On June 2, 1582, one of the few major events in Japanese history occurred. This is the "Change of Honnoji Temple". Mitsuhide led 13,000 men to raid Oda Nobunaga, who was staying at Honnoji Temple in Kyoto. Realizing that he could not confront Mitsuhide Akira, Oda Nobunaga committed suicide by setting fire to the temple.
During the change of Honnoji Temple, Honnoji Temple was also burned to ashes. Mitsuhide mitsuhide wanted to find Oda Nobunaga's body, but did not see Oda Nobunaga's body in the courtyard. Toyotomi Hideyoshi then defeated Mitsuhide at Yamazaki in Kyoto, causing him to search for Oda Nobunaga's body, but also to no avail. In October of the same year, Hideyoshi held a funeral for Oda Nobunaga at Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, but because there was no body, he ordered the workers to burn the newly made wooden carvings of equal size and put the ashes of the wood carvings into the urn as ashes.
In Oda Nobunaga's time, completely opposite values of the old and the new covered society, and the two were fiercely opposed. Mitsuhide was seen as a rebel in the eyes of Oda Nobunaga, but in the eyes of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, a shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, he was a loyal subject.
Due to Oda Nobunaga's gradually authoritarian political layout, Mitsuhide Mitsuhide faced the threat of demotion, along with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, whose territory had been drastically reduced, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki, whose territory was in crisis of political life. An unshakable sense of crisis has linked the three into an unprecedented war situation.
1 Nishiki-e, Honnoji Cingement Map" Yanichi Yangsai
I. The background of the honnoji Rebellion, which ended Oda Nobunaga's unification of Japan in World War I
In March 1582 ( Tenshō 10 ) , Oda Nobunaga attacked the Kai region , eliminated the Takeda clan , won the victory of unifying the world , and triumphantly returned to his base area of Azuchi. As a result of breaking down their long-standing enemies, the Date clan, the Mogami clan, and the Rokuna clan in tohoku, the Go-Hojo clan and satake clan in Kanto, and the other major major clans, with the exception of the Uesugi clan in Hokuriku, all expressed their deference to Oda Nobunaga.
At this time, Oda Nobunaga could be said to have almost pacified the Eastern Kingdom.
However, the situation in Nishikuni was very different, and although Oda Nobunaga maintained friendly relations with the Ōtomo clan of Kyushu and had diplomatic relations with the Shimazu clan, it maintained a state of war with the largest clan in Nishikoku, the Maori clan in China. Shikoku's Nagasaga Division did not follow Oda Nobunaga's instructions and demanded that Oda Nobunaga return to the outside of Tosa Prefecture and Minami Awa Prefecture, thus forming a confrontational relationship.
Maki 2: Nobunaga Oda (Motohide Kano, Chokoji Collection)
In order to realize the long-cherished wish of unifying the world, the pacification of China and the four countries was imperative, but it was not necessary to forcibly fight against the Maori clan and the Nagasuma Ibu clan, which were working together at that time. In October 1577 (Tenshō 5), Oda Nobunaga ordered Hideyoshi Hashiba to conquer China, and in May 1582 (Tenshō 10), he ordered his third son, Nobutaka, to conquer Shikoku as a general.
In June 1582 , tenshō 10 , the army led by Oda Nobunaga 's heavily valued vassals was scattered throughout the country , led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who had made an expedition to China , and Shibata Katsuya and Kazumasa Takikawa led an expedition to the Echizen , Noto , and Ueno regions.
At that time, Kyoto could be said to be in a state of combat power, and under such circumstances, among Oda Nobunaga's powerful courtiers, there was only one person who could move to support others at close range, and that was Mitsuhide, who had military and military bases in the area such as Omi, Tanba, and Yamashiro at that time.
3 Akechi Mitsuhide Images
When Mitsuhide received a request from Oda Nobunaga for assistance from Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his conquest of China, Mitsuhide had a legitimate name for mobilizing troops from Sakamoto to Kyoto, even though the generals on the expedition learned of the change in Honnoji Temple on the battlefield.
