%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1447812133077631300
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
%%
[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SengokuBasara https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/odacollage3.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Some people just don't understand "sarcasm" when they hear that "dairokuten-maou" term. Well, it can't be helped.]]

->''"Worship me. Die for your crime of defying the House of One Hundred Demons, and repent in the afterlife. There are none before me, and will be none after me. I am the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, Oda Nobunaga!"''
-->-- '''[[Creator/NorioWakamoto Nobunaga]]''', ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' anime, "Episode 1"

According to the Jesuit Father [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luís_Fróis Luís Fróis,]] UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga called himself "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Demon King of the Sixth Heaven]]" (''dairokuten-maō''), a title properly belonging to Māra, the Buddhist counterpart of {{Satan}} (though portrayed in mythology as a NobleDemon). While Nobunaga was most likely being sarcastic (he was actually very eccentric for people in his age, so in his mind he was just making a bombastic but untrue boast to prep up his fearsomeness to his foes[[note]]And he was only replying to UsefulNotes/TakedaShingen who chastised him for his burning of Mt. Hiei, where Shingen boasted himself as a deity who protects the Tendai area (Tendai-no-zasu Shamon). Nobunaga decided to answer with equal sarcasm, so if Shingen signed himself as god, Nobunaga would sign himself as a demon. This letter is what was discovered by Frois and spread to his people[[/note]]), and in any case he's not the only ''daimyō'' of the
[[UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Sengoku Jidai]] whose ruthlessness has inspired a HistoricalVillainUpgrade, many popular depictions of Nobunaga literally demonize him, or at least give him supernatural powers.

The biggest inspiration of this usually comes from one of Nobunaga's biggest ShootTheDog (or most commonly believed as [[KickTheDog a kick]]) moment: the burning of Mt. Hiei, taking out the Buddhist warrior-monks and leaving none alive, including [[WouldHitAGirl women]] and [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. Whoever had the higher moral ground was unclear at that point (whether Nobunaga was just being callous, or the monks themselves were really disruptive and just adding on chaos in Japan that needed to be quelled no matter what, even if they used religion as a way to excuse their behavior), but considering Buddhism eventually recovered and once again became one of the major religions in Japan, Nobunaga's actions towards those Buddhists were not going to win him many fans from the future Buddhist storytellers, so they tend to use his previous sarcasm and make it a literal statement. And in addition to his more accepting stance with Christian missionaries, being considered 'barbaric foreigners with foreign religion' (more below), Nobunaga himself has been said to be rather disrespecting towards Buddhism in general, so that's even more reason to make him a devil figure by the Buddhist majority.

This is also not helped with Nobunaga's attitude during his time, while he was ruthless, there may be other factors on how Nobunaga was singled out to be the Demon King candidate instead of any other ruthless daimyos out there. In those times, [[GoodOldWays traditional and old fashioned honor was especially revered.]] Nobunaga mostly threw a middle finger on those, as he collaborated with 'barbarous' foreigners to bolster his forces (and also wore European clothes a lot), promoted meritocracy instead of judging people based on their status (which was the norm back then) and several of his enemies that were mostly traditionalist eventually got trounced by him.[[note]]The Azai clan turned against him despite being linked through marriage due to their older alliance with Asakura, which Nobunaga attacked. Additionally, Nobunaga's usage of muskets obliterated the Takeda clan, often thought as the last of the mighty traditional clans thanks to their Takeda Cavalry, in Nagashino.[[/note]] These days, Nobunaga's actions might have been thought to be a stroke of genius, but in the days past, this was considered rather blasphemous and extremely dangerous, such that people thought only demons would think of this kind of trouncing of what was good in their eyes. And considering that even in modern Japan, traditions are well preserved and those who do not try to blend in with others and try to stick out often get ostracized, it's more than likely that Nobunaga would be seen as a violator of Japanese ways, making him perfect to be referred as an evil, tradition-wrecking demon (even if those who value individuality would see Nobunaga as a genius instead).

To summarize: Because history is so often WrittenByTheWinners, he ended up being ''literally'' {{demoniz|ation}}ed when the adherents of the very cultural and religious traditions that Nobunaga opposed so vigorously ended up being the ones controlling the narrative.

