TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN

by Eiji Yoshikawa

  "With the fall of this one castle, Echizen will not necessarily be overthrown. With the capture of this one castle, my lord, your military power will not necessarily increase."

  Nobunaga interrupted him, asking, "But how can we advance without overcoming Kanegasaki?"

  Hideyoshi suddenly turned to the side. Ieyasu had come in and was just standing there. Seeing Ieyasu, Hideyoshi hurriedly withdrew with a bow. He then brought in some matting and offered the lord of Mikawa a seat next to Nobunaga.

  “Am I intruding?" Ieyasu asked, and then sat down on the seat Hideyoshi had provided. To Hideyoshi, however, he gave not the slightest recognition. "It seems as though you were in the middle of some discussion."

  "No." Motioning toward Hideyoshi with his chin and softening his mood a bit, Nobunaga explained to Ieyasu exactly what they had been discussing.

  Ieyasu nodded and stared fixedly at Hideyoshi. Ieyasu was eight years younger than Nobunaga, but to Hideyoshi it seemed the other way around. As Ieyasu looked at him, Hideyoshi could not imagine that his manner and expression were those of a man in his twenties.

  "I agree with what Hideyoshi has said. To waste further time and injure more men with this one castle is not a sound policy."

  "Do you think we should call off the attack and press on to the enemy's main stronghold?"

  "First let's hear what Hideyoshi has to say. It seems he has something in mind."

  "Hideyoshi."

  "Yes, my lord."

  "Tell us your plan."

  "I don't have a plan."

  "What?" Nobunaga was not the only one whose eyes showed surprise. The expression Ieyasu's face was a little perplexed, too.

  "There are three thousand soldiers inside that castle, and its walls are hardened with their will to take on an army of ten thousand men and fight to the death. Even though it's small, there's no reason why the castle should fall easily. I doubt that it would be shaken even if we did have a plan. Those soldiers are men, too, so I imagine they must be susceptible to true human emotions and sincerity…."

  "You're starting up again, eh?" Nobunaga said. He did not want Hideyoshi's tongue to wag any more than it had already. Ieyasu was his most powerful ally, and he treated him with extreme courtesy; but the man was, after all, lord of the two provinces of Mikawa and Totomi, and was not a member of the Oda clan's inner circle. More than that, Nobunaga was well enough attuned to Hideyoshi's mind that he didn't have to hear his thoughts in detail in order to trust him.

  "Fine. That's fine," Nobunaga said. "I give you the authority for whatever you have in mind. Go ahead and carry it through."

  "Thank you, my lord." Hideyoshi withdrew as though the matter were of no particular consequence. But that night he entered the enemy castle alone and met with its commander, Asakura Kagetsune. Hideyoshi opened his heart and spoke to the young master of this castle.

  "You come from a samurai family, too, so you're probably looking at the end result of this battle. Further resistance will only result in the deaths of valuable soldiers. I, in particular, do not want to see you die a useless death. Rather than that, why don't you open up the castle and retreat properly, join forces with Lord Yoshikage, and meet us again, on a different battlefield? I will personally guarantee the security of all the treasures, weapons, and women and children inside the castle, and send them to you without trouble."

  "Changing the field of battle and meeting you on another day would be interesting, Kagetsune replied, and went to prepare the retreat. With the full courtesy of a samurai, Hideyoshi allowed the retreating enemy all accommodations, and saw them off to a league beyond the castle.

  It took a day and a half to settle the matter of Kanegasaki, but when Hideyoshi informed Nobunaga of what he had done, his lord's only response was, "Is that so?" and he added no great praise. The look on Nobunaga's face, however, indicated that he seemed to be thinking, You did too well—there is a limit to meritorious deeds. But Hideyoshi's great achievement could hardly be denied, regardless of who judged the matter.

  If Nobunaga had praised him to the skies, however, it would have created a situation in which the generals Shonyu, Nobumori, and Yoshinari would have been too ashamed to face their lord again. After all, they had sent eight hundred soldiers to their deaths and had been unable to defeat the enemy even with an overwhelming number of men. Hideyoshi was even more sensitive to the feelings of these generals, and when he made his report, he did not credit his own idea as the source of his efforts. He simply said that he had been following Nobunaga's orders.

