The Last Days of Akechi Mitsuhide
Mitsuhide Lived Less Than Two Weeks after the Killing of Oda Nobunaga
Akechi Mitsuhide (March 10, 1528 – July 2, 1582) is best remembered as a traitor, the man responsible for the death of his master, the first unifier of Japan, warlord Oda Nobunaga.
In June of 1582 Akechi Mitsuhide, who had been in charge of entertaining Tokugawa Ieyasu as he accompanied Nobunaga into Kyoto, was relieved of his duties and ordered to support Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi's siege of Takamatsu Castle in the conquest of the Mori clan, and early on June 21, 1582, he led an army of 13,000 not to Takamatsu, but to Kyoto where they attacked the Honno-ji Temple where Nobunaga was staying.
According to the reliable Honjo Soemon Memorandum, the Akechi samurai were not informed of the objective of attacking the Honno-ji, nor that the target was Nobunaga and until the very end, and the author of the memoir, Honjo himself one of the first Akechi men into the Honno-ji, writes that he and the others believed that they were being ordered by Nobunaga to kill Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nobunaga, who was protected by less than 100 attendants against Mitsuhide's 13,000 troops fought bravely, but being overwhelmed, is said to have set fire to the temple’s lodgings and committed seppuku amongst the flames.
(Nobunaga's body was claimed to have never been found, but the details of what happened to his remains can be found in the recent Samurai History & Culture article, available to paid subscribers)
Having attacked the temple, Akechi troops went after Nobunaga's eldest son, Nobutada, and his cousin, Saito Toshiharu, who were in the fortified Nijo-shingosho palace. The Oda troops, although surprised, put up a remarkable defense only to die a loyal death. Meanwhile,Tsuda Nobuzumi (son of Oda Nobuyuki, Nobunaga's younger brother) was suspected of being an Akechi accomplice as he was married to one of Akechi Mitsuhide's daughters, and so he was killed by Kobe (Oda) Nobutaka in Osaka.
After taking control of Kyoto, Mitsuhide immediately pursued the remains of Nobunaga and Nobutada as proof of their deaths. He then set off towards Azuchi Castle, Nobunaga's official base, and to take control of Omi Province, but Yamaoka Kagetaka, the lord of Seta Castle, had burned down the Great Seta Bridge and his castle and retreated to Koka County in Omi Province in an attempt to stop the Akechi from accessing Omi. Yamaoka reported the actions of Mitsuhide's army one by one to Hashiba Hideyoshi, and this caused Akechi's army to suffer heavy losses and lose time before advancing to Azuchi Castle. It took the Akechi three days to construct a new, temporary bridge over the Seta River flowing out of Lake Biwa. Mitsuhide first entered his Sakamoto Castle and had almost pacified Omi by June 23, and on June 24, he entered Azuchi Castle and robbed Nobunaga’s stores of his gold and silver treasures which he distributed among his own retainers and allies.
On June 26, Prince Masahito, eldest son of Emperor Ogimachi, sent Yoshida Kanekazu as an imperial envoy to Azuchi Castle, entrusting him with ensuring Mitsuhide maintained peace in Kyoto. It is thought that this was due to the turmoil and confusion in Kyoto City, caused by what Kanekazu wrote at the time and referred to as "treason." Mitsuhide left Azuchi on June 27 and on June 28 he visited the Imperial Court. There he presented 500 silver coins to the Imperial Court, donated 100 silver coins each to the five major temples of Kyoto and the Daitoku-ji Temple, before presenting 50 silver coins to the imperial envoy Kanekazu.
The Portuguese missionary Luis Frois writes that after the Honno-ji Incident, Mitsuhide sent his army to Settsu Province to occupy the castles there, but refused or failed to take hostages from the feudal lords, which is seen as a reason for his defeat at the hands of Hideyoshi. However, this theory appears to have been an afterthought, and it is said to misunderstand and ignore Mitsuhide's position at the time.
Mitsuhide started his short rein by attempting to pacify the Omi region. This was a commonsense judgment. Omi, being one of the central regions, and with major highways running thorough it, was a strategically important area. However, Hideyoshi's well-orchestrated “Great Return” and relocating his 20-30,000 troops from the Chugoku region back to the south of Kyoto, prevented Mitsuhide from going any further. Mitsuhide remained in Azuchi for five days from the 23rd to the 27th, which is thought to have been a major mistake, as he prioritized maneuvering at the Imperial Court over making allies.
After killing Nobunaga, Mitsuhide sent a letter to the father and son, Hosokawa Fujitaka and Tadaoki, requesting their support as relatives, offering the territory of Settsu, Tajima, or Wakasa, adding “If I can pacify the neighboring provinces and establish a base within 100 days, I will hand over everything to Jugoro (Mitsuhide's eldest son) and Yoichiro (Tadaoki) and retire.” This was written in the letter titled Kaku dated June 28th, which is included in the Hosokawa clan Records. However, researcher Tachibana Kyoko has concluded that "the center line at the top of the kao signature is unprecedentedly thick, and the bottom part, which should be an extension of that line, becomes thinner in a stepped manner, creating an unnatural stroke never seen in other examples of Mitsuhide’s kao.” She suggests that this is document requires further investigation, such as an appraisal of the handwriting.
Hosokawa Yusai and his son Tadaoki of Tango, who were Mitsuhide's loyal retainers and related by marriage, cut off their topknots to show their condolences for Nobunaga, and through strategist Matsui Yasuyuki gave evidence that they had no ulterior motives towards Kobe (Oda) Nobutaka. They also exiled and imprisoned Mitsuhide's daughter, Tadaoki's wife Tama (later known as Hosokawa Gracia) to show their rejection of Mitsuhide's advances.
