Ishiyama (Level 12)

The Oda forces, moving to Ishiyama Temple, are ripped to pieces by a sudden Demon attack! Aoi and Inugami hurry to the Temple to aid them.

## Level Introduction

A peace treaty finally settles the long strife between Nobunaga Oda and the Honganji Buddhists. Kennyo Honganji agrees to abandon Ishiyama Temple, which is swiftly re-occupied by an Oda force led by Nobumori Sakuma. Among the occupiers is Mitsuhide Akechi, still fiercely loyal to Nobunaga…

## Walkthrough

**First task:** Wipe out the Demon's frontal assault!

Simply defeat all the Demons that appear on the map. You'll only have Inugami and Aoi for this so make sure Aoi isn't taking damage.

**Second task:** Survive as long as possible!

Fight through the swarms of Demons that appear for one minute.

**Third task:** Work with Hideyoshi to smash the blood crystals!

Hideyoshi's army will appear at this point. Clear the demons attacking the soldiers from the sides and begin to lead them up the large slope, clearing the demons in their way. Your first objective is to clear a path for them so that they can destroy the blood crystal in the south-east part of the map. To ensure they can make it there, stay at the front of your troops while leading them and get rid of the oncoming Demons that stand in the way. Once this blood crystal is destroyed, run back and kill any demons attacking from behind (east) of your main force. Then, continue to advance your troops towards the massive blood crystal wall. Your objective is not the wall itself, but a smaller blood crystal at the end of a short path north of the crystal wall. Once you destroy this blood crystal, you can focus your efforts on the blood crystal wall.

**Fourth task:** Wipe out the giant Spider Demons!

Run ahead of your troops and defeat the Witch Spiders in the area. After this, lead your men to the north rectangle of buildings, hidden inside is a small blood crystal. Defend your men while they destroy it. After it falls, clear any Demons attacking your troops and begin to lead them south. At the bottom of a small slope you'll find another blood crystal. Destroy it. Run to clear the remaining Demons that would have spawned in the east, and when you encounter the blood crystal blocking your path, the fifth task will start.

**Fifth task:** Smash the Blood Crystal blocking the gate!

Same as any other blood crystal, take this down with a combination of troops and fire pillars. Once the crystal falls, immediately destroy the demons that appear to the right and left flanks of your troops. Then, without entering the gates, go up the stone stairs and destroy the Demons in the north and south pathways. At the end of the south pathway, you'll find another blood crystal. Lead your troops here and destroy it. Now proceed through the gates.

**Sixth task:** Smash giant Blood Crystal and kill all Demons!

Use Inugami to take out a majority of the Demons and kill the two Giant Demons. Then clear a path for your troops to reach the blood crystal in the south-east corner of this area. Again, use fire pillars to destroy this quickly.

## Plot

Mitsuhide stands unharmed as Demons rip apart the Oda forces around him, and is impressed by their power. As he watches the spectacle, he marks himself with the blood of the fallen soldiers. He notices, as expected, that Aoi and Inugami have arrived to battle the Demons.
Aoi and Inugami fight alone at the base of the Ishiyama Temple, but are unable to advance further due to a massive blood crystal wall. Without human aid, they are unable to destroy the wall and are trapped within waves of Demons.
Hideyoshi Toyotomi and his men, sent by Nobunaga and alerted to the presence the Demons by his scouts, witnesses Aoi and Inugami’s struggle and comes to their aid. Together they destroy the nearby blood crystals and eventually manage to destroy the giant blood crystal wall, allowing them access to the temple entrance.

Fighting through yet more Demons, including Witch Spiders, the group are able to clear the area leading to the temple gates. Upon entry, they find Mitsuhide among the demonic horde. Aoi is surprised to find him there, but Mitsuhide assures her that they will talk later, and should focus on defeating the Demons. Aoi agrees, and the group clear the remaining area, defeating Giant Demons and destroying the final blood crystal. Mitsuhide thanks Aoi for her aid, but she appears cautious of him.

Later, at the Oda camp, Mitsuhide informs Nobunaga of the Demon retreat and the successful acquisition of Ishiyama Temple. However, Nobunaga is unhappy about the length of time it took to take the temple, regarding Nobumori Sakuma, his retainer who had been placed in charge of the temple siege, as incompetent. He therefore announces Nobumori banished from the Oda territories, to Mitsuhide’s satisfaction.

## True History

The Ishiyama Hongan-ji War, taking place from 1570 to 1580, was a ten-year campaign by Nobunaga Oda against a network of fortifications, temples, and communities belonging to the Ikkō-ikki, a powerful faction of warrior monks and commoners who rebelled against daimyo rule. It centered on attempts to take down the Ikki's central base, the cathedral fortress of Ishiyama Hongan-ji. While Nobunaga himself focused on other campaigns, his armies remained camped out, assigned to monitor the Ikki's fortress, and take it if they could.

In 1576, Nobumori Sakuma was chosen as commander in the campaign against Ishiyama Hongan-ji, and given troops from seven provinces. This placed him in command of the largest Oda-clan army among the Oda retainers. However, unlike his colleagues Mitsuhide Akechi, Katsuie Shibata or Hideyoshi Toyotomi who all won battles on the fronts to which they were assigned, Nobumori made no progress in the siege.
In April 1576, Oda's army attacked with 3,000 men under the command of Mitsuhide Akechi and Murashige Araki. The attackers were quickly repelled by 15,000 defenders. Nobunaga enlisted Yoshitaka Kuki to set up a blockade and disrupt the fortress' supply lines. In August 1576, in the first Battle of Kizugawaguchi, the blockade failed. But Yoshitaka Kuki returned two years later with massive new battleships and, in the second Battle of Kizugawaguchi, he broke the supply lines for good. By then, the siege was beginning to swing in Nobunaga's favor. The majority of the Ikki's allies were already inside the fortress with them, so they had no one to call on for aid. Kenshin Uesugi, one of Nobunaga's strongest enemies and, therefore, among the Ikki's strongest allies, died in 1578, and the Mori Clan lost their castle at Miki in 1580.

Between 1578 and 1580, the Ikki sallied forth from the fortress multiple times to face Oda's armies. But by April 1580, the defenders were nearly out of ammunition and food. The Abbot Kennyo Hongan-ji held a conference with his colleagues and, shortly afterwards, received a message from the Emperor himself asking that the Ikki surrender. It was no secret that this letter had been prompted by Nobunaga, but that would not change the power of an Imperial request; Kennyo surrendered several weeks later and fighting finally ended a few months after that, in August 1580.
That same year, Nobunaga drafted a document containing a fifteen-point accusation against Nobumori, including past failures with those against the Honganji. Nobunaga banished Nobumori and his son Nobuhide Sakuma to the temple on Mount Koyasan, where they were forced to spend their days in the monk lifestyle.