In addition to the motives and masterminds caused by Akechi Mitsuhide, various theories have been put forward as one of the mysteries that Oda Nobunaga's body was not found in the mystery Honnoji Incident, which is the largest in Japanese history.
Akechi Mitsuhide, the rebellious person himself, also Battle of Yamazaki Hideyoshi Hashiba, who defeated Mitsuhide, could not find Nobunaga's body.
I searched for Oda Nobunaga's body but couldn't find it.
Akechi Mitsuhide surrounded Honnoji Temple at around 6 am, a typical surprise attack operation. There are various theories, but Honnoji is said to be a castle temple, and it seems that it has some defensive power, but in front of the 10,000 to 30,000 large army, nobunaga, no matter how good the war, would have had no way to do it. ..
At the burnt down Honnoji Temple, Akechi Mitsuhide first searched for Oda Nobunaga's body, but could not find it. After that, Hideyoshi Hashiba, who defeated Mitsuhide in the Battle of Yamazaki, was not found even though he searched for Nobunaga's body.
Therefore, at the funeral of Oda Nobunaga held in Kyoto, he made a life-sized wooden statue instead of the missing body and put the ashes in the urn.
In this way, in the battle of the Warring States period, the body of the general on the losing side was secured. What to do is most important issue Was supposed to be. In battle, it was common sense in this era to say that if you were beaten, you would be decapitated.
Why did you need Nobunaga's neck?
Mitsuhide succeeded in hunting down Nobunaga, but he needed proof to make it known to the world. In this era, I got [ Oda Nobunaga ~! ] Alone cannot be believed, and if there is no evidence, there will be rumors that Nobunaga is still alive.
From now on, in order to bring in many daimyo in the battle of the world division, we must show the proof that Nobunaga has been defeated and bring them to our allies . was. Without Nobunaga's head, which is the proof of that, [ Nobunaga may have escaped somewhere and prepared his army and come again? ], And cannot be Mitsuhide's ally.
On the other hand, Hideyoshi Hashiba takes advantage of the fact that Nobunaga's body cannot be found, and [ Nobunaga-sama is alive, so let's defeat Mitsuhide together! ] I was calling.
After the battle, the head is exposed after the head hunting
In this era, those who won the battle conducted a head hunt to confirm whether the opponent's general's head was the person himself.
Since it was an era when there were no photos or emails like in the present age, we called on the former vassals and those who had contact with each other to confirm whether the enemy general who had been shot was genuine. If the identity was confirmed by this head hunting, he would be exposed and publicly announced that he had defeated the enemy general.
By exposing his neck, he was able to inform other countries and his own country that the enemy general had been struck. The neck exposed for a period of time was buried, the neck as a neck mound and the torso as a body mound, almost always separately.
Nobunaga Oda himself has conducted a head hunt every time a battle occurs.
1560 Yoshimoto Imagawa in the Battle of Okehazama I take my neck back to Kiyosu Castle and use it as an exposed neck. 1573 In the attack on Asai and Asakura, Yoshikage Asakura and Nagamasa Asai The neck is sprinkled with lacquer and gold powder on the skull, and it is shown at the new feast.
Nobunaga himself understood that the act of exposing the head of the enemy general in this way was very effective, so when he faced death, the first thing he thought about was how to treat his body after death. Imagine that.
Nobunaga himself must have understood that if his body were to fall into the hands of Mitsuhide, he would be exposed and the rebellion of Akechi Mitsuhide would be justified. Being exposed is not killed in action in honor, but killed as a sinner Will be.
In the historical material [Nobunaga], Akechi Mitsuhide, who dropped Honnoji, is
."If you ask for your neck, but you can't see it anymore, Mitsuhide is deeply suspicious, and it's the most fearful. . " It has been described as.
What you can see from this text is that Oda Nobunaga's neck was searched, but even the bones were not found, and Akechi Mitsuhide could not hide his annoyance . It seems that it was.
If Akechi Mitsuhide could find Oda Nobunaga's head, he would be able to win the cause of the rebellion, and he would be able to draw in many allies to the subsequent decisive battle with Hashiba Hideyoshi and win. I could have done it.
Where did Oda Nobunaga's body go?
Where did the body of Oda Nobunaga in question go?
The idea here is that someone carried Nobunaga's body out of Honnoji . Or, the body was completely burned down with Honnoji Either.
Various studies have been conducted on this mystery, and there is a theory that the body of Nobunaga Oda was actually carried from Honnoji Temple. The theory came out from the fact that there are two temples that have the tradition of burying the body of Nobunaga Oda.
The first is Amidaji Temple of the Jodo sect in Kyoto. Immediately after the Honnoji Incident, it is said that Nobunaga's body was carried and buried by Nobunaga's long-time friend Kiyotama. In the temple grounds, [ Oda Nobunaga Nobutada's graveyard ], And other than Nobunaga, the people who died in the Honnoji Incident such as Nobutada and Mori Ranmaru are also mourned.
However, Kiyotama Jojin If he was able to carry Nobunaga's body out of Honnoji, Hideyoshi wouldn't have to bother to burn Nobunaga's wooden statue to replace it with ashes. Also, since people related to the Oda clan are buried in this temple, it may be that the people who died at Honnoji were gathered together for a memorial service.
The second is Nishiyamahonmonji Temple of the Nichiren sect of Suruga Province, which is now Shizuoka Prefecture. is. The day Kaijin of this temple is playing Go with Kashio Toshiken on the eve of the Honnoji Incident. By the way, it is another story that Nichikaijin is a master of Go, which is later called Honinbo Sansa.
This Nichikaijin It is said that after Oda Nobunaga committed suicide at Honnoji, he secretly took out Nobunaga's neck and buried him in Honmonji. In this theory as well, to go from Kyoto to Suruga, even if the firstborn, Nobutada, is self-harming because he passes through Owari, it is a little doubtful that he will pass through Owari without passing his head to other relatives and Oda clan vassals.
The defeat is most afraid of the whereabouts of his neck after death, not the death of the war Nobunaga Oda should be familiar with that. At this time, Nobunaga does not know Nobutada's death. I think it's natural to think that if his head crosses Mitsuhide, his children will be at risk.
When thinking so, Nobunaga
Burn your body incomprehensible
or
Let me carry it to a place other than Honnoji
I don't think there is any other option.
Considering the risk of being found by Mitsuhide and being robbed on the way, I think it is best to bake so that no ash remains. In fact, Jesuit missionaries Luis Frois Even in Japanese history, [ hair to bones have become ashes ] Is written.
Also, because a lot of gunpowder was stored in Honnoji, an explosive fire broke out so that the bodies could not be confirmed . It is also considered.
The presence or absence of a corpse greatly influenced the situation afterwards
In addition to the motives of Akechi Mitsuhide, there are many mysteries about the body of Oda Nobunaga, who was defeated. Honnoji Incident So, the more you look up, the more likely you are to come up with such a theory.
Speaking of the corpse, even when Akechi Mitsuhide himself was struck, the identity of the corpse was not clearly known, Akechi Mitsuhide =Nankobo Tenkai There is a theory that says. It is said that the head hunting was so important for the daimyo at that time.