Akechi clan

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The Akechi clan (明智氏, Akechi-shi) was a Japanese clan centered around Mino that became powerful during the Sengoku period. Originally a branch of the Toki clan, the fall of his parent clan along with the rise in power of Akechi Mitsuhide made the Akechi clan one of the most influential in Japan.^[1] However, their glory was short lived, as the clan fell from prominence after Mitsuhide's betrayal of Oda Nobunaga and his death only thirteen days later.^[2]

History

Before the rise of Mitsuhide, not much is known of the Akechi clan. Their origins trace back to being a branch of the larger Toki clan, in itself descendants from the Seiwa Genji and Minamoto no Yorimitsu. The Toki were the governors of Mino for most of the Ashikaga shogunate, losing most of his properties to Saitō Dōsan's Saito clan in 1542. With the fall of the main Toki branch, the Akechi rose to power and Mitsuhide started gaining influence on Japan's politics.^[1]

Mitsuhide served then shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, being the one to propose Oda Nobunaga as Yoshiaki's protector. After Yoshiaki and Nobunaga relationship broke, Mitsuhide sided with Nobunaga, being one of his most trusted generals. However, Mitsuhide started to reconsider his alliance with Nobunaga after the Siege of Mount Hiei on 1571, where Nobunaga ruthlessly killed every men, women and child and burned the Enryaku-ji to the ground.^[3] Despite this thoughts, Mitsuhide kept helping the Oda clan, receiving orders to build a castle in Sakamoto from Nobunaga after the siege and also starting to build Kameyama Castle in 1578 both as a way to protect Kyoto's western side and establishing a foothold from where Mitsuhide could start conquering Tanba.^[4]

In 1579, Mitsuhide sent his mother to Yakami castle in a hostage exchange to assure peace negotiations between Nobunaga and Hatano Hideharu. However, Nobunaga executed Hideharu as soon as he reached Azuchi Castle, prompting the latter's family to execute Mitsuhide's mother as soon as they received the news.^[5] This incident, along with the Enryaku-ji massacre, damaged Mitsuhide relationship with Nobunaga and he started plotting against his lord. At some point between 1579 and 1582, he came in contact with Ashikaga Yoshiaki again and, with the help of a foreign organization known as the Templars, established the Shinbakufu with the idea to end Nobunaga's reign of terror and put Yoshiaki back in power.^[3] Other members of the Akechi clan also supported this idea, with Mitsuhide's nephew Akechi Kagemitsu and son-in-law Ise Sadaoki also joining the Shinbakufu.^[2] As a gesture of good faith, Mitsuhide also sent two of his children, Hosokawa Tama and Akechi Mitsuyoshi, to the Templars to ensure their support.^[6]

Despite successfully killing Nobunaga during the Honnō-ji incident, Mitsuhide failed to establish himself since none of Nobunaga's generals took his side, even those that had an alliance by marriage with his clan such as Hosokawa Fujitaka.^[7] The Kakushiba ikki, mainly Fujibayashi Naoe, whose father was killed by the Shinbakufu, and Yasuke, who served as a samurai for Nobunaga, started to track down every member of the Shinbakufu, killing both Kagemitsu and Sadaoki. During the Battle of Yamazaki, thirteen days later of Nobunaga's death, Toyotomi Hideyoshi laid siege to Shōryūji Castle and defeated the remaining force of the Akechi clan. Although Mitsuhide managed to escape, Yasuke and Naoe chased him to nearby Ōyamazaki, where they defeated him in combat.^[3]

Most of the Akechi clan either vanished or was killed in the aftermath of the betrayal, with Tama and Mitsuyoshi being rescued from the influence of the Templars by Yasuke.