is a temple of the Nichiren

Nichiren Buddhism

Nichiren Buddhism is a branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren...

 branch of Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

  located in Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Its honzon

Gohonzon

Gohonzon , is the object of devotion in many forms of Japanese Buddhism. In Japanese, go is an honorific prefix indicating respect and honzon means object of fundamental respect, veneration, or devotion...

 is mandara-honzon (曼荼羅本尊) from Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Nam Myōhō Renge Kyō is a mantra that is chanted as the central practice of all forms of Nichiren Buddhism...

.

History

Honnō-ji is most famous for the Incident at Honnō-ji. Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga

was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...

 lodged there before his invasion of the west. However on the morning of June 21, 1582, the traitorous forces of Akechi Mitsuhide

Akechi Mitsuhide

, nicknamed Jūbei or called from his clan name and title, was a samurai who lived during the Sengoku period of Feudal Japan.Mitsuhide was a general under daimyo Oda Nobunaga, although he became infamous for his betrayal in 1582, which led to Nobunaga's death at Honno-ji...

 surrounded the temple and set it on fire. Knowing there was no way out for him, Nobunaga committed seppuku

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

 along with his attendant Mori Ranmaru

Mori Ranmaru

, born Mori Nagasada , was the son of Mori Yoshinari, and had 5 brothers in total, from the province of Mino. He was a member of the Mori Clan, descendants of the Seiwa Genji....

. Ranmaru's brothers also perished at Honnō-ji.

Location

The rebuilt Honnō-ji stands on a different site in Kyoto, near Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station

Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station

Kyoto Shiyakusho-mae Station is a stop on the Tozai Line of Kyoto Municipal Subway in Kyoto, Japan. It is in Nakagyo-ku. With the station number designation T12, its station color is kara kurenai...

.

Popular references

Honnō-ji is depicted in the games Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege

Onimusha 3: Demon Siege, released in Japan and Europe as , is an action-adventure game developed and published by Capcom. It is the third game of the Onimusha series and was released for the PlayStation 2 on April 27, 2004. It was later ported to Windows on December 8, 2005.-Plot:The game opens...

and Sengoku Basara

Sengoku Basara

is a series of video games developed and published by Capcom, as well as a bigger media franchise based on it, including two anime series and an animated film...

 Series and in episode 10 of the animated TV series Sengoku Otome.

See also

• For an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, and Japanese Buddhist temple architecture, see the Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
  Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
  This is the glossary of Japanese Buddhism, including major terms the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries...
  
  .
• List of National Treasures of Japan (writings)

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