  "It was my intention to carry out everything according to orders. I hope you'll over­look my unskillful performance and the suddenness and secrecy of it all." Thus apologiz­ing, he withdrew.

  Ieyasu happened to be with the other generals at Nobunaga's side at this time. Grunt­ing to himself, he watched Hideyoshi depart. From this point on, he realized that there was a formidable man not much older than he who had been born into this period as well. Meanwhile, having abandoned Kanegasaki and now in full retreat, Asakura Kagetsune hurried along, thinking that he would join his forces with those at the main castle at Ichijogadani, and measure his strength against Nobunaga's army once again, at another place. Still on the way, he met the twenty thousand troops that Asakura Yoshikage had sent running to relieve Kanegasaki.

  "Now I've done it!" Kagetsune said, regretting that he had followed the counsel of the enemy, but it was too late.

  "Why did you leave the castle without a fight?" Yoshikage shouted, enraged, but he was obliged to unite the two armies and return to Ichijogadani.

  Nobunaga's men pushed on as far as Kinome Pass. If he could break through that strategic position, the very headquarters of the Asakura clan would be right before him. But an urgent message shocked the invading Oda troops.

  A dispatch informed them that Asai Nagamasa of Omi, whose clan had been allied with the Asakura for several generations, had taken his army from north of Lake Biwa and cut off Nobunaga's retreat. Additionally, Sasaki Rokkaku, who had already tasted de­feat at the hands of Nobunaga, was acting in concert with the Asai and coming from the mountainous area of Koga. One after another, they had led their armies to strike at No­bunaga's flank.

  The enemy was now before and behind the invading army. Perhaps because of this change of events, the morale of the Asakura forces was high, and they were ready to sally from Ichijogadani and mount a furious counterattack.

  "We've entered the jaws of death," Nobunaga said. He realized it was as if they had been looking for their own graves in enemy territory. What he suddenly feared was not just that Sasaki Rokkaku and Asai Nagamasa obstructed his retreat; what Nobunaga feared to the very marrow of his bones was the likelihood that the warrior-monks of the Honganji, whose fortress was in this area, would raise a war cry against the invader and unfold the banner opposing him. The weather had suddenly changed, and the invading army was a boat heading into the storm.

  But where was an opening large enough for the retreat of ten thousand soldiers? Strategists warn that, by nature, an advance is easy and a retreat difficult. If a general makes one mistake, he may suffer the misfortune of the annihilation of his entire army.

  "Please allow me to take charge of the rear guard. Then my lord can take the shortcut through Kuchikidani, unencumbered by too many men, and under cover of night, slip out of this land of death. By dawn the rest of the troops could retreat directly toward the capital," Hideyoshi offered.

  With each moment that passed, the danger became greater. That evening, accompa­nied by a few retainers and a force of only three hundred men, Nobunaga followed the pathless valleys and ravines and rode all night toward Kuchikidani. They were attacked countless times by the warrior-monks of the Ikko sect and local bandits, and for two days and nights they went without food, drink, or sleep. They finally reached Kyoto on the evening of the fourth day, but by that time, many of them were so tired that they were al­most invalids. But they were the lucky ones. The one more to be pitied was the man who had
taken responsibility for the rear guard on his own and, after the main army had made its escape, stayed behind with a tiny force in the lone fortress of Kanegasaki.

  This was Hideyoshi. The other generals, who until now had envied his successes and secredy called him a quibbler and an upstart, now parted from him with heartfelt praise, calling him "the pillar of the Oda clan" and "a true warrior," and bringing firearms, gunpowder, and provisions to his camp as they left. As they laid the supplies down and left, it was as if they were leaving wreaths at a grave.

  Then, from dawn until midday on the morning after Nobunaga's night escape, the nine thousand troops under Katsuie, Nobumori, and Shonyu made good their escape. When the Asakura forces saw this and pursued to attack them, Hideyoshi struck their flank and threatened them from behind. And when the Oda force had finally been able to slip away from disaster, Hideyoshi and his troops shut themselves up in the castle at Kanegasaki, vowing, "This is where we'll leave this world."

