Akechi Mitsuhide

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Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀; 1528 - 1582) was a samurai who was a general under and assassin of Oda Nobunaga. His nickname was Jyube.

Born in Mino province, now Gifu prefecture as a descendant of the shugo Toki clan, Mitsuhide began serving Nobunaga after Nobunaga's conquest over Mino province in 1566 and received Sakamoto (in Omi, 100,000 koku) in 1571.

In 1579, he captured Yakami Castle from Hatano Hideharu by taking Hideharu's mother hostage. This accomplished Mitsuhide's goal but unfortunately, Nobunaga had the woman executed (crucified?). Naturally this did not make the Hatano family happy and a short while later several of Hideharu's (ex-?) retainers murdered Akechi Mitsuhide's mother. Mitsuhide blamed Nobunaga for his mother's death and the attack at Honnoji on June 21, 1582 was his revenge. When they found out about the assassination, both Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu rushed to be the first to avenge Nobunaga and take his place. Hideyoshi got to Mitsuhide first. Mitsuhide survived for 13 days, until he was defeated by Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamazaki.

His third daughter was Hosokawa Gracia.

The article contains material from OpenHistory