Who Is Nobunaga Hazama?

Nobunaga Hazama is a major antagonist in the anime and manga series Hunter x Hunter, created by Yoshihiro Togashi. He is a founding member of the Phantom Troupe (also known as "The Spiders"), an infamous, Class-A bounty gang of murderous thieves originally hailing from Meteor City. Within the group, he bears the spider tattoo with the number 1.

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Appearance

Nobunaga Hazama, #1 of the Phantom Troupe, has a distinct appearance modeled after a traditional Japanese ronin or masterless samurai. He stands at 6'0" (183 cm) with a lean, athletic build and is typically seen with a stern, sullen, or cold facial expression.

He has long black hair tied into a tall, single vertical topknot, though on rare casual occasions, he wears his hair completely down. He also has a thin pencil moustache paired with a small patch of hair (soul patch) on his chin. Nobunaga’s eyes are sharp and dark, reflecting his aggressive and observant nature.

His characteristic Phantom Troupe spider tattoo features the number "1" on the abdomen, though its exact location on his body has not yet been revealed. He wears a dark, classic Japanese-style robe (haori) paired with loose, matching short pants. His midsection is bound tightly in white sarashi cloth wraps, with matching cloth wrappings protecting his lower legs, and he wears traditional Japanese thonged sandals (zōri).

Nobunaga carries a long, iconic katana that rests at his left hip inside its sheath, ready for quick-draw Iaido strikes. During specific stealth assignments or off-duty moments, he swaps his samurai garb for a simple modern t-shirt and casual blue jeans.

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Personality

Nobunaga possesses a complex personality that balances fierce loyalty and emotional vulnerability with the cold-blooded, ruthless nature expected of a Class-A criminal. Unlike more detached members of the Troupe, Nobunaga feels deeply. His profound grief over the death of his best friend and longtime combat partner, Uvogin, drove much of his narrative in the Yorknew City arc.

He is exceptionally loyal to the Phantom Troupe’s leader, Chrollo Lucilfer. This loyalty is so fierce that he is willing to break the Troupe's strict "no infighting" rule and draw his sword against fellow members (like Phinks or Hisoka) if he feels the group's core mission or safety is compromised.

Nobunaga is considered one of the friendlier, more approachable members of the Spider. He took an immediate liking to Gon and Killua, smiling at their antics and fiercely advocating for Chrollo to recruit them into the Troupe. His soft spot for Gon stems from Hisoka's Nen personality test; Nobunaga recognizes Gon as a classic Enhancer, passionate, direct, and stubborn, mirroring Uvogin's exact nature.

Despite his capacity for empathy and warmth toward allies, Nobunaga remains a brutal mass murderer. He participated in the total slaughter of the Kurta Clan and does not hesitate to execute anyone who stands in the Troupe's way, famously beheading Squala without a shred of remorse. He respects strength and unwavering resolve but shows zero mercy to those he deems weak, treacherous, or uncooperative. 

While he presents himself as a traditional, calm samurai-style warrior, he is easily provoked into shouting matches and physical altercations by his teammates. When calm, Nobunaga is highly analytical. However, when caught off guard or acting on pure emotion, he struggles with rapid, unexpected decision-making. This flaw was exploited when the Shadow Beast Owl trapped his vehicle, and later when Gon and Killua successfully managed to escape his watch.

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Background

Nobunaga is a founding member (bearing the #1 spider tattoo) of the Phantom Troupe. He fights as a vanguard swordsman, relying on his master-level Iaidō (quick-draw) skills paired with a tightly compressed, ultra-precise 4-meter En radius. Nobunaga is driven heavily by personal loyalty, emotional ties, and an unyielding desire for revenge.

Nobunaga grew up in the lawless, off-the-grid wasteland of Meteor City alongside Chrollo Lucilfer, Uvogin, Machi, Feitan, Phinks, Shalnark, Franklin, and Pakunoda. As kids, they formed a tight-knit amateur theater troupe to bring joy to the city. Nobunaga enthusiastically participated in dubbing a popular children’s show called Mighty Sweepin' Power Cleaners, practicing to voice the Green Cleaner.

Their innocent days ended abruptly when their childhood friend, Sarasa, was brutally murdered and mutilated by outsiders. This traumatic event shattered the group. To find her killers and create a terrifying deterrent that would protect Meteor City forever, Chrollo resolved to step into a life of absolute villainy and Nobunaga and the others swore total loyalty to him.