  Demonstrating their will to die fighting, they barred the castle gate tightly, eating what there was to eat, sleeping whenever there was time to sleep, and said their farewells to the world. The commander of the attacking Asakura forces was the brave general Keya Shichizaemon. Rather than injure many of his own men by dashing against troops who were ready to die, he besieged the fortress, cutting off Hideyoshi's retreat.

  "Night attack!" When this warning was given in the middle of the second night, all the preparations made beforehand were deployed without the least confusion. Keya’s army rushed out against the enemy moving in the dark and completely routed Hideyoshi's small force, which fled quickly back into the castle.

  "The enemy is resigned to die, and is shouting its own death cry! Take this opportu­nity, and we'll capture the castle by dawn!" Keya ordered. They rushed to the edge of the moat, assembled rafts, and crossed the water. In no time at all, thousands of soldiers took possession of the stone walls.

  Then, just as Shichizaemon had vowed, Kanegasaki fell with the coming of the dawn. But what did his forces find? Not one of Hideyoshi's men was in the castie. Their banners were standing. Smoke already curled toward the sky. Horses were neighing. Hideyoshi, however, was not there. The attack the night before had not been an attack at all.

  Led by Hideyoshi, his small army had only pretended to flee back into the castle, while in fact it searched like the wind for a way of escape from certain death. By dawn, Hideyoshi's men were already at the base of the mountains that wound their way along the provincial border, making good their escape.

  Keya Shichizaemon and his troops did not, of course, watch them go in mute amazement. "Make ready for pursuit!" he ordered. "After them!"

  Hideyoshi's troops took the path of retreat deep into the mountains, continuing their flight throughout the night without pausing to eat or drink.

  "We're not out of the tiger's den yet!" Hideyoshi warned them. "Don't slacken up. Don't rest. Don't think about thirst. Just keep your will to live!" On they marched to Hideyoshi's admonishments. As expected, Keya began to catch up with them. When he heard the enemy's battle cries behind them, Hideyoshi first ordered a short rest and then spoke to his soldiers.

  "Don't be alarmed. Our enemies are fools. They're raising their war cries as they climb up the valley while we're on high ground. We're all tired, but the enemy is chasing after us in anger, and many of them are going to be exhausted. When they're in range, shower them with rocks and stones, and thrust your spears at them."

  His men were tired, but they regained their confidence at his reason and clarity.

  "Come and get us!" they yelled as they stood ready for the attack. Keya's chastisement of Hideyoshi's troops was returned to him in a miserable defeat. Innumerable corpses piled up beneath the rocks and spears.

  "Retreat!" The voices that screamed the order finally grew hoarse in the valleys into which the Asakura retreated.

  "Now's our chance! Pull back! Retreat!"

  Hideyoshi seemed almost to mimic the enemy, and his men turned and fled toward the southern lowlands. Leading his surviving soldiers, Keya once again went in pursuit. Keya's men were truly implacable, and though the remaining strength of the punitive force had already weakened considerably, the warrior-monks of the Honganji joined the attack, blocking the road as Hideyoshi's men tried to pass through the mountains leading down into Omi. When the men tried to turn from the road, arrows and stones flew from the swamps and forests to the right and left, accompanied by screams of "Don't let them pass!" Even Hideyoshi started to think that his time had come. But now was the moment to summon the will to live and to resist the temptation to succumb.

  'Let heaven decide whether our luck is good or bad and whether we live or die! Run down through the marsh to the west. Escape along the mountain streams. Their waters flow into Lake Biwa. Run as fast as the water itself. Your escape from death is speed!" He did not tell them to fight. This was the Hideyoshi who knew so well how to employ men, but even he did not think of ordering his starving troops, who had gone two days and two nights without sleep or rest, to repel an ambush by unknown numbers of warrior-monks. All he wanted was to help every last soldier in his pitiful force to return to the capital. And there was nothing stronger than the will to live.

  Under Hideyoshi's orders, the tired and hungry troops struck their way into the marsh in a downhill rush of almost uncanny force. It was a reckless move that could have been called neither strategy nor even self-abandonment, for the warrior-monks hidden in the depths of the forest were like mosquitoes. Still, on they ran, right through the enemy. And this, in fact, opened up a fissure in the enemy ranks, and they were able to rend the carefully laid ambush into pieces. As they ran, order turned to chaos, and all the men scrambled to the south, following the mountain streams.

