The Incident At Honnō-ji Never Happens

Say Akechi Mitsuhide, for whatever reason he did in OTL, decides not to commit this act of treachery, and remains one of the most loyal retainers of Oda Nobunaga.

How does the Warring States period continue to evolve from here?
 
Seems most likely to me that Nobunaga would be the unifier of Japan and not Hideyoshi. But to butterfly away Honnoji you would need Nobunaga to spare the life of Hitano Hideharu and not to publicly humiliate him (I imagine these were the main reasons for his betrayal).
Depending on his successors Japan might never have closed itself in.
 
Nobunaga unites Japan, and probably will try to invade Korea and Formosa shortly thereafter. He will also continue to permit innovation, especilaly in warfare, so Japan's Red Seal Ships will be more numerous and more advanced. It is possible they begin to send vessels to trade as far as India and might try to colonize various islands in the Pacific or the eastern shore of Siberia, possibly even Alaska or down into Oregon Country. If technology is allowed to progress you could also see Samurai evolve into some of the finest dragoon/cavalry on the planet. After the unification I'm not sure what happens specifically but if the Japanese remain open to the rest of the world they are potentially a powerhouse by 1800.
 
Oda Nobunaga traded with the Europeans but he didn't allow himself to be converted to Christianity. So over all if Nobunaga managed to unify Japan he would be a competent ruler and the Japanese Culture would be further developed.
 
Nobunaga had a great understanding of macro and micro economics, so there would've been considerable development. Europeans were permitted in but they were simply a means to an end. I remember reading somewhere (can't remember where) that he had one of his sons baptised to receive greater trading privileges but I can't verify that.
Either way if he survived Japan would've changed dramatically under him and hopefully his descendants wouldn't reverse that.
 
What would happens of Hideyoshi? the guy also knew the importance of trading, he was from osaka I think, and was again an example of 'Land VS Sea' compared to Tokugawa, who took power after yet more warfare.
 
Well Hideyoshi would still be under Nobunaga.

On the plus side, the Oda Clan fields a competent peasant-based infantry.
 
Top