Japan History Honnōji Incident, 1582

The Honnō-ji Incident (本能寺の変, Honnō-ji no Hen) was the attempted assassination of Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at Honnō-ji in Kyoto in 1582. Nobunaga was on the verge of unifying the country, but died by seppuku in the unexpected rebellion of his vassal Akechi Mitsuhide. Nobunaga only had a few guards and retainers with him when he was attacked, ending his Sengoku period campaign to unify Japan under his power. Nobunaga's death was avenged two weeks later when his retainer Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide in the Battle of Yamazaki, paving the way for Hideyoshi to complete the unification of Japan. Mitsuhide's motive for assassinating Nobunaga is unknown, though there are multiple theories for his betrayal.