There was a staccato clatter of musket fire as all the guns went off in a single volley, and a cloud of smoke rose from the grass. Because the angle of fire was low, many of the charging men of the Sakai corps were hit in the legs. The startled horses reared and were hit in the belly. Officers leaped from the saddle before their horses fell, and ran with their men, stepping over the corpses of their comrades.
"Fall back!" the commander of the Takeda gunners ordered.
The gunners immediately withdrew. To stay where they were would have meant being overrun by the charging Oda spearmen. With the muzzles of their horses in line, the Yamagata corps, the flower of Kai, galloped out with composure and dignity, followed immediately by the Obata corps. In minutes they had annihilated Sakai Tadatsugu's line.
Victory cries were raised proudly from the Kai army, when just as suddenly the Oyamada corps took a roundabout route and advanced on the flank of the Oda forces—second line of the Tokugawa defense—their horses raising the dust as they came. In the twinkling of an eye the Tokugawa were surrounded by the huge Kai army, as though by an iron wheel.
Ieyasu stood on a knoll and looked over at the lines of his men. We've lost, he said to himself. It was inevitable.
Gazing fixedly ahead, Torii Tadahiro, the ranking general of the Tokugawa under Ieyasu, had warned his lord not to advance, but rather to send out incendiary raids where the enemy would be bivouacking that night. But Shingen, ever the crafty enemy, had purposefully thrown out the bait with the small rear guard, and encouraged Ieyasu's attack.
"We can't just sit here. You must retreat to Hamamatsu," Tadahiro urged. "The faster you withdraw, the better."
Ieyasu said nothing.
"My lord! My lord!" Tadahiro pleaded.
Ieyasu was not looking at Tadahiro's face. As the sun set the white evening mist and the darkness were gradually becoming deeply divided at the edge of Mikatagahara. Riding the wintry wind, the banners of the messengers repeatedly brought in the sad news:
"Sakuma Nobumori of the Oda clan was crushed. Takigawa Kazumasu fell back in disorder, and Hirate Nagamasa was killed. Only Sakai Tadatsugu stands fast in hard fighting."
"Takeda Katsuyori combined his strength with the Yamagata corps and surrounded our left wing. Ishikawa Kazumasa was wounded, and Nakane Masateru and Aoki Hirotsugu are both dead."
"Matsudaira Yasuzumi galloped into the midst of the enemy and was cut down."
"The forces of Honda Tadamasa and Naruse Masayoshi aimed for Shingen's retainers and cut deeply into the enemy, but they were completely surrounded by several thousand men, and not one returned alive."
Suddenly, Tadahiro grabbed Ieyasu's arm and, with the help of other generals, pushed him up onto his horse.
"Get out of here!" he yelled at the horse, slapping it on the rump.
When Ieyasu was in the saddle and his horse was galloping away, Tadahiro and the other retainers mounted and went after him.
Snow began to fall. Perhaps it had been waiting for the sun to set. As the wind blew the snow thick and fast, it swept around the banners, men, and horses of the defeated army, making their way even less sure.
The men shouted out in confusion, "His Lordship… where is His Lordship?"
"Which way to headquarters?"
"Where is my regiment?"
The Kai gunners took aim at the fleeing men lost by the roadside, and fired volleys at them from the midst of the swirling snow.
"Retreat!" a Tokugawa soldier shouted. "The conch shell is sounding a withdrawal!"
"They must already have evacuated the headquarters," another rejoined.
A tidal wave of defeated men swept along in a black line toward the north, lost its way toward the west, and suffered many more casualties. Finally the men began to stampede in one direction, toward the south.
Ieyasu, who had just escaped from danger with Torii Tadahiro, looked back at the men following along behind, and suddenly stopped his horse. "Raise the banners. Raise the banners and assemble the men," he commanded.
Night was approaching fast, and the snow was steadily increasing. Ieyasu's retainers gathered around him and sounded the conch shell. Waving the commanders' standards, they called the men in. Gradually the men of the defeated army gathered around them. Every man was soaked in blood.
The corps of Baba Nobufusa and Obata Kazusa of the Kai army, however, knew that the main body of enemy troops was there, and very quickly began pressing in on them with bows and arrows from one side and guns from the other. It appeared that they would try to cut off their retreat.
"It's dangerous here, my lord. You'd better retreat as quickly as possible," Mizuno Sakon urged Ieyasu. Then, turning to the men, he announced, "Protect His Lordship. I am going to take a few men and attack the enemy. Anyone who wants to sacrifice his life for His Lordship, follow me."
Sakon galloped straight for the enemy line, without a look back to see whether anyone was following him. Thirty or forty soldiers followed after him, riding to certain death. Almost immediately, wailing, shouting, and the clash of swords and spears mingled with the moaning of the wind-borne snow and blurred into a vortex.
"Sakon must not die!" Ieyasu shouted. He was not his normal self at all. His retainers tried to stop him by grabbing the bridle of his horse, but he threw them off, and by the time they got up, he was already riding fast into the black and white vortex, looking exactly like a demon.
