theory Among the many conspiracy theories surrounding the Honnō-ji Incident is Tokugawa Ieyasu's role in the event. Historically, Ieyasu was away from his lord at the time and, when he heard that Oda Nobunaga was in danger, he wanted to rush to his lord's rescue in spite of the small number of attendants with him. However, Honda Tadakatsu advised for his lord to avoid the risk and urged for a quick retreat to Mikawa Province. Hattori Hanzō led the way through Iga Province and they returned home by boat. However, skeptics think otherwise. While they usually accept the historically known facts about Ieyasu's actions during Akechi Mitsuhide's betrayal, theorists tend to pay more attention to the events before. Ever since Tokugawa Ieyasu lost his wife and son due to Oda Nobunaga's orders, they reason, he held a secret resentment against his lord. Generally, there is some belief that he privately goaded Mitsuhide to take action when the two warlords were together in Azuchi Castle. Together, they planned when to attack and went their separate ways. When the deed was done, Ieyasu turned a blind eye to Mitsuhide's schemes and fled the scene to feign innocence. A variation of the concept states that Ieyasu was well aware of Mitsuhide's feelings regarding Nobunaga and simply chose to do nothing for his own benefit. See also Shitennō (Tokugawa clan) East Asian age reckoning List of Tōshō-gū Testament of Ieyasu References Footnotes Citations Sources Further reading Bolitho, Harold (1974). Treasures Among Men: The Fudai Daimyo in Tokugawa Japan. New Haven: Yale University Press. . . McClain, James (1991). The Cambridge History of Japan Volume 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. McLynn, Frank (2008). The Greatest Shogun, BBC History Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp 52–53. あおもりの文化財 徳川家康自筆日課念仏 – 青森県庁ホームページ Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan, 1334–1615. Stanford: Stanford University Press. . Totman, Conrad D. (1967). Politics in the Tokugawa Bakufu, 1600–1843. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. . External links The Christian Century in Japan, by Charles Boxer 1543 births 1616 deaths 16th-century Japanese people 17th-century shōguns Bushido Matsudaira clan People from Okazaki, Aichi Tairō Tokugawa clan Tokugawa shōguns Toyotomi retainers Warlords Deified Japanese people