Battles of the Warring States Period
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) were leaders during the Warring States period (1467–1568). All three shared the ambition to bring the various independent domains throughout the country under their control, and all three sought to occupy Inuyama Castle.
Inuyama Castle was built in 1537 by the uncle of Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobuyasu (d. 1554). After Nobuyasu passed away, his son Nobukiyo became the lord of the castle. Nobukiyo and his cousin Nobunaga fought over this territory until 1565, when Nobunaga attacked and Nobukiyo fled to Koshu (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture) , leaving Nobunaga to take Inuyama Castle. After that, Nobunaga began his invasion of Mino Province (present-day southern Gifu Prefecture) in earnest. Securing Inuyama Castle played an extremely important role in the occupation of Mino.
In 1584, the lord of the castle was Nakagawa Sadanari, a vassal of Oda Nobukatsu (1558–1630). However, as a result of the Battle of Komaki-Nagakute that same year, the castle fell into the hands of Hideyoshi, who used it as a base from which to fight against Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had established his own base of attack at Komakiyama Castle (present-day Aichi Prefecture).