The Honno-Ji Incident
Nobunaga’s victory seemed assured by 1582, the Mori’s allies had been all but conquered and just a few warlords on the fringes of his empire were able to evade his grasp Japan was his. Nobunaga had grown more and more cruel as his power grew, starting back in 1571 when he ordered the burning of Mt hiei and the women and children slaughtered there. He also was becoming more ruthless to his friends and family, in 1579 his direct actions led to one of his greatest and oldest generals Akechi Mitsuhide’s mother’s death. In the same year he ordered the death of his greatest ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu’s son and wife after suspected betrayal,
Ieyasu’s son and heir was married to Nobunaga’s daughter, allegedly Ieyasu’s wife and daughter-in-law did not get along. Nobunaga’s daughter wrote a treacherous letter to Nobunaga saying that Ieyasu’s wife had been plotting against him. Nobunaga grew suspicious, and confronted Ieyasu. Nobunaga ordered Ieyasu to execute both his wife and son.
Some have suggested that Nobunaga was testing Ieyasu to see if he was still loyal to him.
Hideyoshi had now reached Bitchu province, nearby was the Mori stronghold of Aki. Here he approached another castle called Takamatsu that sat in the middle of a plain surrounded by some rivers. Building a dike he flooded the plain and the castle of Takamatsu, building rafts his men were able to float in and fire upon the castle while still not being effected by the water.
However, intelligence came that the Mori would be arriving with a large force soon to liberate their castle. Fearing he may be overrun, Hideyoshi requested aid from Nobunaga. Nobunaga was elated at the news. This would be a great battle between the Mori’s forces and his own, this would be the final battle before his dream of a unified Japan, that he had worked for decades for would be completed. Nobunaga began gathering his forces, fresh from their victories in the east, in this army would be himself, Nobunaga and his son and heir Nobutada.
Nobunaga requested Mitsuhide join him from the north and link up with Hideyoshi to defeat the Mori once and for all.
Nobunaga and his son Nobutada arrived at Honno-Ji temple in Kyoto for a tea ceremony with just his personal bodyguard, Yasuke among them, attending him.
During the night Nobunaga was awoken by the shouting of soldiers from the outside "The enemy awaits at Honnō-ji!
Nobunaga believed it was drunken peasants getting into a brawl, however once he looked outside there was a large army waiting for him.
Akechi mitsuhide had led his 13,000 man army not to Hideyoshi but to Nobunaga at Honno-ji. Excluding his personal bodyguard the few with Nobunaga were not soldiers, but artisans, merchants and women. impossibly outnumbered Oda Nobunaga still mounted a valiant defence, with Nobunaga himself joining in the fighting, firing his bow until it snapped from too much use… Oda soldiers began to fall.
The Chaos of the battle caused the citizens of Kyoto to flee in terror with some even entering the Imperial Palace for protection.
Nobunaga then realizing the futility as his men fell one by one, took his remaining men, including his possible lover Mori Ranmaru (from a different lesser known Mori clan) into a chamber deep in the temple
Nobunaga told Yasuke to flee, he would have a better chance to survive as he was not Japanese.
A fire erupted outside the temple, and Nobunaga had his men Barricade the doors.
Oda Nobunaga then committed Seppoku, With his last words being "Ran, don't let them come in ..."
(ran being Mori Ranmaru)
After his master's death, Ranmaru then set the room on fire in order to prevent Oda's head from being decapitated and used as a trophy. Ranmaru and the remaining men then committed Seppoku as the room burned around them…
The remains of Oda Nobunaga have never been found.
After the Honno-Ji incident, Mitsuhide attacked another nearby temple where Oda Nobutada, Nobunaga’s son and heir had been staying.
Yasuke made his way to Nobutada to warn him and defend the son of his former lord and master.
However Mitsuhide had arrived and again the situation was futile, massively outnumbered Yasuke alongside Nobutada fought as best as they could but in the end Nobutada met his end as well.
This is where the true tragedy for the Oda came. Not only was their clan leader Nobunaga killed but his heir and oldest son was as well. Nobutada had been an accomplished general and was being groomed for the position as leader of the Oda clan after his father’s eventual death.
Another of Nobunaga’s children Katsunaga who was only 13 at the time met his demise in Kyoto that night, he was the child hostage who had been taken by the Takeda and was later released.
Nobunaga had two other sons Nobukatsu and Nobutaka however they were both married off to royal clans in order to prevent a succession crisis.
Yasuke was captured and taken to Mitsuhide, who mocked and degraded him, laughing that an African believed he could be a samurai and calling him inhuman. In the end this saved Yasuke as Mitsuhide spared him and sent him to his former masters the Jesuit Missionarys allowing him to live.
As for the African captive no one knows what became of him, some say he died of his wounds, others that he returned to his own country, but I like to think he may of at last found some small measure of peace that we all seek, and few of us ever find….
-Insert last samurai theme- and Joke
Tokugawa Ieyasu had been visiting Nobunaga and was nearby Kyoto when the Honno-Ji incident occurred. Without an army for himself he was in a dire situation, Mitsuhide would have certainly killed Ieyasu had he found him. Ieyasu either lucky or brilliant had in his retinue a ninja who had worked for him in the past named Hattori Hanzo. Hanzo snuck Ieyasu out into an enemy ninja clan’s guild who offered to help Ieyasu because in the past Ieyasu had saved the ninjas from Nobunagas wrath. They served as his personal bodyguard and snuck him out of enemy territory and back to his home province of Mikawa
The reasons behind Mitsuhide’s betrayal have never been known however there has been much speculation on the subject. Mitsuhide was a great general however Nobunaga had publicly humiliated him on a number of occasions, sometimes in front of visiting guests. This brought great shame upon Mitsuhide.
The story of his mother has been controversial as it first came up in the following centuries, however if true this would make perfect sense as to why Mitsuhide acted the way he did.
Another reason was that Mitsuhide was working closely with the Chosokabe on Shikoku Island, Nobunaga planned on continuing after his conquest of the Mori, promising Chosokabe land to his other lords even before war was started. The Chosokabe were Oda allies and Mitsuhide might have grown angry that not only had his work been completely disregarded but that Nobunaga showed no loyalty to those who served.
Another story claims that when Nobunaga gave Akechi the order to assist Toyotomi Hideyoshi, it was somehow hinted that Akechi would lose his current territories and would have to fight for land which was not even under Oda control yet. As Nobunaga had sent two senior retainers under him, into exile for poor performance, Akechi might have thought that he could suffer a similar fate. Akechi was already in his early fifties and although highly ranked didn’t have a great military record behind him, and some believe he might have felt insecure about such a grim future.
Luís Fróis a Jesuit missionary, wrote that Mitsuhide liked to use treachery and diversion as his strategy. He also suggested daimyōs disliked Mitsuhide because he did not belong to the fudai clan, which had served his master's clan for a long time. Many books said Nobunaga insulted and kicked, or even forced Mitsuhide to drink sake at a party, even though he was not a heavy drinker.
Oda Nobunaga’s legacy would live on, he was a unifier, a visionary, and a great reformer.
He revolutionized Samurai warfare, he spread western culture and ideas, he restricted the economy that benefited the poor, he implemented vast advancements to the infrastructure building roads and bridges all across Japan.
Had Nobunaga lived it is possible we would have seen a very different Japan than the one we have today. Nobunaga embraced western culture whereas his successors completely closed off Japan to the outside world. We can only speculate what Japan would have been like had he not been assassinated at the Honno-Ji Incident
After the murder of Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide did something not even Nobunaga was bold enough to do…
He declared himself shogun