In the old days, this trope was used for a more common BlackAndWhiteMorality, since Nobunaga's brutality was perfect to play the role of villain. As time passed, however, values started to shift and people learned about the grayness of war, that the Buddhists that relegated the role to Nobunaga might not have the absolute moral high ground. Because of this, the trope started to evolve. Rather than playing the Demon King factor of Nobunaga totally straight, there are also works that use the NobleDemon or DarkIsNotEvil treatment for our resident Japanese Demon King; just because Nobunaga has demonic traits or can be rather brutal doesn't mean that he always had to play the cackling Saturday morning cartoon villain.

A SubTrope of DevilComplex, HistoricalDomainSuperperson and HistoricalVillainUpgrade. Compare BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy, WeDidntStartTheFuhrer and {{Dracula}} (as Vlad Tepes); another East Asian example is [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms Cao Cao]]'s transformation from his historical persona to a stock CardCarryingVillain in MediaNotes/PekingOpera (though not to the extent of being a demon).
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* In ''Anime/BlackLion'', Nobunaga is actually possessed by alien invaders who equip his armies with high-tech armaments so he can conquer Japan as a beachhead (probably; the backstory isn't covered much).
* In ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'', Nobunaga was Japan's fiercest warlord who has a massive hate on for the main character. True to his nickname, his powers all revolve around Grim Reaper based attacks. [[Creator/ShowHayami Shou Hayami]] voices him here.
* In ''Wrath of the Ninja'', Nobunaga appears to be the chief antagonist for the 3 heroes, conquering Japan with demonic help and seeking to be transformed into a demon himself. [[spoiler:This time, however, there's a ManBehindTheMan, a demon looking to use the bloodshed of war and Nobunaga's cruelty to power the demons themselves, and Nobunaga is just his patsy.]]
* In ''Manga/BloodReignCurseOfTheYoma'', Nobunaga doesn't directly appear, but the story takes place at the height of his conquests, and he influences the story since the main character is a ninja serving the Takeda clan when it opposes Nobunaga, and because the brutality of Nobunaga's conquests is giving power to the Yoma demons. At one point the main character thinks about Nobunaga's brutality and wonders if he is a demon. While he's doing this, Nobunaga and his army are seen in a montage, and all of them have [[GlowingEyesOfDoom glowing]] [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]].
* In [[BigDamnMovie The]] ''Manga/GhostSweeperMikami'' [[TheFilmOfTheSeries movie]], the vampire lord Nosferatu is actually Oda Nobunaga. [[spoiler:Or if Father Karasu's theory is correct, Nosferatu [[KillAndReplace murdered a young Nobunaga and stole his identity]]. Either way, UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide eventually discovered his master's demonic nature and that was the reason for his betrayal at Honno-ji.]]
* In the second ''Manga/PeacockKing'' OVA, ''Castle of Illusion'', a resurrected Nobunaga rebuilds Azuchi Castle as a fortress of evil and commands an unholy army of [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Cherubim]].
* In ''Manga/FlameOfRecca'', Nobunaga was responsible for the destruction of the Hokage clan and the reasoning is a touch to this trope: Nobunaga had a fearsome reputation of being a demonic warlord that the Hokage clan decided to hide all their Madogu and to die in combat as a sacrifice to make sure the demonic warlord did not get his hands on the Madogu. The ploy succeeded. However, at the end of the manga, [[spoiler:Kurei traveled back in time and found Nobunaga trapped inside Honnoji, where [[SubvertedTrope he's just a normal human]] (brutal, but not as much as a previous warlord in a flashback), [[FaceDeathWithDignity is readily accepting his death]] and [[GracefulLoser allows Kurei to have a hand in executing the seppuku for him, letting him pay his last respects to his clan that Nobunaga destroyed]], to which Nobunaga considered an inevitability that a Hokage remnant would want a piece of him.]]
* In ''Saint Fighter Franchise/{{Devilman}}'', Wilfre, one of the Four Heavenly Demon, is revealed to be Oda Nobunaga, reborn as a Devilman.
