Honnōji

The Incident at Honnōji (本能寺の変, Honnō-ji no Hen) refers to Mitsuhide's infamous betrayal, which causes his liege to commit suicide. Since he was one of Nobunaga's most trusted vassals, the event continues to be one of Japan's famous historical mysteries.

In the games, it acts as an iconic moment for the time period and is given a special event in every Nobunaga's Ambition and Taiko Risshiden title.

Samurai Warriors
The area also serves as the battlefield for Kyoto related events in the series.

Usually a turning point in the stories of the involved characters, it ultimately determines Nobunaga's fate in the game. Mitsuhide's version of the battle has him deal with morale issues in his army and stresses the importance of setting the temple on flames. Ranmaru, bravely defending his master's position, will become a fierce opponent during the battle. In Samurai Warriors, the battle acts as the turning point in his story paths as he tries to prevent Nobunaga's escape from the area. If he succeeds, he continues to onto his upper path scenario.

In Nobunaga, Ranmaru, and Oichi's story, they fight through the Akechi army and have Nobunaga escape safely. Noh's version of the stage makes her an enemy of both armies after she kills Nobunaga's double. She then escapes to chase her husband. She also has another version where she stays loyal to Nobunaga after killing Oichi and helps him escape.

For Oichi's lower path story, Oichi and the Azai army surround the remaining Oda retainers who have gathered under Noh. Knowing that the fight will determine the next ruler of the land, Mitsuhide races to get reinforcements and must be stopped. After that, Nagamasa will order that Honnoji must be set on fire; However, Oichi must talk him down. Regardless of whether she succeeds, reinforcements led by Hideyoshi and Ieyasu arrive. After they are taken care of, Nagamasa orders and attack from the rear gate while Hanzo attempts to ambush the Azai. Oichi then has one last tearful fight with Ranmaru and Noh, killing them. With the battle over, Keiji complains on how long the Oda loyalists will keep him waiting.

In Masamune's upper path story, the Date Army must race the Akechi forces into the temple to confront Nobunaga personally while the temple is ablaze. As soon as Masamune makes it to the back gate, Mitsuhide orders a charge into the temple. As the Date forces fight the Akechi, Nobunaga seizes the opportunity to slip out. When Mitsuhide dies, Hideyoshi and Keiji arrive, and soon, the Date forces must fight the Oda Army, before Masamune confronts Nobunaga. In the event Masamune takes too long to get inside, the Akechi breach the gates forcing the Date to fight them off. During this time, Nobunaga will attempt to flee forcing both the Akechi and the Date to chase him down.

Samurai Warriors 2 alters the layout to have the shrine in the south and creates a maze of passageways to barricade the Oda army's position. Nobutada is put into focus as both forces will try to either save or slay him at the nearby castle. In Mitsuhide's version of the stage, Nō and Oichi give their lives to guard Nobunaga. Nobunaga's side of the battle has his vassals heavily surrounded and easily routed during the first few minutes of the conflict. He will either try to escape from the invasion or defeat Mitsuhide. In this title, Magoichi snipes Nobunaga and forces Mitsuhide to take the blame for causing the daimyo's death. Only Mitsuhide gets the Akechi side as part of his story, while Nobunaga and Noh gets the Oda side. Ranmaru also gets his own version of Honnoji in free mode, with Katsuie getting his own version of Honnoji in his story as part of the expansion, both on the Oda side.

In Samurai Warriors 3, the shrine itself is in the North, guarded by Ranmaru Mori and his brothers. In Nobunaga's version, he originally intends to escape but when his wife and Ranmaru are killed, he fights Motochika Chōsokabe who became involved and Mitsuhide to the death.

