Burning of Enryaku-ji

Also called: Siege of Mount Hiei, Hieizan yakiuchi

Oda Nobunaga burned the Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei, which had sided with the Azai and Asakura, and killed its monks and the people around it. The armed might of a temple that had swayed Kyoto politics for centuries was broken.

The Enryaku-ji, head temple of Tendai Buddhism, commanded warrior monks and wide estates and had long pressured court and shogunate. In 1570, when Nobunaga was fighting Azai Nagamasa and Asakura Yoshikage, the temple sheltered them on the mountain and rejected his demand that it stay neutral.

On 30 September 1571 Nobunaga surrounded Mount Hiei, set fire to its halls and pagodas, and killed monks and the people of Sakamoto at the foot of the mountain, men and women alike; the dead are said to have numbered several thousand. Excavations, however, suggest that many buildings had already gone before the attack. The burning is cited as proof of how ruthless Nobunaga was with religious powers; he went on to attack the Ikkō-ikki of Nagashima and forced the Ishiyama Hongan-ji to surrender in 1580. The Enryaku-ji was rebuilt under Hideyoshi and the Tokugawa.