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Person1582

Akechi Mitsuhide

Also called: Koretō Hyūga no kami

Senior vassal of Oda Nobunaga who subdued Tanba and held Sakamoto and Fukuchiyama castles, then killed Nobunaga in the Honnōji Incident of 1582 and was defeated at Yamazaki eleven days later

Said to come from the Akechi, a branch of the Toki of Mino, though his early life and birth year are uncertain, he served the Asakura and then, acting as go-between for Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Oda Nobunaga, became Nobunaga’s vassal. He received Sakamoto Castle in Ōmi after the burning of the Enryaku-ji, subdued Tanba and built Fukuchiyama Castle. He was a cultivated man, versed in waka poetry and the tea ceremony. In 1582 he killed Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji but was defeated at Yamazaki and killed while fleeing, giving rise to the phrase “three-day rule”.

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2 related events

  1. 1
    1582Honnōji Incidentkey figure

    Akechi Mitsuhide, a senior vassal of Oda Nobunaga, rebelled and attacked Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji in Kyoto. Nobunaga set the temple on fire and took his own life; his heir Nobutada also died, at the Nijō Shingosho.

  2. 2
    1582Battle of Yamazakicommander

    Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, hurrying back from the Chūgoku region, defeated Akechi Mitsuhide at Yamazaki. Having avenged Nobunaga, Hideyoshi became the foremost of the Oda vassals and stepped forward as Nobunaga’s successor.

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  • Oda Nobunaga1534 – 1582

    Sengoku-era daimyo who ended the Muromachi shogunate in 1573 and won at Nagashino with massed musketeers, opening the way to unification before his death in the Honnōji Incident

  • Toyotomi Hideyoshi1537 – 1598

    Unified Japan and launched the invasion of Korea

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