For the Akechi side, Mitsuhide and Motochika will cut anyone down while on their way to Nobunaga. For Mitsuhide's version, the player must defeat officers and rendezvous with Motochika, and then make way to the Main Hall together while a fire attack happened. Once they arrive, Nobunaga will head toward the escape point, in which the player must defeat him before he arrives. For Motochika's version, the player must defeat Ranmaru first, and then rescue Mitsuhide from Nobutada Oda. After that, they must arrive at the Main Hall together to get to Nobunaga. Nobunaga won't head towards the escape point and can be defeated here.

In the Moushouden expansion, only the Oda side is available, and Nō and Ranmaru have Honnoji as their final stage. The difference from Nobunaga Oda's version is that the whole battlefield is on fire, making the player gradually lose health, therefore making the stage difficult. Also, all other Oda officers are nowhere to be seen, save for Nobunaga, Nō, and Ranmaru. In Ranmaru's version, Gracia also shows up to try and stop them from reaching Mitsuhide.

In Samurai Warriors 4, the battle is only played out on the Akechi side during the Legend of the Oda storyline. Mitsuhide Akechi, Gracia, Munenori Yagyu, Magoichi Saika, Motochika Chosokabe, and Koshosho are the options as playable characters. The player will need to start by defending the main camp from the Oda army and their reinforcements led by Nobutada Oda, who is residing at Nijo Castle. After defeating Nobutada at Nijo Castle and preventing more reinforcements from arriving, some fireball soldiers showed up and cause a fire attack at Honnoji. The player then need to deal with several enemy officers inside the main shrine where Nobunaga is residing, including Ranmaru Mori and Nohime, and then finally defeat Nobunaga to win the stage.

In Samurai Warriors Chronicles 3, the original stage consists the protagonist, Nobunaga, Nohime, and Ranmaru facing off against Mitsuhide's army, who has rebelled at Honnoji.

In the first hypothetical scenario, Ieyasu, who is fed up with Yoshimoto Imagawa's Kemari rule, decides to rebel and face him at Honnoji. Yoshimoto, alongside the protagonist, Naotora Li, and Lady Hayakawa, need to fight off Ieyasu's army, who also recieves support from Yoshimoto's enemies as well. In the first version, however, Naotora is killed by Hanzo despite Yoshimoto surpassing the rebellion. Okuni, who was also fighting for Yoshimoto, sees a sad Yoshimoto holding Naotora's dead body and Ieyasu's dead body, convinces Yoshimoto to come with her to the afterlife as they disappear in flames.

If the player is able to increase the favor alongside both the enemy and allied officers, a redux version of this stage will be unlocked. The difference this time is that Naotora decides to presuade Ieyasu instead of attacking Ieyasu, causing Hanzo to tell Ieyasu to retreat while ordering Tadakatsu and Ina to attack Naotora. The player can then rescue Naotora and prevent her death. After Naotora is rescued, Ieyasu will come out once more and battles Yoshimoto once more, only this time he is spared by Yoshimoto instead of being killed as well. Yoshimoto then was able to convince Ieyasu to resubmit to his rule and the land is united under the Imagawa clan.

In the second hypothetical scenario, the protagonist, Nobunaga, Noh and Ranmaru has to fight off Mitsuhide's army once more at Honnoji. The difference from the original scenario this time is that Nobunaga is able to escape, while Hideyoshi Hashiba send reinforcement lead by Kanbei Kuroda to defeat Mitsuhide. After the battle, Munenori Yagyu, who is part of Mitsuhide, shows up once more to attack Nobunaga, but Kanbei manage to convince him to spare him and suggest that Nobunaga, Noh, and Ranmaru should go into hiding for a while so that Hideyoshi could be the next one to unite Japan. He then send Nobunaga's group to a village while ordering Munenori to tell his lord that Nobunaga is dead. Mitsuhide, despite not being able to kill Nobunaga, ends up convincing the whole Japan that he killed Nobunaga anyways.

In Samurai Warriors 4-II, this battle appeared in three different storylines. The first one plays out the same in the original title in the Love and Fear storyline, with a few minor differences. Mitsuhide and Magoichi are not available as playable characters, while Koshosho is the main playable character and has more focus then before.

