Nobunaga Burns Mount Hiei

1571

Infuriated by the warrior monks of the Enryakuji temple complex, Oda Nobunaga surrounded Mount Hiei outside Kyoto and burned every monastery and village on the mountain, slaughtering thousands of monks, women, and children. Japanese Buddhism's great institutional power was broken by fire in a single morning. The massacre permanently ended Buddhist political interference in Japanese governance that had plagued the islands for centuries.