It will also take a while to reach Kyoto, creating a wonderful opportunity for the change of Honnoji Temple by Mitsuhide.
Second, the course and end of the change of Honnoji Temple, the cruel change on the lower ke
On May 17, 1582, Oda Nobunaga received a letter requesting support from Hideyoshi Hashiba during the siege of Takamatsu Castle in Bichu, and ordered Mitsuhide to serve as the vanguard of reinforcements. As a result, Mitsuhide returned from Azuchi to Sakamoto Castle, which was the residence of the castle, and began preparations for the expedition. On June 1 of the same year, Mitsuhide led 13,000 soldiers from Tanba Kameyama Castle.
At the military and military meeting site about 1 and a half (about 164 meters) from Shibano on the east side of Tanba Kunigami Mountain, according to Taki Takiro's "Mitsuhide Shōshō Chronicle", the meeting took place at Shinomura Hachimangu Shrine. Wise Mitsuhide, Man, Mitsuta, Rizo, Fujita Administration, and Mizoo Shigeru sat together to discuss the battle, and Wise Mitsuhide announced the rebellion here.
Discuss how to defeat Oda Nobunaga and become the lord of the world.
Mitsuhide had the 5 men write an "oath" (a document swearing not to break the covenant) and exchanged hostages to prevent betrayal.
Before the Honnō-ji Rebellion, Oda Nobunaga entered the capital in order to support Mori Keigen's vassal China (Okayama Prefecture) and attack Takamatsu Castle's vassal Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and this day he landed at Honnoji Temple. In order to keep his distance from the imperial court, Oda Nobunaga did not build a castle in Kyoto.
Because he ordered the generals to send troops to various places, Oda Nobunaga himself only brought an entourage of about 100 people to protect himself, so this gave the wise Mitsuhide an opportunity to take advantage of it.
Figure 4 Map of the route taken by the generals of the Oda family at the time point of the change of Honnoji Temple
Mitsuhide led his soldiers to Kyoto Castle and chose a different path. At that time, the original route of the conquest was from Kameyama to Nishikuni, crossing the Mikusayama In the south, but Mitsuhide ordered the soldiers: "Over the old mountain, march around Yamazaki to the land of Settsu, let the soldiers eat in the middle of the night, and let the horses rest." In order not to let nobunaga's defectors divulge their secrets, Mitsuhide recalled his retainer Amano Gen's right guard (Yasuda Kuniji) and ordered the suspicious people to be beheaded first.
Mitsuhide's soldiers surrounded Honnō-ji Temple around 6 a.m., so it was a typical "asahi run" (the famous Japanese warrior art of the Sengoku period was night running and running, which was designed to fight in the early morning or late at night to defeat the enemy. ）
Honnoji Temple is a castle temple with stone walls and a moat, which has a certain degree of defensive power. Mitsuhide ordered his generals to instruct the soldiers to cut the ropes to one foot and five inches, set fire, and raise every 5 sticks downwards to surround Honnō-ji Temple. The moment of the crusade is just around the corner, and even at this moment, there are still people who do not know that the person to be killed is Oda Nobunaga.
5 Kameyu Kaedekawa "Honnoji Night Army"
The soldiers in Honnoji Temple were in disarray due to the siege, and in the face of Mitsuhide's soldiers attacking from all sides of Honnoji Temple, Oda Nobunaga began to fight it with bows and arrows. But after a while, the bowstring has run out. Oda Nobunaga then confronted him with a long wooden pole and long arrow, and retreated to the Imperial Palace because of his elbow injury, at which point mitsuhide had already been ignited by a rocket by Mitsuhide Satoshi, and the fire was close to Nobunaga's surroundings, and the situation was critical.
