Japan is at war with itself. At Okehazama, Oda Nobunaga of Owari, rumored to be a fool, spectacularly defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto of Mikawa as he was leading a much larger host than Nobunaga's toward the capital city, Miyako. Nobunaga has decided to take Yoshimoto's place and lead his own forces to Miyako, so he is compelled to ally with the Azai clan in order to suppress Mino, a province lying between Owari and Miyako, by having his younger sister Oichi wed Nagamasa, the Azai clan's sucessor. However, Mino is also the birthplace of Nobunaga's wife, Kichou. Her former retainers and people are in Mino, and Kichou is vehemently opposed to the province's destruction, even if it is now in the hands of an enemy who overthrew her father, Saitou Dousan. But Nobunaga, who has embarked upon his path to conquest, holds to his course.