  "Lake Biwa!"

  "We're saved!" They shouted for joy.

  The following day they entered Kyoto.

  When Nobunaga saw them, he exclaimed, "Thank heaven you've come back alive. You're like gods. You are truly like gods."

  4 FIRST YEAR OF GENKI 1570

  Characters and Places

  Asai Nagamasa, lord of Omi

  and Nobunaga's brother-in-law

  Asakura Yoshikage, lord of Echizen

  Amakasu Sanpei, ninja of the Takeda clan

  Takeda Shingen, lord of Kai

  Kaisen, zen monk and Shingen's adviser

  Sakuma Nobumori, senior Oda retainer

  Takei Sekian, senior Oda retainer

  Mori Ranmaru, Nobunaga's page

  Fujikage Mikawa, senior Asai retainer

  Oichi, Asai Nagamasa's wife and Nobunaga's sister

  Chacha, Oichi and Nagamasa's eldest daughter

  Honganji, headquarters of the

  warrior-monks of the Ikko sect

  Mount Hiei, mountain east of Kyoto

  and headquarters of the Tendai sect

  Kai, province of the Takeda clan

  Hamamatsu, Tokugawa Ieyasu's castle

  Nijo, shogun's palace in Kyoto

  Omi, province of the Asai clan

  Odani, main castle of the Asai clan

  Echizen, province of the Asakura clan

  Enemy of the Buddha

  On the first night after their return to Kyoto, the officers and men of the rear guard, who had narrowly escaped with their lives, could only think of one thing: sleep.

  After reporting to Nobunaga, Hideyoshi wandered off in a daze.

  Sleep. Sleep.

  The following morning he opened his eyes for just a moment, and then went straight back to sleep. Around noon he was awakened by a servant and ate some rice gruel, but in a state between waking and dreaming, he only knew that it tasted good.

  "Are you going back to sleep?" the servant asked in amazement.

  Hideyoshi finally woke up two days later in the evening, feeling totally disoriented. "What day is it?"

  "It's the second," the samurai on duty answered.

  The second, he thought as he wearily dragged himself out
of the room. Then Lord Nobunaga must have recovered, too.

  Nobunaga had rebuilt the Imperial Palace and constructed a new residence for the shogun, but he himself did not have a mansion in the capital. Whenever he came to Kyoto, he would stay in a temple, and his retainers would lodge in neighboring branch temples.

  Hideyoshi left the temple in which he was billeted, and looked up at the stars for the first time in several days. It's almost summer, he thought. And then he realized, I'm still alive! He felt extraordinarily happy. Although it was late at night, he asked for an audience with Nobunaga. He was shown in immediately, as though Nobunaga had been waiting for him.

  “Hideyoshi, you must be pleased about something," Nobunaga said. "You've got an extraordinary smile on your face."

  "How could I not be pleased?" he answered. "Before this, I wasn't aware of what a blessed thing life is. But having escaped from near death, I realize that I don't need anything more than life. Just by looking at this lamp or at your face, my lord, I know that I'm alive, and that I am blessed far more than I deserve. But how are you feeling, my lord?"

  "I can't help feeling disappointed. This is the first time I've ever felt the shame and bitterness of defeat."

  "Has anyone ever accomplished great things without experiencing defeat?"

  "Well, can you see that on my face, too? The horse's belly only has to be whipped once. Hideyoshi, get yourself ready for a trip."

  "A trip?"

  "We're going back to Gifu." Just when Hideyoshi was congratulating himself for being one step ahead of Nobunaga, his lord struck out into the lead. There were several good reasons for him to get back to Gifu as quickly as possible.

  Although Nobunaga was reputed to be a dreamer, he was also known to be a strong-willed man of action. That night Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and an escort of less than three hundred men left the capital with the swiftness of a sudden storm. But even with such speed, their departure could not be kept secret.

  The short night had not yet dawned when the group reached Otsu. Splitting the predawn darkness, the report of a gun echoed in the mountains. The horses reared in frenzy. Retainers galloped forward, anxious for Nobunaga, while at the same time they looked for the sniper.