Three years after Sarasa's death, the Phantom Troupe was officially formed. As a core vanguard fighter, Nobunaga participated in numerous high-profile crimes, including the infamous massacre of Kurapika’s people, the Kurta Clan. Before and during the early years of the Troupe, Nobunaga was best friends and inseparable combat partners with Uvogin. Franklin noted that Uvogin was at his absolute strongest when fighting alongside Nobunaga, whose specialized 1v1 defensive swordsmanship perfectly covered Uvogin's reckless, all-out offensive style.

In the current Royal Succession War arc taking place aboard the Black Whale No. 1 transport ship, Nobunaga is embroiled in a multi-layered mafia war while actively hunting down a deadly enemy. The Phantom Troupe has boarded the Black Whale with a primary objective: find and kill Hisoka Morow to avenge his brutal murder of their comrades, Shalnark and Kortopi. 

Simultaneously, Nobunaga still carries an intense grudge against Kurapika (the "Chain User") for killing his best friend, Uvogin, back during the Yorknew City arc. To navigate the deeply segregated tiers of the ship, the Troupe splits up and strikes tactical alliances with the ship's underbelly mafia families. Nobunaga, alongside Phinks and Feitan, allies with the Cha-R Family.

The Cha-R and Xi-Yu families ask for the Spiders' help in exterminating the Heil-Ly Family, a chaotic mafia faction led by Morena Prudo, whose members are using Nen-granting "contagion" abilities to slaughter people on the ship to level up. Nobunaga aggressively leads the charge to locate their hidden hideout.

Nobunaga teams up with Hinirgh (an underboss of the Xi-Yu family) to track down the Heil-Ly hideout. They discover a mysterious, warp-trap room. Demonstrating a rare flash of caution, Nobunaga investigates a wall where a member hid, only to get caught in a complex conjuration trap set by Morena's subordinates.

While inside the trap room, Nobunaga is forced to fight an opponent whose conjured figures cannot take damage. Despite breaking the tip of his katana, he uses Shu to reinforce the broken blade. Ultimately, the room's Nen rules forcefully evict him, and the Heil-Ly members successfully confiscate his signature katana.

Undeterred by the loss of his weapon, Nobunaga regroups with the mafia and his Troupe members. He re-arms himself with spare swords from the Cha-R warehouse and is currently pushing deeper into the ship's lower tiers, working to bypass the Heil-Ly's spatial Nen traps and slaughter them.

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Powers and Abilities

In Hunter x Hunter, Nobunaga Hazama’s core abilities rely entirely on his mastery of swordsmanship, hyper-refined reflexes, and peak human physical conditioning. As a member of the Phantom Troupe's vanguard squad, he is a lethal combatant even when ignoring his Nen aura.

Physical and Combat Abilities

• Master Swordsmanship (Iaidō): Nobunaga is a grandmaster of Iaidō (the art of quickly drawing a sword, striking, and resheathing). His drawing speed is so extreme that his blade path is completely invisible to the naked eye.

• Decisive Strike Execution: He relies on striking down opponents in a single, fluid motion, famously decapitating Squala in a flash without anyone perceiving the unsheathing.

• Dual Wielding: While he prefers a single long katana, flashbacks reveal he is equally proficient in fighting with two swords simultaneously.

• God-like Reflexes: His reaction time is exceptional. Uvogin explicitly noted that for a warrior of Nobunaga's caliber, covering one's ears before a localized, deafening sonic shout hits them is a trivial task.

• Superhuman Agility: He can scale vertical structures effortlessly. He has been seen running seamlessly along the sides of high-rise buildings and leaping horizontally from one skyscraper window to another in a single bound.

• Raw Physical Strength: He places 9th in the Phantom Troupe's internal arm-wrestling ranking, which places him lower than giants like Uvogin or Phinks, but still allows him to easily overpower normal humans and suppress seasoned hunters through brute muscle power alone.

• Preternatural Perception: Nobunaga possesses an incredibly sharp "sixth sense" for environmental changes, allowing him to perceive hidden observers or sense bloodlust long before a trap is sprung.

• Analytical Intellect: Though prone to emotional outbursts regarding his fallen comrades, he demonstrates a highly calculated combat mind when calm. He is skilled at deducing enemy strategies, finding flaws in defensive positioning, and mapping out a target's singular behavioral patterns.

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Nen Affinity and Abilities

Nen (念) is a fundamental power system that allows individuals to control their life energy, known as aura. By manipulating their aura, Nen users can create unique supernatural abilities called Hatsu, enhancing their physical capabilities or creating complex, personal powers. 

