It's just the way it is -
Who sings better, who sings worse
Even among the cicadas.
Issa
Meanwhile, June 19 came. Nobunaga inspected the reinforcements intended to help Hideyoshi, after which he went to Kyoto, to the Honno-ji temple, where he usually stayed as if in a hotel. But if before that he took several thousand samurai with him, then for some reason this time he took with him no more than a hundred bodyguards. The next day he took up the tea ceremony, while Mitsuhide, having gathered an army of about 13,000 men, set out at dusk from Kameyama Castle. But he did not go to join Hideyoshi, as he was ordered, but to the capital. Before dawn on June 21, 1582, Mitsuhide announced to his troops: "The enemy is in Honno-ji!" After which they entered the capital, surrounded the temple and began to storm it.
Oda Nobutaga (right with a mustache) and a spearman who attacked him. Uki-yo Nobukatsu Yosai.
Matsuhide's superiority was manifold. A continuous musket fire was fired at the temple, and archers bombarded it with arrows. The temple caught fire, and all of its defenders died in the fire. It is believed that Oda Nobunaga, being wounded, committed suicide by committing seppuku. His body was never found. Then it was the turn of Odo's son Nabutagi, after which Matsuhide captured the Azuchi castle and burned it. But further, further, he returned to Kyoto, received an audience with the emperor there, after which he declared himself a shogun. It is clear that he could not do this without the consent of the emperor. Well, the emperor, apparently, did not care whether there was a shogun or not.
Oda Nobunaga fights at Honno-ji Temple. Uki-yo Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.
The Japanese would not be Japanese if they did not seek to establish exactly what actually prompted or forced Akechi to revolt against his rightful master. The simplest and most obvious explanation is that, although he was one of the closest generals of Nobunaga, he was nevertheless forced to endure beatings and insults from him. Well, his proud soul could not bear it and he decided to take revenge on him for it. In addition, Oda was not a supporter of Japanese antiquity and traditions, that is, everything that Mitsuhide respected so much. That is, most believe that Akechi opposed Oda for personal reasons. There is a version that Akechi participated in a conspiracy of Oda's enemies, who had a grudge against him and tried to destroy him at any cost. The emperor is also named among them - too quickly he gave Akechi the mandate of the shogun, as if he was just waiting for this, and his sworn enemy, the former shogun Yoshiaki and such "comrades-in-arms" of Nobunaga as Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Portrait of Akechi Mitsuhide. Author unknown.
Thus, there are several theories of this coup:
Personal ambitions - Mitsuhide wanted to become a sovereign master and not obey anyone, let alone depend on a person like Oda.
Personal resentment - for example, when Ieyasu complained about the food that was served to him at Oda's place, Nobunaga in anger threw Mitsuhide's priceless dishes into the garden pond. Considering that some cups cost 4,000 koku each, it is not surprising that he thus deprived Akechi of a fortune. And there is also a version that even before Ieyasu arrived, he gave the order to throw all the food prepared by Mitsuhide's efforts into the moat of the castle, and he himself was removed from the organization of this holiday. Moreover, he personally (it is not clear why!) Served Ieyasu during one of the feasts. By the way, such great honors could only frighten him, and he might think that now he is pleasing him, and tomorrow he will order him to be killed just so that everyone would be even more afraid of him!
In addition, in 1579, Nobunaga deliberately sacrificed Mitsuhide's mother and executed Hidehara, the lord of Yakami Castle, while his clan held Akechi's mother hostage. True, there is a version that Hatano's vassals simply found her in the province of Omi and killed her in revenge for their overlord, but one way or another, and the woman died precisely because Oda canceled the word given to Mitsuhide. Nobunaga beat him in front of other generals, considering his comments inappropriate.
And Nobunaga decided to transfer the province of Tamba and Shiga county in the province of Omi, which belonged to Akechi, to his youngest son, Nobutaka. True, in return he promised him two new, larger, provinces - Izumo and Iwami, in the northwestern part of Honshu, but only they still needed to be conquered. Well, there is also a mention that Oda, during one of the feasts, was beating time with a fan on Akechi's head. Meanwhile, it is known that such an associate of Oda, like Kobayakawa Takakage, seemed to say that Mitsuhide is able to keep anger in himself for a long time and does not just forgive his offenders. That is, Oda acted as if he did not know this person (and generally did not know people well!) And literally ran into the fact that he was killed.
