In this print, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), the man who unified Japan after the period of Warring States (1467-1568) is shown trying to defend himself against an assassin at the temple Honnōji in Kyoto. It was Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582), a former member of Nobunaga's inner circle, who plotted his assassination. Akechi was a talented general, and when he later accomplished the bloodless surrender of Hatano Hideharu in 1576, Nobunaga thought it best to execute both Hatano and his brother, much to Akechi's shock. Believing that Akechi had betrayed them, Hatano's followers kidnapped and brutally murdered Akechi's mother. Five years later Akechi took his opportunity to strike back at Nobunaga. Under the pretense of aiding Toyotomi Hideyoshi at Takamatsu castle, Akechi surrounded the temple Honnoji where Nobunaga was lodging, and attacked on the morning of June 21. Oda Nobunaga met his end at the temple, either succumbing to an assassin's blade, the fire that engulfed the temple, or by his own hand. Akechi himself would soon die facing Hideyoshi's army at the Battle of Yamazaki.