The second one takes place in the Sparks of Rebellion Storyline with a hypothetical twist, where Hisahide Matsunaga faked his death after his rebellion and convinced Munenori Yagyu and Motonari Mori to join him in his second rebellion against Nobunaga at Honnoji. He start off by tricking the Oda army thinking that Mitsuhide is the one that has betrayed Nobunaga by raising a flag featuring Mitsuhide's symbol. Hisahide also suggest that none of the Oda officers leaves the battle, or else the stage will be lost. The player will need to capture Nijo Castle first, but Nobutada Oda refuses to come out. Thanks to Motonari's suggestion by using the secret passage, the player will be able to defeat Nobutada to capture Nijo Castle. At the same time, Hisahide sends a fake message to Mitsuhide saying that Nobunaga is in danger, causing him to come out with his allies. After realizing that he has been tricked and is labeled as a traitor, Mitsuhide fights Hisahide's army, in which the player need to defeat. At the same time, the Oda officers who has been tricked is preventing Mitsuhide from reaching the southern manor, while Nobunaga orders Ranmaru and Nohime to go in to hiding to ambush Hisahide's army. While Hisahide is fight Mitsuhide's force, Gracia shows up to help her father. Mitsuhide then orders Gracia to leave to tell the world the turth, but Hisahide ends up defeating both of them. Hisahide then ties up Gracia and put her in a box while MItsuhide withdraws for a moment. Ranmaru then shows up and found out Hisahide is the real traitor, only for him to get defeated, tied up, and buried. Noh and Mitsuhide then shows up in front of the entrance where Nobunaga is residing, while Hisahide sets fire to Honnoji. After defeating both of them, Noh is slained in battle while Mitsuhide is tied up and silenced. Hisahide then challenges Nobunaga to a duel in the main shrine and the former must defeat the latter in order to win. After Hisahide defeats Nobunaga, he is proud of what he has achieved and blow himself up.

The third one is a DLC scenario, where what if Nobunaga, Noh, Ranmaru, Mitsuhide, and Hisahide is still alive following their original demises and gathers at Honnoji. While Hideyoshi and Katsuie is about to begin their battle at Shizugatake, the both received a message about this mysterious gathering and decides to head there as well. Nobunaga is the main playable character, with either Noh or Ranmaru as secondary characters fighting on the Oda side. Nobunaga starts of by dealing with Hisahide's forces, while preventing Katsuie's army led by Toshiie from reaching the main shrine at Honnoji. After dealing with both armies, Hisahide sets fire to Honnoji and advance, only to be defeated and withdraw for a moment, while Toshiie realized that Nobunaga is real. Hideyoshi then arrives at Honnoji, but decides to see how the battle goes. Mitsuhide, who is also on the battlefield, realized his rebellion is all for nothing and orders his army to attack Nobunaga one more time, in which the player must defeat. After that, Mitsuhide, Katsuie will advance, with Oichi joining Katsuie's advance as well, but Nobunaga, Ranmaru, and Noh defeats them. Mitsuhide and Katsuie then withdraws for a moment while Hideyoshi decide to battle Nobunaga as well. Nobunaga will then need to deal with Hideyoshi's army led by Nene alongside enemy reinforcements led by Kanbei. After they are defeated, Hisahide, Mitsuhide, and Katsuie will reappear and charge towards Nobunaga with Hideyoshi, in which all four must be defeated in order to win the battle. After the battle is over, Hideyoshi and Katsuie apologizes for turning their blades against Nobunaga, while Nobunaga forgives them with Mitsuhide and Hisahide and ask them to join him again to unite the land. Hisahide, however, refuses to be forgiven, so Nobunaga allow him to resist him as often as he like.

