MITSUHIDE

In 1581, the general Akechi Mitsuhide wrote that he had been like a stone lying by the roadside until his lord, Oda Nobunaga, picked him up and raised him to greatness. One year later, before dawn, his army surrounded the temple of Honnō-ji in Kyoto, and by sunrise Nobunaga — the most powerful man in Japan — was dead.

Why? It is one of the great mysteries of Japanese history.

Mitsuhide began as a wanderer with no lord and no money. He rose as a go-between for the shogun, a poet and courtier, a ruthless soldier, and a governor whose people loved him. He helped burn Mount Hiei, built a great castle on Lake Biwa, and conquered the mountain province of Tanba. Then, in the spring of 1582, with his diplomacy in ruins and Nobunaga almost alone in Kyoto, he turned his army toward the capital. His closest friends refused to join him. Eleven days later, he died in a bamboo grove.

Told as a narrative history from beginning to end, with a cast of characters, a map, and a travel guide to the places you can still visit today, this book says plainly what the records show, what historians still debate, and which famous stories are only legends — including the most famous line in his story, "The enemy is at Honnō-ji!"

Inside, you'll find:

- A fallen family in Mino, and a wife who sold her hair
- The shogun's brother, and the road to Nobunaga
- The burning of Mount Hiei, and the castle at Sakamoto
- Four years in Tanba, and a lord his people loved
- A letter of thanks to Nobunaga, written one year before Honnō-ji
- The Shikoku crisis, and the poem at Mount Atago
- Honnō-ji, minute by minute
- Eleven days in power, the friends who said no, and the Battle of Yamazaki
- His daughter Gracia, and the many theories of why he did it
- A guide to visiting the places in this story today, from Kani and Sakamoto to Fukuchiyama, Kameoka, Kyoto, and Yamazaki

If you want a simple villain, this is not your book. If you want the real story of the man who killed Nobunaga — and the question no one has ever answered — turn the page and meet the real Mitsuhide.