Oda Nobunaga locked himself in the depths of the imperial temple, closed the door from the inside, and then committed suicide by caesarean section, ending 49 years of life. The war, which lasted about 4 hours, ended with the suicide of Oda Nobunaga, the last of the Sengoku period.
Why did the battle in a small temple last 4 hours? This stems from the construction of Honnoji Temple. At that time, Honnoji Temple was built separately from the surrounding area on a vast land of 140 meters from east to west, and 270 meters from north to south, with a large area of land with a length of 140 meters from east to west and a length of 270 meters from north to south.
The entire temple is about 2 to 4 meters wide and 1 meter deep, and there are 0.8 meters of stone walls and cave dwellings around the moat, which takes into account the function of a defensive castle, which is very different from ordinary "temples", even with Nobunaga's 100 times as many and 13,000 mitsuhide soldiers, the attack takes 4 hours.
If Nobunaga had held out for a day, he might have been able to save his life by getting reinforcements from Mio Nobutaka, who had marched into Osaka to conquer Shikoku.
Figure 6 The geographical location of Honnoji Temple
III. Dramatic Epilogue: The Path of the Generals After the Honnoji Rebellion
Oda Nobunaga's concubine Nobunaga Nobunaga and Goo Katsunaga stopped at Myokjue-ji Temple, not far from Honnō-ji Temple. (Originally planned to go to Sakai with Ieyasu, but had changed his plans the day before), he rushed to Honnoji Temple after learning from Sadatsutsu Murai in Kyoto. Due to the seriousness of the situation, the two decided to move from the defenseless Myokjue-ji Temple to Nijo Castle from the perspective of self-protection.
Hideyoshi Hashiba, who learned that Oda Nobunaga had died in the Honnō-ji Rebellion, was attacking Takamatsu Castle in the water at the time, and because of Oda Nobunaga's sudden death, he immediately decided to negotiate peace with Maori Keimoto. Xiang Kyoto led a whole army of 20,000 men to Kyoto,
This is the famous "China Great Return".
Hashiba Hideyoshi led the marching troops at full speed, at an astonishing speed, about 200 kilometers from Takamatsu Castle to Mount Yamashiro, and reached their destination in 10 days.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi learned of Oda Nobunaga's death in the early hours of June 3 to the early morning of June 4, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in order to avoid the leakage of information after learning the obituary, also issued an order to his subordinates, and concluded a peace treaty with Oda Nobunaga on the Maori side.
Figure 7 The number of troops of various forces after the change of Honnoji Temple
On 12 June, Hideyoshi's soldiers were stationed in Settsu Kuni-tomita, "in order to fight against the enemy of the lord Nobunaga, who died instead of murder, the battle of mourning that interrupted the Chinese expedition should also return to battle." Through publicity and condolences everywhere, Toyotomi Hideyoshi successfully won the support and leadership of other courtiers of the army, leading the army to fight against Mitsuhide. On the same day, at Yamazaki, located at the junction of settsu and Yamashiro kingdoms, Hideyoshi's soldiers and Mitsuhide's troops clashed with each other on the 13th, and a stalemate lasted for many days.
The situation of the war changed when Ikeda, a Hideyoshi soldier who was heading north along the Yodo River, secretly crossed the Motomyō-tera River in an attempt to sneak up on Mitsuhide's soldiers. As a result, the Wise Guangxiu Army collapsed completely.
Although the soldiers led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi were greatly depleted on the front line, the morale was not loosened under the continuous encouragement of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the number of soldiers led by Mitsuhide Toyotomi and the escape and dispersion of soldiers occurred one after another, and the number was reduced to 700. Mitsuhide was forced to retreat and fled to Katsuryuji Castle at the rear of the line, aiming at Sakamoto Castle, but lost his life there.
From June 2 to 13, when the honnoji rebellion occurred, Mitsuhide's "tianxia" was only a short period of 12 days, and the change of Honnoji Temple was used as an opportunity to bring the Warring States chaos to an end. After that, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's road to unify the world began.