This battle is the core focus of Samurai Warriors 5 as Mitsuhide's betrayal marks the end of Nobunaga and Mitsuhide's time together so is given a lot of buildup and importance in the narrative. This is the final main battle for the Oda route. Key differences from previous versions include Honnoji being a giant castle instead of a small series of interconnecting temples and Noh and Ranmaru being absent from the Oda forces in favour of Yasuke and Mitsuki. Before the battle, Yasuke informs Nobunaga of the betrayal, much like Ranmaru in past entries while Mitsuki has doubts about supporting Nobunaga, so is not playable for the stage and goes away to reconsider her actions. The Oda forces start with Nobunaga and Yasuke isolated from each other by the Akechi forces and they break through the encirclement led by Toshimitsu Saito. As they are about to reunite, Nobutada Oda is revealed to be a fake and already deceased as Sandayū Momochi and the Iga ninjas appear to cause havoc, even causing the fire attack to destroy the pagoda of the Honnoji castle. Once they are dispatched of, additional Akechi reinforcements and Toshimitsu appear, Mitsuki also arrives to aid Nobunaga and the Oda are able to break through a second time. Nobunaga advances to Mitsuhide in the burning castle and as they are duelling, Mitsuki begs them not to kill each other. Mitsuhide stands down but Nobunaga walks into the flames, telling Mitsuki to follow Mitsuhide and his ambition as he departs. Other parts of the aftermath for this battle include Ieyasu Tokugawa collapsing in shock when Hanzō Hattori informs him of the events that have just transpired, Hideyoshi marching with his forces with renewed vigor to avenge Nobunaga and take the land for himself, and Yasuke walking away with the prized Sosan Samonji katana.

Mitsuhide's version is quite similar and starts off with his forces encroaching the Oda forces in a field batle with Toshimitsu commanding the men. Soon enough, the Iga ninjas and Sandayu also appear to do the fire attack but Nobutada Oda is alive in this version. Once they break through and capture all strongholds surrounding the city, Yasuke stands in front of the burning castle and must be defeated to progress further. He falls but Mitsuki makes a surprise appearance to support Nobunaga in the burning castle before Mitsuhide and Nobunaga end their climatic duel. The aftermath is similar to the Oda version except it is revealed that Yasuke hands the Sosan Samonji to Mitsuhide before departing.

Warriors Orochi
In the first game, Nobunaga heads to the temple due to Huang Zhong's suggestion. Although they were expecting to meet Cao Cao, they were tricked into a trap set by Da Ji. The area is soon engulfed in flames and Nobunaga's army is surrounded. Even so, their leader remains calm and orders Toshiie to extinguish the flames. Rumors of Cao Cao's possible appearance attracts Xiahou Dun to the scene and, though he is disappointed to not see his cousin, he aids Nobunaga's forces. Shingen supports them as well, gloating that Nobunaga now owes him a favor. When Da Ji is defeated, she states it was a fun charade and retreats.

Huang Zhong, Ina, and Xiahou Yuan have their dream stage take place in this area in Warriors Orochi 2. These three expert archers desire to prove that their skill can outperform any firearm. They defend Nobunaga and plan to stage a fire attack on Masamune's army. To ensure that their plan succeeds, they rely on sniping enemy scouts with their arrows and defeat Magoichi when he suspects deception. If their plot succeeds, they easily gain the upper hand over the young leader. Masamune will yell for Dian Wei's assistance if he experiences trouble while Zhao Yun and Yukimura charge straight for Nobunaga.

In the event their plan fails, the musket-reliant army surrounds the undermanned archer army.

Warriors Orochi 3 has Honnōji take place during chapter 3. Players first start out with the Hōjō forces under Ujiyasu breaking through the front gates. When Oda forces ambush the party in a courtyard, Sun Jian arrives to meet up with the Hōjō. Suddenly, soldiers decide to open fire accidentally hitting gunpowder, starting a huge fire that begins to decrease health for both sides, and burns Mitsuhide alive. Through the blaze, the Coalition must also fight Fu Xi who is looking for Da Ji. Nō also blocks the path to Nobunaga before the fight with the man himself. After the battle, No, Nobunaga, and Fu Xi joins the Coalition.

