On this date in 1579, the treacherous execution of a rebellious Japanese lord set events in motion that would shape the nation’s destiny. For two centuries, Japan had been shaken with civil strife in the Sengoku, or “Warring States”, period. Hatano Hideharu, chief of the minor Hatano clan, got himself on the outs with powerful daimyo Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga’s samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide forced Hideharu’s capitulation, convincing him to lay down his arms by offering his own mother as a hostage.* And here’s where the bodies start piling up. Nobunaga overruled Mitsuhide’s promise of safe conduct and had Hatano Hideharu...