Honnō-ji Temple

Honnō-ji Temple is marked by the presence of a statue of the warlord Oda Nobunaga standing near the main gate, which opens onto the bustling Teramachi shopping street. Founded in fourteen fifteen by the monk Nichiryū, the temple is the head of the Hokke Hommon branch of Nichiren Buddhism. Its fame centers on the events of June second, fifteen eighty-two, when Oda Nobunaga, then on the verge of unifying Japan, lodged here with a small guard. His trusted general, Akechi Mitsuhide, surrounded the temple with over ten thousand soldiers, forcing the warlord to commit ritual suicide as the complex burned around him.