Nobunaga Was Shot On This Day, May 19 1570

Nobunaga Was Shot On This Day, May 19 1570.

In reports to his superiors in Europe by Luis Frois regarding the history of Japan and his association with Oda Nobunaga, it is mentioned that a certain samurai was executed in a most gruesome manner. The man had been buried up to his neck, and a bamboo saw set up next to him, with the signboard inviting passersby to cut at his neck, slowly hacking the man’s head off. The punishment was called Nokogiribiki.

Although not named by Frois, the samurai in question was Sugitani Zenjubo Not much is known about the man, but he was believed to be of the Sugitani clan, one of the 53 houses of Koga, and also reported to have been the castellan of Sugitani Castle in Ise. He has also been remembered as a bounty hunter, hired by the Rokkaku clan of Omi to shoot Nobunaga. On May 19, 1573, Sugitani lay in wait for Nobunaga on the Senkusagoe Roadway through Omi (Shiga Province). It has been said that Sugitani fired two shots from a distance of about 20 meters, one missing, and the other grazing Nobunaga. According to yet another story, Nobunaga was carrying some mochi, pounded rice cakes, in his kimono that had been given to him by the priests of the Oda clan temple, the Bansho-ji of Nagoya, and that the mochi had caught the bullet, saving Nobunaga’s life. 

Sugitani escaped, but was finally caught hiding out at the Amida-Ji, a temple in Horikawa Village in Omi’s Takashima-gun region. The marksman was interrogated, then buried up to his neck, with the bamboo saw used to slowly cut his head off. Sugitani died about a week later, on October 5, 1573.

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