There is a legend that Nobunaga himself asked Mitsuhide to kill him if he became too ruthless. If this is actually the case, then it turns out that Mitsuhide is not guilty of anything at all. He simply fulfilled the vow made to his master, as befits a samurai.
Finally, for those who see the fault of the Jesuits in everything, that is, the "hand of the West", there is the theory of the Japanese historian Tachibana Kyoko. That is, they destroyed Nobunaga by organizing a conspiracy against him in order to strengthen their influence in Japan. However, this hypothesis looks far-fetched. If we were to choose between the innovator-musketeer Nobunaga and Mitsuhide, a lover of true Japanese traditions, then it was necessary to bet on the first, and not on the second, and only send him more Spanish wine of the best varieties as a gift!
Well, and then, after capturing Kyoto and some other castles, Mitsuhide sent out a message to all daimyo that he was now a shogun and they should all support him. But only a small number of clans supported him, so he still had to rely only on his own troops. Hideyoshi opposed him with a large army, and Mitsuhide retreated to Yamazaki Castle, in the vicinity of which a decisive battle took place on July 2, 1582. Arquebusiers Akechi fired aimed fire at the enemy, but despite heavy losses, Hideyoshi's troops still pushed the enemy back.
Seeing that the battle was not going in his favor, Mitsuhide ordered his soldiers to retreat to his castle Sakamoto. On the way, the peasants of local villages began to hunt for him, who were promised a big reward for his head. It is generally accepted that he committed suicide in order not to fall into their hands. According to another version, the village samurai Nakamura Tobei found him and mortally wounded him with his bamboo spear. However, when his body was found, it turned out that it was disfigured by the heat beyond recognition and it was impossible to identify it.
Immediately, a legend was born that Mitsuhide became a Buddhist monk named Tenkai and contributed to the restoration of the Enryaku-ji temple. So it was in fact or not, of course, is unknown. But the Japanese still have the proverb "Akechi no tenka mikka" ("Akechi's reign - three days", an analogue of our "Caliph for an hour"). And he also got a nickname: "Jusan kubo" ("Shogun of thirteen days").
The peasant Sakuemon tracked down and killed Akechi Mitsuhide. Engraving by Yoshitoshi Taiso.
After Akechi's death, the Akechi clan was led by Mitsuhara Samanosuke. He decided to set fire to the Sakamoto castle, which belonged to the clan, and then, together with all members of the Akechi family, commit suicide. However, before that, he sent a letter to the commander Nobunaga Hori Hidemasa, who was besieging the Akechi family in Sakamoto Castle. It said: “My castle is burning, and soon I will die. I have many great swords that the Akechi clan has collected all their life. I would not want them to die with me. If you stopped the assault for a while so that I could pass them on to you, I could die peacefully. Naturally, Hori agreed to this and swords wrapped in a mat were lowered right from the castle wall. Then the attacks continued and the next day the castle was taken, and its defenders and the whole Akechi family died in the fire together with Samanosuke Mitsuharu. It is known that Mitsuhide's sword, made in the Tense style, has survived to this day and is kept in the National Museum in Tokyo. His armor is also stored there …
Akechi Mitsuhide's Armor (Tokyo National Museum)
Akechi clan crest
The emblem (monom) of Mitsuhide was a Chinese bell (kikyo). It was to be painted in light blue on a white canvas. It is believed that the meaning of such a color combination means nothing more than "envy". But there were other color options for this mona - the background is blue, and the bell is white, as well as a golden bell on a black background.
Tomb of Akechi Mitsuhide.
Well, Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, even if he participated in the conspiracy against Oda, came out dry and eventually became a shogun, a recognized unifier of Japan and … a god! And he also justified all the traitors of both the past and the future with one wonderful phrase: "Betrayal cannot be justified by anything, except for one thing: if only you won!" He probably had reason to say that. He himself won, didn't he ?!