Maki 8 Hideyoshi Tsuomi Mitsunobu Kano
4. The Hypotheses and Opportunities in the Change of Honnoji Temple, and the Unsolved Mysteries of History
Under the orders of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, a shogun of the Muromachi shogunate who opposed Oda Nobunaga, whose goal was to unify the world, the shogunate line organizations throughout the country began to besiege Nobunaga.
Mitsuhide and Hideyoshi Hashiba were active on the front lines of the battlefield, and the two gained the status of Oda Ieyasu, based on the factions they had established, and campaigned for the unification of the world that Nobunaga aimed.
In it, As a general who has close communication relations with major clans, Wise Mitsuhide has never been able to clearly get rid of the troubles of various relationships.
From being a bold and loyal courtier, Mitsuhide Mitsuhide, to a 'traitor' who betrayed Oda Nobunaga for the sake of his own interests, people have never been able to clearly find the reason for Mitsuhide's true betrayal. The reason for the wise light show's unique anti-flag is unclear, there are many theories that the personal resentment and ambition of the wise light show are the beginning of this farce, and there are also hypotheses that the masterminds outside the light show (the black hand behind the scenes) exist.
Figure 9 Character relationship diagram in "Shikoku Theory"
In recent years, the 'Shikoku Theory', which has attracted much attention, began with documents released by the Okayama Prefectural Hayashibara Museum of Art and the Okayama Prefectural Museum of Joint Research in 2014. This letter was written by Nagamasa's personal relatives informing Mitsuhide of his preparations to obey Nobunaga's orders.
At that time, the Motokoku intended to work in the direction of the unification of the four kingdoms, but due to the hunger and reconciliation with Osaka Honganji Temple, Oda Nobunaga changed the original friendly relations and demanded that Nagamasa's side withdraw from the occupied areas outside Tosa. On May 7, Oda Nobunaga appointed Mio Kobe Nobutaka as general and prepared for a crusade against Shikoku.
In a letter dated January 11, about five months before the honnoji Rebellion, Toshizo suggested that Motoko "it would be beneficial for nagamasa to obey the requirements of my family, and Mitsuhide was also working on it." "On May 21, Emperor Changzong replied to my family:
"I hope to tell Oda Nobunaga about their retreat from the cities in the center of Awa Kingdom."
Figure 10 Silk line color Changzong Ibu Yuan pro-portrait Author unknown
The Honnoji Rebellion occurred on June 2, when It is said that Niwa Nagahide and others planned to expedition from Osaka to the Shikoku region.
Mitsuhide, who was closely related to Moto, may have wanted to avoid Oda Nobunaga's Shikoku expedition.
The Honnoji Rebellion was the suicide of Oda Nobunaga, the largest ruler at the time, and became a turning point in the era, and the rebellion against Nobunaga's wise Mitsuhide did not disclose his motives, and the wise Mitsuhide's heavy subjects were almost destroyed in a short period of time. In addition, the letters written by Mitsuhide were almost concealed due to the fear of the princes, so the information that can prove the change of honnoji Temple is extremely limited.
Since Oda Nobunaga's body was not found, there were many true and false doctrines in this battle, and some people believe that it was toyotomi Hideyoshi's conspiracy, because the wise Mitsuhide, who seemed very ambitious at the time, declined rapidly after the transformation of Honnoji Temple, leaving almost no historical information, making it difficult to discern his true thoughts at that time.
It was only after this wonderful Shimokagami incident that the Sengoku period finally sounded the bell of the end quickly, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi fulfilled Oda Nobunaga's long-cherished wish with his excellent political and military skills.
But he had bigger ambitions — marching into North Korea and China— and of course he died before he was done. Japan's Sengoku period ended in turmoil, the era of peace was short-lived, and the honnoji revolution was finally engraved into the historical inscription, if Nobunaga had survived, would the dispute between the princes have been different?