he was allied with Nobunaga but turned against him during the 1570 campaign against the Asakura, putting Nobunaga in grave danger.
In Episode 7, Nobunaga at first refuses to believe the news of his betrayal, which sets off the retreat from Kanegasaki. At the Battle of Anegawa in Episode 8, he fights Nobunaga and Ieyasu alongside the Asakura forces, loses, and returns to Odani Castle. In Episode 10, he meets his end at Odani in 1573, and on New Year's Day of the following year his head, decorated with gold, is brought out at a banquet.
His reason for betraying Nobunaga is often said to be his clan's old ties with the Asakura, but the relevant passage of the Shincho Koki doesn't state his motive. His daughters with Lady Oichi, the three sisters Chacha (Lady Yodo), Hatsu, and Go, each made their own mark on history.
Episodes featuring this character3
NEWEpisode 7
He Was Winning. Then He Ran for His LifeThe Retreat from Kanegasaki
With victory in sight, Nobunaga hears that his sister's husband has turned on him. He laughs it off, but the reports keep coming. "Right or wrong hardly matters now," he says, then leaves the win and his pride behind and races through dark mountain trails to Kyoto.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 8
He Came Back for His Sister's HusbandThe Battle of Anegawa
Betrayed by his sister's husband, Nobunaga fled home caked in mud. In under two months he marches north again, trusts his one remaining ally with half the battlefield, and wins the battle at the river. But the mountain castle does not fall, and that autumn, the banners he failed to wipe out climb another mountain.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 10
The New Year's Feast Had One More CourseThe Golden Skulls
"The Golden Skulls." Oda Nobunaga drives out of Kyoto the shogun who once called him "Father," then wipes out a great house and his own sister's husband's family in under two months. On New Year's Day, after the guests have gone, he cheerfully announces: "There's one more dish."
19 pages