Akechi Mitsuhide

Who They Were

Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀) was a samurai general of the Sengoku period, the long era of civil war that ran from the mid-fifteenth to the early seventeenth century. He served as a trusted commander under Oda Nobunaga, the daimyō (大名, lord of a large domain) who came closest to unifying Japan by force. Mitsuhide is remembered above all for turning on his master.

His life is bracketed by two dates. He was born in 1526 in Mino Province, at Akechi Castle, and he died on 2 July 1582 in Settsu Province, at Honkyō-ji Temple. His father was Akechi Mitsutsuna. His mother was Omaki no Kata. He held the rank of general and the position of daimyō, and he belonged to the Akechi clan.

Life and Career

Mitsuhide began his career in the service of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last Ashikaga shōgun, as a bodyguard. When Yoshiaki's bid for power collapsed, Mitsuhide transferred his loyalty to Oda Nobunaga, who was then fighting to bring the warlords of central Japan under a single authority.

Under Nobunaga he fought in many of the campaigns that defined the unification wars. He took part in the Siege of Mount Hiei, the Battle of Nagashino, the Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, the Siege of Shigisan, the Battle of Tedorigawa, the Battle of Nagara-gawa, and the Siege of Kanegasaki. He was also a participant in the Atago Hyakuin, a hundred-verse poetry gathering at Atago.

In 1582 Mitsuhide destroyed the man he had served. During the Honnō-ji Incident he fell upon Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto, where Nobunaga was staying with only a small guard. Nobunaga was forced to take his own life. Mitsuhide then tried to establish himself as shōgun, but Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi pursued him and defeated him at the Battle of Yamazaki. Mitsuhide died on 2 July 1582, thirteen days after the attack on Honnō-ji.

Why They Matter

The Honnō-ji Incident is one of the most consequential single acts in Japanese history. By killing Nobunaga at the moment when unification was nearly complete, Mitsuhide shattered the settlement Nobunaga had built and opened the struggle that ended with Toyotomi Hideyoshi in control and, after Hideyoshi's death, with Tokugawa Ieyasu founding the Tokugawa shogunate.

Mitsuhide's own bid for power lasted thirteen days. That span gave Japanese the set phrase mikkatenka (三日天下, "a three-day reign"), a yojijukugo — a four-character compound idiom — used for any rule or authority that collapses almost as soon as it begins. The phrase is still applied to short-lived governments and to leaders who hold office briefly.

Mitsuhide's family line did not vanish with him. Among his children were Akechi Mitsuyoshi, Akechi Mitsuyasu, Hosokawa Gracia, and Oda Hideko. Hosokawa Gracia in particular became a well-known figure in her own right.

The Name in Japanese

The name is written 明智光秀. It is read in kana as あけち みつひで, and in romaji as Akechi Mitsuhide. The family name comes first, as is standard in Japanese.

The surname, 明智, is read Akechi:

• 明 — read ake here. The character means "bright," "clear," or "light."
• 智 — read chi here. The character means "wisdom," "intellect," or "cleverness."

Together the two characters make a name meaning something like "bright wisdom." The reading Akechi is not the most obvious one for these characters in everyday vocabulary, which is common in Japanese surnames: the writing of a name is fixed, while its pronunciation is inherited.

The given name, 光秀, is read Mitsuhide:

• 光 — read mitsu here. The character means "light," "radiance," or "glow." It appears in many male given names.
• 秀 — read hide here. The character means "excellent," "outstanding," or "pre-eminent." It was a favourite element in samurai names of this period; Oda Nobunaga's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi used the same character, read hide.

So the full name carries the sense of "bright wisdom, shining excellence." Mitsuhide was first called Jūbei from his clan, and later bore the title Koretō Hyūga no Kami (惟任日向守), a court rank and office granted under Nobunaga's patronage.

Legacy

Mitsuhide's reputation rests on the betrayal at Honnō-ji. Because no explanation for the act survives that historians accept, he has remained a figure of speculation rather than a settled one, cast variously as a traitor, a man with a private grievance, and an ambitious opportunist.

He remains popular in present-day culture, appearing in novels, television dramas, and games set in the Sengoku period. A ceremonial activity in his honour was held on 15 April 2018 in Kyoto, timed to coincide with the local shrine's hundredth anniversary.