"My lord! My lord!" they yelled.
When Natsume Jirozaemon, the officer left in charge of Hamamatsu Castle, heard of the defeat of his comrades, he set out with a small force of thirty mounted men to ensure the safety of Ieyasu. Arriving at this point and finding his lord in the midst of a desperate fight, he jumped off his horse and ran toward the melee, shifting his spear to his left hand.
"Wha-what is this? This violence is not like you, my lord. Go back to Hamamatsu! Withdraw, my lord!" Grasping the horse's muzzle, he pulled it around with difficulty.
"Jirozaemon? Let me go! Are you fool enough to get in my way in the middle of the enemy?"
"If I'm a fool, my lord, you're an even bigger one! If you're cut down in a place like this, what good will all of our hardships have been until now? You'll be remembered as a fool of a general. If you want to distinguish yourself, then do something important for the nation on another day!" With tears in his eyes, Jirozaemon yelled at Ieyasu so loudly that his mouth almost split to his ears, and at the same time he beat Ieyasu's horse unmercifully with his spear. Of the retainers and close attendants who had been with Ieyasu the night before, there were many whose faces were no longer seen this evening. More than three hundred of Ieyasu's men had died in battle, and no one knew how many had been wounded.
Bearing the onus of belonging to a disastrously defeated army, the men filed back to the snow-covered castle town, looking as though they were disgusted with themselves. The retreat went on from evening until after midnight.
The sky had turned red, perhaps because there were bonfires at each of the castle gates. But the red color of the fallen snow was clearly from the blood of the returning warriors.
"What happened to His Lordship?" the men asked in tears. They had retreated thinking that Ieyasu had already returned to the castle, and were now told by the guards that he had not yet returned. Was he still surrounded by the enemy or had he been killed? Whichever it was, they had fled before their lord, and they were so ashamed that they refused to enter the castle. They simply stood outside, stamping their feet in the cold.
Adding to the confusion, gunfire was suddenly heard from beyond the western gate. It was the enemy. Death was pressing in on them. And if the Takeda had already come this far, Ieyasu's fate was truly in doubt.
Thinking that the end had come for the Tokugawa clan, they ran with a shout toward the sound of the guns, prepared to die in battle, their eyes devoid of any hope. As a group of them jostled through the gate, they nearly collided with several mounted men galloping in.
Beyond all expectation, th
e riders were their own commanders returning from battle, and the soldiers turned their pathetic cries into shouts of welcome, waving their swords and spears and leading the men inside. One rider, then another, and then yet another galloped in; the eighth was Ieyasu, one sleeve of his armor torn, and his body covered with blood and snow.
"It's Lord Ieyasu! Lord Ieyasu!"
As soon as they saw him, the word went from mouth to mouth, and the men leaped in the air, completely forgetting themselves.
Striding into the keep, Ieyasu yelled out in a loud voice, "Hisano! Hisano!" as if he were still on the battlefield.
The lady-in-waiting hurried toward him and prostrated herself. The flame on the small lamp she carried guttered in the wind, casting flickering light on Ieyasu's profile. There was blood on his cheek, and his hair was in appalling disarray.
"Bring a comb," he said, sitting down heavily. While Hisano arranged his hair, he gave her another order: "I'm hungry. Bring me something to eat."
When the food was brought in, he immediately picked up his chopsticks, but instead of eating he said, "Open up all the doors to the veranda."
Even with the lamps flickering, the room was brighter when the doors were wide open, because of the snow outside. Dark groups of warriors were resting on the veranda. As soon as Ieyasu had finished his meal, he left the keep and went around checking the castle's defenses. He ordered Amano Yasukage and Uemura Masakatsu to guard against an attack, and positioned the other commanders all the way from the main gate to the main entrance of the keep.
"Even if the entire Kai army attacks with all its strength, we're going to show them our own force of arms. They're not going to take possession of even one inch of these stone walls," they boasted.
Even if their voices were strained, their aim was to put Ieyasu at ease and to give him encouragement.
Ieyasu understood their intentions and nodded vigorously, but just as they were ready to run off to their posts, he called them back: "Don't close any of the castle gates from the main gate to the keep. Leave them all open. Do you understand?"
"What? What are you saying, my lord?" The commanders were hesitant. This order conflicted with the basic tenets of defense. The iron doors of all the gates had been shut. The enemy army was already closing in on the castle town, as it bore down to destroy them. Why would he order them to open the floodgates of the dike, just when a tidal wave was at hand?
Tadahiro said, "No, I don't think the situation warrants going that far. When our retreating troops arrive, we can open the gates and let them in. Certainly we don't need to leave the castle gates wide open for them."
Ieyasu laughed and admonished him for misunderstanding. "This is not for the men who are returning late. It's in preparation for the Takeda who are coming in like an arrogant tide, sure of their victory. And I don't just want the castle gates opened; I want five or six large bonfires lit in front of the entrance. You should also build some bonfires inside the castle walls. But make sure the defense is strictly in order. Be very quiet and watch for the enemy's approach."