* Reaches the point of tongue-in-cheek parody in the ''Owari no Kuni'' arc of the ''Anime/TousouchuuGreatMission'' anime. Here, he is [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} literally]] HadesShaded and commands an undead army of ancient Japanese warriors in a bid to break the barrier between the human realm and the demon realm. Subverted at the end of the arc when it is revealed that [[spoiler: he was being controlled by the blue demon who [[ManInFrontOfTheMan merely pretended to be his subordinate]]]] and even perishes as a GracefulLoser.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
* While Oda Nobunaga himself does not appear in ''Anime/BatmanNinja'', the Joker (time-displaced to UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod Japan, along with a few other villains and heroes) takes the title ''Dairokuten-maō'' for himself.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'''s [[TheMovie movie]], the Kougami Foundation created a [[OurHomunculiAreDifferent Homunculus]] copy of Nobunaga; since he was made from the same materials as the villainous Greeed, he ends up becoming a similar creature. However, this is revealed to be involuntary, instead acting as a SuperPoweredEvilSide who comes forth to seek revenge on the descendants of those who killed the original Nobunaga.
* Hilariously inverted in ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'''s [[Film/KamenRiderZiOOverQuartzer movie]], where Nobunaga was a big [[{{Manchild}} crybaby and pushover]]. He was so incompetent that Geiz Myokoin, the Secondary Rider of the series, had to do the things that historically earned Nobunaga this trope.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* ''Music/{{Vocaloid}}'': Parodied in "Not a Dream, Not a Lie, a Happy Scene Before My Eyes" by Utata-P ft. Hatsune Miku. The story concerns two HalfIdenticalTwins who enjoy swapping roles with each other; when a brutal war breaks out, the brother is enlisted to fight in a faraway war, but the sister swaps places with him so he can protect their castle. Right as she leaves, he tells her to bring along their pet cat... who happens to be a reincarnation of Oda Nobunaga that claims he was "hellishly resurrected from the underworld". Because of the cat possessing her body while he sits on top of her head, the sister ends up being incredibly victorious in battle with ''hand-to-hand combat'', using nothing but the Nobunaga cat's own powers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* The ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement ''Secrets of Japan'' reveals that Nobunaga is but one of Nyarlathotep's thousand masks, and that the Outer God still occasionally pulls him out for, of all things, business meetings.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Who’s Who 2'' has an entry for Nobunaga which discusses the possibility of playing him as a literal demon, with reference to some of his more infamously ruthless actions.
* ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' has Shien, an {{Expy}} of Nobunaga (great warlord, morally unscrupulous, unified his country, died at the hands of his retainer). Shien is also depicted as an [[TheAgeless ageless]] [[DarkIsEvil Dark-type]] who wears [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver black-and-crimson winged armor]], has [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red eyes]], and eventually became an evil spirit possessing his armor.
* In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'', Oda Nobunaga is said to have been a vampire, who was eventually defeated by werewolves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/MapleStory: Mark of Honor'', Nobunaga's EvilPlan is to become the reincarnation of the Sixth Heaven Demon King.
* DoubleSubverted in ''VideoGame/OnimushaWarlords'': Nobunaga starts out as human, gets an arrow through the throat, and is ''revived'' by demons to work for them--but winds up [[HellHasNewManagement taking control of the demons who wanted him for a lackey!]] Incidentally, he pulls a OneWingedAngel twice in the [[VideoGame/Onimusha2SamuraisDestiny second game]], once in the [[VideoGame/Onimusha3DemonSiege third]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' there are monsters/Persona based on Nobunaga called "Demon King", in Japanese, it's called "Dairoku Tenmaoh". Later, in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', Kanji Tatsumi's evolved Persona is a shortened version of these demon/Persona: "Rokuten Maoh".
* In ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' Nobunaga is, once again, a cruel, ruthless S.O.B wielding a [[SwordAndGun sword and shotgun]] combo and a [[BadassCape nasty cape]] that can also attack enemies. It's also quite possibly ''the most'' ObviouslyEvil depiction of him ever: a TinTyrant decked out in SpikesOfVillainy and often seen [[SlouchOfVillainy reclining]] on [[NothingButSkulls his throne of skulls]]. And when you have Creator/NorioWakamoto as the voice actor, [[EvilIsHammy ham]] is, of course, to be expected.
** The anime has DramaticThunder and [[OminousLatinChanting Ominous German Chanting]] accompany Nobunaga whenever he makes an appearance.