The redux version of this stage after Nō, Sun Ce and others have already done at Jie Ting, they omits the accidental fire which enables players to face Mitsuhide one more time and recruit him to their side. They also defeat No, Nobunaga and Fu Xi at the end.

In Ultimate, the Shu-Tokugawa forces attack Nobunaga's base after being fed incorrect information by a fake Jiang Wei.

Warriors Orochi 4 places the area as Nobunaga's main base of operations. When the Resistance army defeats the Oda vassals and forces many to surrender, Liu Bei, Guan Yinping, Gracia, Naotora and the Sanada invade the area to try and ascertain Nobunaga's true intentions. Upon his defeat, Nu Wa and Nezha arrive to defend Nobunaga, revealing that they had ordered him to act as a villain to draw in humans to join his cause and to force others into banding together to stand against him.

Although Nuwa admits Nobunaga had too much fun acting as a villain, both sides decide to unite together to form the Coalition.

Later, while Nobunaga and most of the Coalition is searching for more Arms of Ouroboros, the Olympian armies under Athena and Toyotomi armies invade the temple, but the defense plans left to Zhuge Dan, Ieyasu and the Date army as well with Lu Meng, Huang Gai and Han Dang allow them to hold out until Yukimura and Naotora's reinforcements arrive to save them.

In one of the DLC stages, Zhang Fei, Takakage and Ding Feng search the area after hearing of the potent taste and gifts granted by Odin's wine. After defeating any would-be competitors, the demon army arrives and begins relocating the treasures of the city. Humorously, Gyūki accidentally destroys the bottle containing the special wine, and immediately begins speaking in an eloquent and dignified manner, boosting the morale of the demon army.

After the battle, Takakage and Ding Feng conclude it may have been better to never find out of the fruit's secrets

In Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate, Yukimura, Gaia, Loki, Mitsunari, Ares and Athena go this place to defeat Da Ji's army. First they need to defeat Sun Wukong and his doubles. After defeating Sun Wukong, Kiyomori summons brid horrors. Athena says they need to calm down by defeating the one who cast it. Defeating Kiyomori will weaken horrors. Da Ji also set another enemy ambush. Seeing that enemy ambush defeat causing the gate open. However Da Ji set the flame ablaze. Ryu Hayabusa appeared and test their might and after his defeat, he join their cause. Suddenly, Da Ji set more ambush for them to stop seeing the presence. Defeating Da Ji's ambush troops is the key to open their path to Perseus' phantom. Gaia says that after defeating Perseus' phantom, it reveals to the others that this is the fragment. They also manage to beat Da Ji in the end.

Kessen
Kessen III shows the entire event through a series of cutscenes. During the game's first playthrough, the temple is attacked in a massive conflict during the opening movie. Nobunaga and Ranmaru hurry for the temple's lower exit and trigger various defense mechanisms during their flight. While the young man loses his life for his lord, Nobunaga's escape is blocked by an ominous figure engulfed in fire. The mysterious figure haunts Nobunaga with a riddle, saying that dreams are reality and reality is a dream, before the figure shoots the lord in the chest. Nobunaga tells Kicho that he has had this dream since childhood and wonders if it foretells their fate. His dream becomes a reality later in his life yet his wife's loyalty saves him from death. He carries her wounded body and they escape together.

The game's second playthrough details the events preceding the attack. Kicho, wanting to keep her childhood friend from betraying Nobunaga, stays with Mitsuhide. Yoshiaki criticizes her stay with Mitsuhide and pesters his subordinate to take action. Mitsuhide, intent to make a world for him and her, imprisons her to prevent her interference with his assassination attempt. A ninja brigade sent by Hachisuka frees her from the castle's dungeon and urges her return to Kyoto. The rest of the events follow the first version of the cinematic.

