Editing Horizon:Volume 9A Prologue (section)

===Study: The Honnouji Incident and the Battle of Shizugatake===
[[File:Horizon_9A_p0018.jpg|thumb]]

Toori: Sis! Sis! What’s going on with the Honnouji Incident and all that stuff!?

Kimi: Heh heh heh. Incident brother, people have been talking a lot about the Honnouji Incident and the Battle of Shizugatake recently, but they’re actually pretty closely related.

Toori: Are they married!?

Kimi: Now, I don’t know if you’re anthropomorphizing them or just don’t know what you’re talking about, but stop it. Listen. After Nobunaga dies at the Honnouji Incident, Akechi Mitsuhide is slain at the Battle of Yamazaki and then the Oda clan has to decide who inherits the clan.

Toori: Oh, so it’s a succession battle between Nobunaga’s kids?

Kimi: Yes, and this was determined at the Kiyosu Conference. All the important Oda retainers gathered and made a decision, okay?

Toori: Huh, huh? Why would Oda’s retainers and not actual Oda people decide Nobunaga’s successor?

Kimi: Because Nobunaga appointed people based on their abilities, so the Oda clan had started placing more weight on ability than blood. Anyway, this led to a conflict between Shibata Katsuie and Hideyoshi.

Toori: War already?

Kimi: No? They were all mature adults. But while Shibata supported Nobunaga’s third son Nobutaka who had been adopted into another family, Hideyoshi supported Nobunaga’s grandson Hidenobu. Hideyoshi laid his groundwork well and got public opinion on his side, so Hidenobu became the successor. Now, the Oda clan was in Hideyoshi’s debt after he slayed Mitsuhide, so when he proved he could also determine its successor, all the younger Oda retainers chose to serve him

Toori: Oh, and that gradually filled Shibata’s anger meter until he started Battle of Shizugatake?

Kimi: More or less. This chart shows how it happened.



*Honnouji Incident

:Nobunaga dies

:⇩

*Battle of Yamazaki

:Hideyoshi slain to avenge Nobunaga.

:⇩

*Kiyosu Conference

:Hideyoshi opposes Shibata and comes out ahead

:⇩

*Battle of Shizugatake

:Shibata doesn’t like the outcome of the Kiyosu Conference and rebels



Toori: I wonder what woulda happened if he’d jumped straight to war like Seijun does.

Kimi: Let’s not speculate about these things, okay?