was a Japanese

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

of the Sengoku period. A senior retainer of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

's vassal

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period. Mitsuhide was originally a bodyguard of the last Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later, one of ...

, 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, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

. 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 in

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

). 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 b ...

), 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 in Japan, castles of Oda Nobunaga located in the Azuchi, Shiga, Azuchi neighborhood of the city of Ōmihachiman, Shiga Prefecture. The site of the castle was designated a Monuments of Japan, National Historic Site i ...

and fought against Hori Hidemasa as a rear guard for Mitsuhide during the Battle of Yamazaki. He became a legend for his rapid crossing of

Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan. It is 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 13 ...

to get from Otsu to Sakamoto Castle on the back of his famous horse "Okage", after the loss and defeat of Mitsuhide's forces at Battle of Yamazaki. This scene is very often depicted in many Japanese artworks. He then performed his famous and unpredicted act of committing hara-kiri 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 Sakamoto Castle 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 clan after the Toki fell to the S ...

was destroyed at Sakamoto Castle, Hidemitsu's sons Miyake Shigetoshi and Tōyama Tarōgorō survived. Shigetoshi served Terasawa Katataka at the Shimabara Uprising 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 was later known as Francisco. The uprising ...

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

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 1530s births 1582 deaths