was a Japanese

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

of the

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various s ...

period. A senior retainer of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

's vassal

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

, he served Mitsuhide until the latter's death in 1582 at the hands of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

. He is also known as Akechi Mitsuharu.

Early life and family

While Hidemitsu's date of birth is not known for certain, he was born either sometime between 1535 and 1537, or as late as 1557. Hidemitsu was the son of Tōyama Kageyuki (lord of Myōchi Castle) and Miyake Takasada (lord of

Hirose Castle Hirose may refer to: *Hirose Electric Group, a Japanese company specializing in the manufacture of connectors *Hirose (surname), a Japanese surname *Hirose-gawa, a river in Sendai, Japan * Koichi Hirose (''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a ...

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mik ...

). He first succeeded to his father, taking the name Tōyama Kageharu (common name Rokurōzaemon); then he succeeded to his mother's birth family under the name Miyake Yaheiji, and then, marrying one of

's daughters, took the name Akechi Hidemitsu.

Service to Mitsuhide and death

Following his marriage to Akechi Mitsuhide's daughter (who had been formerly married to

Araki Murashige was a retainer of Ikeda Katsumasa, head of the powerful "Setssu-Ikeda clan" of Settsu Province. Under Katsumasa, Murashige sided with Oda Nobunaga following Nobunaga's successful campaign to establish power in Kyoto. Military life Murashige bec ...

), Hidemitsu was deeply trusted by his master, and served in the vanguard of the Akechi armies frequently. He led the attack on Battle of Honnō-ji which killed

. He was assigned to defend the

Azuchi Castle was one of the primary castles of Oda Nobunaga located in the Azuchi neighborhood of the city of Ōmihachiman, Shiga Prefecture. The site of the castle was designated a National Historic Site in 1926, with the designation upgraded to that of a ...

and fought against

Hori Hidemasa , also known as Hori Kyūtarō (堀久太郎), was a samurai retainer of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi during Japan's Sengoku period. He was Nobunaga page, and one of Hideyoshi's greatest generals. He commanded Hideyoshi forces in several ...

as a rear guard for Mitsuhide during the

Battle of Yamazaki The was fought in 1582 in Shimamoto, Osaka, Yamazaki, Japan, located in current-day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mt. Tennō (天王山の戦い ''Tennō-zan no tatakai''). In the Honnō-ji Incident, ...

. He became a legend for his rapid crossing of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, located entirely within Shiga Prefecture (west-central Honshu), northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Lake Biwa is an ancient lake, over 4 million years old. It is estimated to be the 13th ol ...

to get from Otsu to

Sakamoto Castle was a lakeside castle in the Sengoku period, located in Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Akechi Mitsuhide was the commander of the castle. History After the Siege of Mount Hiei, Sakamoto was given to Akechi Mitsuhide who built Sakamoto Castle ...

on the back of his famous horse "Okage", after the loss and defeat of Mitsuhide's forces at

. This scene is very often depicted in many Japanese artworks. He then performed his famous and unpredicted act of committing

hara-kiri , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people d ...

while writing a poem on a door with blood from his abdomen used as ink for his brush.'The Samurai Sourcebook': Stephen Turnbull His men set fire to

and killed their families and themselves to follow their master to the grave. While much of the

Akechi clan The is a branch of the Toki clan, which is descended from the Seiwa Genji. The Akechi clan thrived around the later part of the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Akechi became the head, soryo of the Toki after the Toki fell to the Saitō c ...

was destroyed at

, Hidemitsu's sons

Miyake Shigetoshi Miyake may refer to: Places * Miyake, Nara, a town located in Kansai * Miyake, Tokyo, a village located in Tokyo * Miyakejima, an island in the Izu Islands, often shortened to Miyake * Miyakezaka, a neighborhood in Chiyoda, Tokyo, often shortened t ...

and Tōyama Tarōgorō survived. Shigetoshi served Terasawa Katataka at the

Shimabara Uprising The , also known as the or , was an uprising that occurred in the Shimabara Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638. Matsukura Katsuie, the ''daimyō'' of the Shimabara Domain, enforced unpopular polici ...

and was killed by the rebel forces under

Amakusa Shirō , also known as , was a Japanese Christian of the Edo period and leader of the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Shogunate. His Christian name was Geronimo and later Francisco. The uprising led by Shirō ...

, while Tarōgorō is remembered as the ancestor of the famous nineteenth-century political activist

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. He was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an active oppon ...

Modern References

Hidemitsu appears in the '' Onimusha series'' with the name Samanosuke Akechi. After the events of '' Onimusha 3: Demon Siege'', he takes on the name Tenkai Nankobo in '' Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams.'' "Sama-no-suke" (左馬之介) was Hidemitsu's courtesy title at the Imperial Court.

References

Information on Hidemitsu in a database of Akechi retainers (in Japanese)
2009-10-24)

2009-10-24) {{DEFAULTSORT:Akechi, Hidemitsu Samurai Akechi clan 1536 births 1582 deaths