Akechi Mitsuhide

In his early years he served Asakura Yoshikage. After joining Nobunaga he took part in the Tanba campaign and the pacification of Yamashiro, holding Sakamoto Castle (Ōmi), Kameyama Castle (Tanba) and Fukuchiyama Castle (Tanba), and carrying out land surveys and other administration in his domains. He was accomplished in tea ceremony and linked verse (renga), associating with the tea master Tsuda Sōgyū, the renga master Satomura Jōha, Hosokawa Yūsai and others. On 2 June 1582 (old calendar) he led his army against Nobunaga at Honnō-ji in Kyoto, and Nobunaga died by self-immolation. His motive remains unsettled: personal resentment, religious concern and political ambition are all argued, and none may be stated as certain. The famous opening verse composed at Mount Atago, "Toki wa ima, ame ga shita shiru, satsuki kana" ("Now is the time; the rains rule the realm; in the fifth month"), may be told as an anecdote, but reading it as a hint at rebellion (a pun on "Toki", his clan name) is a later embellishment and must be noted as such. On 13 June he was defeated by Hashiba Hideyoshi at Yamazaki; while retreating he was killed at Ogurusu (present-day Fushimi Ward, Kyoto) by ochimusha-gari (local warriors, peasants and bandits hunting defeated soldiers) with bamboo spears (an alternative account says suicide; the mainstream account is given with the variant noted). His head was first displayed at Honnō-ji, then buried with his retainer Saitō Toshimitsu east of Awataguchi in Kyoto. His daughter Hosokawa Tama (Gracia) married Hosokawa Tadaoki; after Yamazaki the Akechi clan was essentially destroyed, and Sakamoto Castle was held by Akechi Hidemitsu, who then set it alight and died.

• Birthplace: Uncertain. The conventional account gives Akechi Manor in Mino Province (around present-day Ena, Gifu Prefecture), marked as uncertain.
• Places of activity: Sakamoto Castle (present-day Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture), Kameyama Castle (Tanba Province, present-day Kameoka, Kyoto Prefecture), Fukuchiyama Castle (present-day Fukuchiyama, Kyoto Prefecture), Kyoto (the site of the Honnō-ji Incident).
• Place of death: Ogurusu, Kyoto (present-day Fushimi Ward).
• Burial place: East of Awataguchi, Kyoto (said to be buried together with Saitō Toshimitsu).
• Further reading places: Fukuchiyama Castle (Mitsuhide's castle-building and flood-control works), Sakamoto Castle ruins, Mount Atago (the site of the renga anecdote).

Cultural significance

Mitsuhide is one of the greatest mysteries in Japanese history: the motive for the Honnō-ji Incident, his whereabouts after Yamazaki (the "Tenkai = Mitsuhide" theory, which claims he entered the priesthood and became Tenkai, adviser to Tokugawa Ieyasu, is pure legend), and the contrast between his image as a benevolent ruler in Fukuchiyama and as a traitor in Kyoto have made him a perennial subject of novels and films. Fukuchiyama City still uses Mitsuhide as its civic symbol, and Fukuchiyama Castle and Goryō Shrine are associated sites.