Geten no Hana
The betrayal at Honnōji is the climax of each character scenario in Geten no Hana. Although the characters and forces involved are reliant on the route, the basic layout of the attack remains fairly consistent in most cases. Nobuyuki is the instigator who surrounds the temple with 2,000 men. Nobunaga has one hundred at best to protect himself, and reinforcements from Azuchi Castle are sluggish to assist his defense. Nobuyuki's ninja set the temple ablaze while Nobunaga and Ranmaru are still inside it. Events which occur at Honnōji beyond this point and its final conclusion varies in each story.

Game Nihonshi Kakumeiji
Honnōji serves as the final battle of the game. Trapped within the confines of the temple grounds, Nobunaga, Ranmaru, and three other pages are up against a slew of powerful Akechi units blocking the entrance. Even if the battle is won through trial and error, it will still count as a defeat for the player.

Nobunaga's Ambition
In this event it appeared during the year 1582 when Akechi Mitsuhide led his own soldiers to encircle the Honnōji temple. In by Zengokuban, Sengoku Gunyuuden and Lord of Darkness only said that Nobunaga had died at Honnōji Temple with Ranmaru and Nobutada. But since in Haouden onwards got said Hideyoshi defeats Mitsuhide at Yamazaki after Honnōji Incident and the party was divided which consists of Oda Nobutaka, Oda Nobukatsu, Shibata Katsuie, Niwa Nagahide, Maeda Toshiie and Hideyoshi's faction are one of them.

Taiko Risshiden
In this event it appeared when Mitsuhide caused a rebellion against Nobunaga. When Nobunaga knew that Mitsuhide betrayed himself, so tried to fight but failure. Therefore Nobunaga decide commit seppuku himself. Meanwhile Hideyoshi fighting against enemies in Chūgoku upon hearing the news of the death of his master, causing resentment and decided to armistice the enemy to open a battle against Mitsuhide at Yamazaki. When Mitsuhide was defeated, he then took the shortcut to escape to Kyoto, but was lurking by bandits and stabbed by the ribs to death. From that event considered the beginning Hideyoshi's era officially.

Historical Information
The event began on June 21, 1582 (June 2 in Tenshō year 10th). The exact reasoning for Akechi Mitsuhide's rebellion is unknown, but there are several leading theories. One theory believed was Mitsuhide faced humiliated in front of other warlords during a punished by Nobunaga. Another theory states Mitsuhide was on his way to aid Hideyoshi fight against Mōri, but feared the loss of his domain. This argument claims he came to this conclusion because Nobunaga dismissed two older retainers, Sakuma Nobumori and Hayashi Hidesada, causing Mitsuhide to fear himself next for the chopping block. Yet another hypothesis comes from the more personal event in Mitsuhide's life. His mother died during the battle against Hatano Hideharu in Tanba Province, which may have caused Mitsuhide to feel humiliated and depressed, eventually leading to his rebellion against Nobunaga.

Mitsuhide began his rebellion by pretending to march towards Chūgoku and fight the Mōri. However, he instead invaded Honnōji Temple, where Nobunaga and a small retinue resided on retreat. During the assault, Mitsuhide's forces killed Nobunaga and several retainers, including Ranmaru, Oda Nobutada, Murai Sadakatsu, Sugaya Nagayori, Saitō Toshiharu, Fukutomi Hidekatsu and Mōri Shinsuke. It is unknown whether it was the Akechi forces or Nobuanga's forces who started the fire within Honnōji, but either way the temple burned to the ground, with Nobunaga inside.

After this incident, Mitsuhide entered Azuchi Castle and began sending messages to the Imperial Court to boost his position and force the court to recognize his authority. Later Mitsuhide and his vassals were defeated by Hideyoshi at Yamazaki and they was killed by bandits.

Gallery
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