Akechi Mitsuhide, who rebelled against his lord Oda Nobunaga due to the Honnoji Incident, sent the original secret letter to the anti-Nobunaga powerhouses immediately after the change. I found it from.Professor Fujita stated that he asked for cooperation from Yoshiaki Ashikaga, the last shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, who had been chased by Nobunaga.
According to Mie University, this historical material is a small, seamless, horizontally long secret document (11.5 cm long and 56.7 cm wide).On June 10, 1582, 6 days after the Honnoji Incident, the destination was Shigeharu Dobashi, a powerful tribe who ruled Kii Saika (now Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture) and became the leader of Saika Ikki.In addition to asking Yoshiaki Ashikaga to act according to the orders of the shogun when he entered the country, he is also grateful for his cooperation with Yoshiaki Ashikaga and his offer to send reinforcements to Akechi Mitsuhide.
It was known that a copy of the letter was in the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo, but the original was not found.It was found that it was folded compactly, wrapped in wrapping paper, and carried to the destination, Shigeharu Dobashi of Kii Haga, because small creases that could not be confirmed in the copy or photograph could be confirmed. ..
The description is the same as the copy, and Professor Fujita judged from the handwriting and Kao (signature) that it is highly possible that it was written by Akechi Mitsuhide himself.A man from Minokamo City bought it at an antiquarian bookstore and donated it to the Minokamo Civic Museum.
It is said that Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against Nobunaga Oda on June 1582, 6, and forced Nobunaga Oda into suicide.However, the reason for the rebellion was not clear, and the grudge theory against Nobunaga Oda, the ambition theory of Akechi Mitsuhide himself, and the mastermind theory that a third party planned emerged, and it has been regarded as the biggest mystery in the early modern period.
After the change of Honnoji, Akechi Mitsuhide was refused reinforcements by his colleague Tsutsui Junkei and Hosokawa Fujitaka, who had relied on him, and although he held down Kyo and Omi (Shiga Prefecture), the home of the Oda clan, he was isolated.For this reason, there is a view that he was trying to gather allies for fear of the counterattack of the Oda vassals, but Professor Fujita believes that he caused a change in Honnoji with the aim of reviving the Muromachi Shogunate.
* The image is "Mitsuhide Letter to Shigeharu Dobashi" owned by Minokamo Civic Museum.