** The third game and [[spoiler:TheMovie of the anime]] do even better when Nobunaga returns from Hell, having apparently [[HellHasNewManagement taken over the sixth underworld]] and turned his epithet into a literal description. As a playable character, his story pretty much involves killing ''everyone'' else in Japan before returning to hell.
* ''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove'' has Nobunaga as the BigBad commanding TheLegionsOfHell.
* A Japanese-exclusive game for the Platform/PC98, ''Zan: Yaksa Enbukyoku'' (A crossover between ''Yaksa'' and ''Zan'', two of the earlier [[Creator/TelenetJapan Wolf Team]]'s games for Japanese computers) has an interesting twist on this trope: Not only the main characters have to fight against a demonic Nobunaga, they also have to fight against infernal versions of ''both UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu and UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi'' as well. In this case this is semi-justified because the heroes are ''[[UsefulNotes/JapaneseChristian Christians]]'', but it might not make any sense because Nobunaga is actually a fan of foreign stuffs like Christianity. On the other hand, the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis MegaDrive]] version of the same game removes Ieyasu and Hideyoshi from the evil trio, leaving only Nobunaga leading an army of demons in their place, not to mention it also removes any reference about Christianity in the game.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors''. Nobunaga most certainly looks the part of a black-armored EvilOverlord wielding a blade shrouded in darkness, but is portrayed as a ruthless WellIntentionedExtremist who seeks to drag Japan kicking and screaming into an era of peace. He was more overtly brutal and villainous in the first game, with later installments touching upon more of his noble qualities. It's outright subverted in the ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi'' series, where he's consistently on the side of the heroes fighting against {{Orochi}}; that is, until ''4'', where he leads a war of conquest in the new world [[spoiler:as a SecretTestOfCharacter to prepare them for the eventual battle against the Greek and Norse gods.]]
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'', of all places. Despite being the BigBad, Nobunaga is actually a rather sympathetic character. Noticeably, his choice of [[BondCreatures partner Pokémon]] are [[OlympusMons Zekrom and Shiny Rayquaza]] which may ''[[ObviouslyEvil look]]'' like it would put him in this territory, but in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite the main series lore]] Zekrom is considered [[DarkIsNotEvil not inherently evil]], but rather it and its [[LightIsNotGood white counterpart Reshiram]] are both known for having been used in the past by {{Well Intentioned Extremist}}s and {{Knight Templar}}s -- [[FridgeBrilliance which historians consider the actual Oda Nobunaga to have been]].
* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'': In this game, he really did mass-murder a great many men, women and children at Mt. Hiei, but treats his crimes as another facet of a rather complicated man, one who was driven by ambition and who also appreciated life and death to the fullest. He demonstrates this by [[spoiler:flipping the bird to the necromancer who brought him back, then giving the protagonist his pet phoenix before leaving to the afterlife, even though he was given the demonic power to rule the world uncontested]]. Most of Nobunaga's former retainers say that he was a strange, unpredictable man. He's voiced by Kou Shibusawa, [[DescendedCreator a major head producer]] at Creator/KoeiTecmo. Notable for the fact that [[spoiler:despite following the trope very closely, even as a fabled Demon King, Nobunaga was portrayed not as a megalomaniacal super villain, but more of a NobleDemon.]] The prequel generally follows suit with Nobunaga at his younger days where [[spoiler:while he can be brutal, it's not as severe as the stories made him out to be. Additionally, his henchman [[UsefulNotes/ToyotomiHideyoshi Tokichiro]] kind of had a hand of making him look a bit too demonic and manipulating the stories around him.]]
* In [[VideoGame/NinjaMastersHaoNinpoCho Ninja Masters's Haoh Ninpo Cho]], Nobunaga was supposedly dead and then suddenly reappeared as a demonic lord, having made a DealWithTheDevil with a powerful demon named Haoh. So naturally, the cast decides to go to Nobunaga's Golden Palace to destroy him... [[spoiler: In Nobunaga's own ending, [[TheBadGuyWins however]], [[TakingOverTheWorld he ends up conquering the world]].]]
* ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'' depicts Nobunaga as a [[AntiHero deeply flawed but ultimately sympathetic]] person who has quite understandably earned the hatred of multiple characters for his ruthless killing of countless people but also has just as understandably earned the loyalty and admiration of multiple other characters with his charisma, ToughLove for his men, and genuinely well-intentioned ambition to create a world in which no one has to suffer from poverty or class-based discrimination. He has no supernatural powers in this game, but is given the "Devil King of the Sixth Heaven" moniker by Kennyo, a monk who witnessed his killing of other monks and has vowed to kill him in revenge but is portrayed as being not that different from him.
* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': The GenderFlip of Oda Nobunaga, having originated from a gag manga, has this trope generally PlayedForLaughs. Nobu ''tries'' to be a CardCarryingVillain, proudly calling herself Demon King, but she's such a goofball (as well as [[TheNapoleon extremely short]]) that she just ends up looking the opposite of threatening. However, because HistoricalVillainUpgrade is an in-universe factor that can posthumously warp Servants, Nobu gets a "Demon King" trait which allows her to shapeshift into a more threatening form to fit her reputation. [[MundaneUtility She only uses it to]] [[BreastExpansion make her boobs bigger.]]
** The fourth iteration of her event seems to play this directly straight, introducing a new version of Nobunaga, with an Avenger class, at the height of her legend as the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, doing away with the gag and joking nature she had before. But you have to level her up first, because she starts out as just her wacky Archer form in a new class, followed by somewhat-''male'' Nobunaga, and THEN you get the Demon King... who's still female. And then played with in that her alignment is only ChaoticNeutral to every other Avenger's ChaoticEvil, making her effectively a TokenGoodTeammate.
* ''VideoGame/PuzzleAndDragons'' features two monsters that play off multiple aspects of the Nobunaga history and mythos. Dark Samurai Dragon, Nobunaga and its evolution, Unwavering Demon Dragon, Nobunaga are both part of the Samurai Dragon monster series, both are Attacker and Devil types, and both have Dark and Fire as their attacks.
* ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown''[='s=] take on Oda, Gaoh, actually stays human in his canon appearance as the final boss of ''V'' and ''V Special''. However for the non-canon ''VI'', he becomes Demon Gaoh and commits to the trope.
* In ''Sengoku Rance'' the actual Nobunaga is a jovial, joking (though sickly) man not dissimilar to the "fool" persona people knew him for in his youth. Then he gets possessed by the Dark Lord Xavier and becomes the monster he's usually protrayed as. By the end there's nothing left of his original personality and he's just another demon to kill.
* ''VideoGame/{{IMGCM}}'': In "NEAT" limited-time event, stage boss Demon King of Sixth Heaven Oda Nobunaga from AlternateUniverse, who is GenderFlipped and has similar hairstyle with Eliza, seems to be a ruthless samurai warlord [[FishOutOfTemporalWater who gets stranded in the modern main universe]]. It's revealed that she has supernatural powers in her OneWingedAngel form. On another note, ''MGCM'' has its own dress series "Dairoku Tenmaoh/Demon King of Sixth Heaven" for Eliza and Seira, which resembles the female expy of Oda Nobunaga, complete with an {{oni}} face shaped shoulder armor plate and firearms (reference to Oda Nobunaga's revolutionizing the ways Japanese armies used firearms).
* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': Ode Iou, the BigBad of the Bakumatsu chapter, is modeled after Nobunaga, he looked like Nobunaga in pictures, and is a brutal warlord that wanted Japan to go back to the warring states era instead moving forward to peace. He's also a demonic frog in disguise, [[spoiler:as well as the incarnation of Odio, the God of Hatred, in the Bakumatsu era.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* As opposed to her more gag-natured traits in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'' or ''Koha-Ace'', Nobunaga plays the trope straighter in ''WebComic/FateTypeRedline'', since it's basically the previously [[GagSeries hilarious Imperial Holy Grail War]] [[DarkerAndEdgier re-imagined in a dead serious manner.]] She pretty much trades her wacky antics for terrifying battle lust with SlasherSmile aplenty, living up to the term 'Demon King'. And that's without becoming her final Avenger version. She still comes off as a NobleDemon, as her summoners are actually members of UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan, known for their extreme brutality that sometimes [[EvenEvilHasStandards rubs off Nobunaga the wrong way.]]
[[/folder]]
----