＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. Highlights of the Taiga Drama “Kirin ga Kuru”
This year’s NHK Taiga Drama “Kirin ga Kuru” is off to a high start with high ratings. Ikebata Shunsaku’s script is well-written and easy to understand, Ichikawa Ebizo’s narration is easy to follow, and the subtitles provide helpful explanations of the time period, which I really like.
However, I’m a little concerned that many of the actors’ lines tend to be “quick and slurred,” making it hard to understand what they’re saying (is this just me?). However, the lines of Tanihara Shosuke, who plays Hosokawa Fujitaka’s brother, and Ishikawa Sayuri, who plays Mitsuhide’s mother, are delivered slowly and clearly, making them very easy to follow. I’ve given up on the idea that I’m “hard of hearing” and am now just pressing the “subtitles” button on my remote and following the “script” with my eyes.
A digression. The Honnoji Incident (June 2, 1582) raises many mysteries, such as Akechi Mitsuhide’s motive for rebellion and whether there were other masterminds behind it, such as Hashiba Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, or the Imperial Court. However, another major mystery is why Oda Nobunaga’s body has never been found.
One of my biggest concerns in Kirin ga Kuru is how Oda Nobunaga’s final moments will be portrayed. I’m interested to see whether it will be the traditional portrayal of him committing suicide in the flames while dancing the Kōwaka dance Atsumori, or of him leaving in the flames, or whether a new version will be used.
2. The whereabouts of Oda Nobunaga’s body
(1) Akechi Mitsuhide’s Dedicated Search
If the body of Oda Nobunaga, the enemy’s main target, were not found, it would be a blunder similar to the “Akō Roshi raid, where the dawn broke without finding Kira Kozuke no Suke.”
Without taking Nobunaga’s head, it would be impossible to prove that he was truly murdered (or committed suicide). This would lead to doubts about whether Nobunaga was truly dead, and even rumors that he was still alive somewhere. (In fact, Hashiba Hideyoshi intentionally spread this rumor by writing letters to Nobunaga’s surviving retainers, urging them to “survive Mitsuhide together.”)
There was no way that the body of Oda Nobunaga, who was trapped in a trap, would not be found. He would not have ascended to heaven through an illusion, and there would have been no place for him to escape. However, despite Akechi Mitsuhide’s dedicate search, his body was never found.
This was one of the reasons why Akechi Mitsuhide, unable to gain the cooperation of the generals in the Kinai region, was cornered and killed by Hashiba Hideyoshi’s “Chugoku Daigaeshi” (Great Return from the Chugoku Era), and the rebellion failed.
This seems to have been the first stumbling block in the Honnoji Incident.
Incidentally, Hashiba Hideyoshi, who defeated Akechi Mitsuhide in the Battle of Yamazaki (June 13, 1582), also searched for Nobunaga’s body but was unable to find it. So at Nobunaga’s funeral, which was held at Daitokuji Temple in October of the same year, Hideyoshi had a life-size wooden statue made, burned it, and placed it in an urn as a substitute for his ashes.
(2) Records of the Time
① Ota Ushiichi’s “Shincho Koki”
“Shincho Koki” is a chronicle of Nobunaga’s life by Ota Gyuichi (1527-1613), a former retainer of Oda Nobunaga and author of military chronicles and biographies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Hidetsugu, Hideyori, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. This is the conventional wisdom.
At first, Nobunaga thought the commotion outside was just a quarrel between subordinates, but when the army burst in, he was informed by his page, Mori Ranmaru, that it was “Akechi Mitsuhide’s rebellion.”
He responded with a bow, but when the bowstring broke, he switched to a spear. However, after receiving a spear wound in the elbow, he went inside the building and helped his accompanying women escape from Honnoji Temple. The palace was already on fire and the flames were threatening to burn. Perhaps wanting to avoid his final moments being seen by his enemies, he retreated to the back of his room, closed the door, and committed seppuku.
② Luis Frois’s “History of Japan”
Luis Frois (1532-1597) was a Jesuit missionary who met with Oda Nobunaga 18 times.
When Akechi’s forces invaded Honnoji Temple, they found Oda Nobunaga, who had just washed his hands and face and was drying himself with a towel, so they immediately shot an arrow into his back. He pulled the arrow out and emerged holding a long sword like a naginata.
They fought for a while, but after being shot in the arm, he retreated to his room, closed the door, and committed seppuku there. Other accounts say that Nobunaga immediately set fire to the palace and was burned to death alive.