• Nen Affinity: Nobunaga Hazama is a confirmed Enhancer who leans slightly toward Transmutation on the official Hunter x Hunter Nen affinity chart. He acts as one of the primary front-line vanguards for the Phantom Troupe, blending his physical reinforcement with master-level samurai swordsmanship. Unlike many other Nen masters in the series, Nobunaga's official, specific named Hatsu (Nen ability) has never been explicitly revealed or detailed in the manga or anime.

  • Mastery of En: Nobunaga's trademark technique is a 4-metre radius En. While 4 metres is technically small for a Nen user of his caliber, it is highly specialized. The radius perfectly matches the maximum reach of his katana and physical lunge. Within this perimeter, his aura acts as a perfect radar, allowing him to perceive the exact position and movement of anything instantly.

  • Iaidō Integration: He combines his En with Iaidō (the martial art of quick-drawing a sword). He keeps his blade sheathed until the exact split-second an opponent crosses into his 4-metre aura. The moment they step inside, he executes a lethal, blindingly fast draw that can instantly bisect an opponent before they can react.

  • Weapon Enhancement: As an Enhancer, he reinforces the durability and sharpness of his katana using his aura. Because he funnels a massive portion of his aura into his sword to guarantee instant-death decapitations, his physical body's defensive durability is notably lower than fellow Troupe Enhancers like Uvogin or Phinks.

  • Improvised Weapon Creation: In later manga arcs (during the Succession Contest), after temporarily losing his sword, Nobunaga demonstrated the ability to use a small degree of Conjuration or Transmutation to seamlessly manifest or shape an alternative blade to maintain his lethal reach.

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Goals and Reputation

Nobunaga's motivations are deeply tied to his profound loyalty to his hometown, his leader Chrollo Lucilfer, and his fallen comrades. His primary drive throughout the series shifts based on who the Troupe has lost. He holds a massive grudge against Kurapika (the "Chain Bastard") for killing his best friend and ideal combat partner, Uvogin. Later, he shifts focus toward hunting Hisoka Morow to avenge the brutal murders of Shalnark and Kortopi.

During the Succession Contest Arc aboard the Black Whale, his immediate mission is to completely wipe out Morena Prudo’s chaotic Heil-Ly mafia family, who are actively threatening the Troupe. Rooted in his tragic childhood in Meteor City, Nobunaga’s underlying goal has always been to protect his home and avenge their childhood friend, Sarasa, which originally sparked the creation of the Troupe.

Within the world of Hunter x Hunter, Nobunaga’s reputation is a paradox of terrifying brutality and surprising emotional vulnerability. He is feared as a cold-blooded, mass-murdering terrorist. He gave a masterclass in his absolute ruthlessness when he casually decapitated the bodyguard Squala for ignoring warnings.

But within the Troupe he is known as a brash, stubborn, yet highly empathetic member. While he is quick to clash with teammates like Phinks over rules, they respect his combat instincts. He is considered a "vanguard" tracker and close-range protector. Nobunaga is also one of the few Spiders who openly communicates and respects outsiders if they show grit. He grew so fond of Gon’s stubbornness (which reminded him of Uvogin) that he uncharacteristically cried over Uvo's death in front of them and tried to recruit the boys into the Troupe.

Among Hunter x Hunter fans, Nobunaga occupies a unique, well-regarded niche as the most "human" Spider. Fans widely appreciate Nobunaga because he feels like the most emotionally transparent and grounded member of the Troupe. Seeing a ruthless villain genuinely weep for his dead best friend made him an incredibly layered, beloved character early on.

In major community polls, Nobunaga usually ranks comfortably in the middle tier of the Troupe (frequently around 7th place). He has a dedicated base that loves his classic, scruffy samurai aesthetic and his comedic bickering with Phinks. 

A running joke and major point of theory-crafting in the fanbase is that Nobunaga is the only original Troupe member whose specific Hatsu (Nen ability) has never been named or revealed. Fans often debate whether author Yoshihiro Togashi is hiding an incredibly overpowered, precise sword technique, or if Nobunaga simply uses basic Nen enhancement on a normal sword.

Some corners of the fanbase playfully mock him for having a relatively small En (only 4 meters) or for letting Gon and Killua trick him and escape in Yorknew City. However, during the Black Whale arc, his stock rose significantly as fans enjoyed his tactical teamwork with the mafia and his no-nonsense attitude toward new threats.