Tsutsui Junkei, another loyal retainer who controlled the entire Yamato province, was also reluctant to choose a side, so he sent troops to Omi to cooperate with Mitsuhide until Hideyoshi returned.
Upon learning of the Honno-ji Incident, Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, forged a hasty peace agreement with the Mori clan and departed from his siege of Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu via the Chugoku Route, and attacked the Akechi forces at Yamazaki, south of Kyoto July 2, 11 days after the incident. The two armies clashed at Yamazaki at the foot of Mount Tennozan (an area spanning present-day Oyamazaki Town in Kyoto Prefecture and Shimamoto Town in Osaka Prefecture), before the Akechi government had time to organize itself.
At the time of the Battle of Yamazaki, the Hashiba (Toyotomi) forces had some 27,000 men (4,000 supplied by Ikeda Tsuneoki Ikeda, 2,500 from Nakagawa Kiyohide, 8,000 from Oda Nobutaka, Niwa Nagahide, Hachiya Yoritaka, etc., but some sources claim the number to be as high as 40,000). The Akechi forces had around 17,000 men. Hideyoshi's forces had more men, but only about 3,000 from each side could be deployed in the narrow area between Mt. Tennozan and the Yodo River. The main Hashiba forces were exhausted from the forced rush back to Kyoto after the lengthy siege of Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu and had no choice but to rely on the joint efforts of the troops that joined them locally, such as Takayama Ukon and Nakagawa Kiyohide.
There were concerns that if the battle became protracted, it was expected to have a favorable effect for the Akechi forces as there was still confusion regarding the leadership of the Hashiba forces — a makeshift alliance at best — and there was the possibility of other forces siding with Mitsuhide. It was not a situation the Hashiba forces could be optimistic about, however the outcome of the battle was decided early on, with 3,000 troops of the Akechi’s largest force, those of Saito Toshimitsu, being surrounded and defeated in a short time after the battle began.
Mitsuhide’s troops were soon overrun, and Mitsuhide himself turned and fled for his life, hoping to return to the safety of Sakamoto Castle. This is where the information becomes even more hazy. Later that night, Mitsuhide was said to have been killed by peasants practicing mushagari (hunting for defeated warriors), in Ogurusu, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture on his way to Sakamoto Castle. Or he was seriously injured by a farmer peasant wielding a bamboo spear. Stabbed and badly injured, Mitsuhide committed suicide, had his trusted vassal Mizoo Shigetomo (also known as Akechi Shigetomo) assist him. Mizoo hid Mitsuhide’s head in a ditch in a nearby bamboo grove. According to the author of the Shincho Koki, Ota Gyuichi’s Kyuuki records that while Mitsuhide and a dozen other horsemen were traveling along a narrow path above some rice fields in Ogurusu, a farmer attacked and stabbed him in the hip or waist with a rusty spear. At that time, the badly wounded Mitsuhide, left a written order saying that his head should be wrapped in a felt saddle cover, which apparently represents the rank of shugo or governor, and delivered to Kyoto’s Chion-in Temple.
On July 3, Akechi Hidemitsu, the husband of one of Mitsuhide’s daughters, who was guarding Azuchi Castle, returned to Sakamoto Castle with his remaining troops after receiving news of the defeat at Yamazaki, but many of the samurai under him abandoned the clan and fled. Sakamoto Castle was soon surrounded, and Hidemitsu, reluctant to lose the treasures he had collected, prepared to hand them over to the besieging forces along with an inventory of the items. Deciding that a siege was impossible to withstand, he killed Mitsuhide's wife and children, his own wife and children, set fire to the castle, and committed seppuku. With the exception of Mitsuhide’s third daughter Tamako, who had married into the Hosokawa clan, Akechi Mitsuhide, Akechi Hidemitsu, and the families of the warlords who had joined Akechi's forces were all killed by the Oda forces after the Battle of Yamazaki, and the Akechi clan was thus extinguished.
Mitsuhide’s Head
A head, believed to be that of Mitsuhide, was later delivered to Oda Nobutaka by the peasant who found it the next day, and was first displayed at the Honno-ji Temple. Later, the head and torso were supposedly stitched back together and displayed at Awataguchi in Kyoto (present-day Higashiyama-ku and Sakyo-ku in Kyoto City) along with the body of Akechi ally Saito Toshimitsu, who was captured and decapitated on the 6th of July. A grave for both men was built east of Awataguchi on July 24.
Hidden away in a narrow backstreet of eastern Kyoto is a small shrine dedicated to Akechi Mitsuhide, built on the spot long believed to be the burial place of his head.
Having been rewarded for their efforts, the peasants handed over the head to the authorities and the head was then buried in a head mound and mostly forgotten, however in the mid Edo period a shrine was established in remembrance to Mitsuhide. Inside the shrine is a blackened wooden figure of Mitsuhide, locked away and shown to the public only once a year.
Nearby a small traditional sweets shop has been selling Akechi Manju, sweet bean-paste filled cakes since the mid Edo period, in memory of the man despised as a traitor.
I missed the detail that the troops attacked Nobunaga thinking it was Ieyasu. Quite the big irony considering whom Ieyasu would become.
In any case why Mitsuhide did it will probably remain one of those sources of eternal speculation like the true reason of Kennedy's assassination, why Hitler didn't annhilate the British at Dunkirk etc.
Well, you've got to leave something to posterity after all.
I guess we will never truly know how he exactly died. But its a little sad that after all he has done in these 12 days (or the period of time he was planning his moves) he ran away.