The fire was so large that it is unknown how he died.
However, this account is based solely on a story Luis Frois heard from a Jesuit missionary at the Nanbanji Temple near Honnoji Temple.
③ “Hoan Nobunaga-ki” by Oze Hoan
After searching for the head but failing to find it, Mitsuhide became deeply suspicious and, in his extreme fear, ordered his soldiers to search further, but was unable to find anything. Even what appeared to be a skeleton was nowhere to be found.
④ “Records of the History of Nobunaga Amidaji Temple” by Amidaji Temple near Honnoji Temple
Amidaji Temple’s head priest, Seigyoku, rushed to Honnoji Temple with about 20 monks. He found Oda soldiers cremating Nobunaga’s body in the bushes behind the temple grounds, explained the situation, and asked for the bones.
Incidentally, Amidaji Temple is home to the graves of 12 vassals, including Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobutada, the three Mori brothers Ranmaru, Bomaru, and Chikaramaru, and Inoko Hyosuke. There are also wooden statues of Oda Nobunaga and Nobutada in the main hall, which evoke their deep connection to the Honnoji Incident.
(3) Various Theories
① Someone took and buried the remains.
– Seigyoku, a monk at Kyoto’s Amidaji Temple who had long been friends with Nobunaga, took and buried the remains.
This is the story found in the aforementioned “Records of the History of Nobunaga’s Amidaji Temple.”
– Hara Soan, father of Nisjun Shonin of Nishiyama Honmonji Temple, a Nichiren sect temple in Suruga Province, took the remains.
This theory goes that on the eve of the Honnoji Incident, a Go game between Nichinkai Shonin and Shikashiro Riken took place at Honnoji Temple. Hara Soan was accompanying Nichinkai Shonin, who entrusted Nobunaga’s remains to him and buried them at Honmonji Temple.
② He escaped through a “secret passage leading to Nanbanji Temple” next to Honnoji Temple, but suffocated to death.
The “secret passage leading to Nanbanji Temple” is depicted in Kato Hiroshi’s “Nobunaga’s Coffin.” However, the story goes that someone had blocked the exit from this loophole, and Nobunaga suffocated to death in the smoke.
Originally, Jesuit missionaries at Nanbanji Temple asked Nobunaga for permission to build an escape route to serve as a shelter in case of attacks from Mount Hiei or other sources, and their request was granted. The exit to the loophole was at the small, rundown Honnoji Temple, located very close to Nanbanji Temple.
The civil engineering work for the loophole was entrusted to Nobunaga’s vassal, Hideyoshi, who had Maeno Masaemon, an expert in civil engineering, carry out the work. The loophole was designed to lead to an empty well at Honnoji Temple.
Nobunaga must have felt reassured, knowing that there was an escape route in case of enemy attack or rebellion. However, a few days before the Honnoji Incident, someone had blocked the exit to Nanbanji Temple with a wall. As a result, Nobunaga, Mori Ranmaru, and others who had fled to the loophole were unable to escape and suffocated to death.
Hideyoshi was skilled at espionage, and had Mitsuhide’s movements reported to him on a regular basis. As a result, he did not immediately send reinforcements to attack Chugoku, and instead noticed Mitsuhide’s suspicious movements as he held renga poetry gatherings at Atago Shrine. Realizing this was a plot to plot treason, Hideyoshi ordered his subordinates to quickly block the exit on the Nanbanji side.
The intention was clear: to block Nobunaga’s escape route.
Theoretically, the monk Seigyoku, who rushed to the scene from Amidaji, used his laborers to remove the blocking wall under cover of night, so as not to be detected by Akechi Mitsuhide’s guarding vassals, and then carried out Nobunaga and the others’ bodies for burial at Amidaji.
3. He was captured and murdered by Hashiba Hideyoshi.
I forget where I read this, but I think it was a theory related to the “Hashiba Hideyoshi Mastermind Theory.” It seems a bit far-fetched. However, considering that Hashiba Hideyoshi’s “Chugoku Dai-gaeshi” (Great Return from the Chugoku Region) seems unnatural, as if he had prior knowledge of the Honnoji Incident, and that he skillfully used the Honnoji Incident to seize control of the country, it doesn’t seem entirely impossible.
This is because Kato Hiroshi’s hypothesis, listed in ② above, also seems to be based on the idea that Hashiba Hideyoshi used Akechi Mitsuhide to indirectly murder Akechi Mitsuhide.