What sort of fearless counter-strategy was this? But without the slightest hesitation, they did as he ordered.
According to Ieyasu's wishes, the castle gates were opened wide, and blazing bonfires cast their reflections in the snow from beyond the moat to the entrance of the keep. After gazing at the scene for a moment, Ieyasu once again went inside.
It appeared that the senior generals understood, but the soldiers in the castle for the most part seemed to believe the rumor spread by Ieyasu's own officer that Shingen was dead, and that the advancing enemy had lost its foremost general.
"I'm tired, Hisano. I think I'll have a cup of sake. Pour one for me, please." Ieyasu returned to the main hall and, after draining a cup, lay down. He pulled up the bedding that Hisano had put over him and then went to sleep with a snore.
Not much later, the troops of Baba Nobufusa and Yamagata Masakage poured in near the moat, in readiness for a night attack.
"What's this? Wait!" When Baba and Yamagata drew up in front of the castle gate, they reined in their horses and stopped the entire army from running hastily ahead.
"General Baba, what do you think?" Yamagata asked, drawing his horse up next to his colleague. He seemed to be totally puzzled. Baba had his doubts as well and looked out toward the enemy's gate. There, burning in the distance, were the bonfires, both before and within the castle gate. And the iron doors were wide open. It was gateless, and yet there was a gate. The situation seemed to pose a disturbing question.
The water in the moat was black, the snow on the fully manned castle was white. Not a sound could be heard. If the men listened very carefully, they could hear the crackling sound of the firewood in the distance. And if they had concentrated both mind and ears, they might have heard the snores of Ieyasu, the defeated general, as he dreamed—the very heart of this gateless gate—inside the keep.
Yamagata said, "I think our pursuit was so fast and the enemy has become so confused that they've had no time to close the castle gate and are lying low. We should attack at once."
No, wait," Baba interrupted. He had a reputation as one of the cleverest tacticians in Shingen's army. A wise man who cultivates wisdom may sometimes drown in it. He explained to Yamagata why his plan was wrong.
To have secured the castle gates would have been the natural psychology of defeat in this case. But leaving the castle wide open and taking the time to build bonfires is proof of the man's fearlessness and composure. If you think about it, he's undoubtedly waiting for us to attack rashly. He's concentrating on this one castle and is fully confident of his victory. Our opponent is a young general, but he is Tokugawa Ieyasu. We shouldn't step carelessly, only to bring shame on the martial reputation of the Takeda and be laughed later."
They had pressed that far, but in the end, both generals pulled their men back.
Inside, when Ieyasu heard his attendant's voice penetrating his sleep, he leaped up with a start. "I'm not dead!" he shouted, and jumped for joy. He immediately sent troops in pursuit. As might be expected of them, Yamagata and Baba did not lose their heads in the confusion, but rather threw up a resistance, set fires in the neighborhood of Naguri, and executed several brilliant maneuvers.
The Tokugawa had suffered a grave defeat, but it might be said that they had shown their mettle. Not only that, but they had once again caused Shingen to abandon his march to the capital and left him with no other choice than to withdraw to Kai. Many men had been sacrificed. Compared with the four hundred men of the Takeda, the dead and wounded on the Tokugawa side numbered as many as eleven hundred eighty.
Funeral for the Living
Red and white petals fluttered down from Gifu Castle on its high mountain peak, and fell on the roofs in the town below.
Year by year, the people's confidence in Nobunaga increased—a confidence that grew from the security of their lives. The laws were strict, but Nobunaga's words were not empty. The things he promised concerning the people's livelihood were always put into effect, and this was reflected in their wealth.
To think that a man
Has but fifty years to live under heaven.
Surely this world
Seems but a vain dream….
The people of the province knew the verses Nobunaga loved to chant when he drank. But he understood these words quite differently from the way the monks did—that the world was nothing more than a fleeting and impermanent dream. "Is there anything that will not decay?" was his favorite line, and every time he sang it, he raised the pitch of his voice. His view of life seemed to be contained in this one line. A man would not make the most of his life if he did not think deeply about it. Nobunaga knew this about life: In the end, we die. For a man of thirty-seven, the future would not be a long one. And for such a short time, his ambition was extraordinarily large. His ideals were limitless, and facing these ideals and overcoming the obstacles fulfilled him completely. Man, however, has an allotted span of life, and
he could not help his feelings of regret.
“Ranmaru, beat the drum."
He was going to dance today again. Earlier that day, he had entertained a messenger from Ise. He continued to drink through the afternoon.
Ranmaru brought the drum from the next room. Instead of playing it, however, he delivered a message: "Lord Hideyoshi has just arrived."
At one time it had seemed that the Asai and Asakura were going to make their move after Mikatagahara, as they had begun to wriggle and squirm repeatedly. But after Shingen had retreated, they cowered inside their own provinces and began to strengthen the defenses.
Anticipating peace, Hideyoshi had secretly left Yokoyama Castle and toured the area around the capital. None of the castle commanders anywhere, regardless of how chaotic the conditions of the country, remained locked up in their castles. Sometimes they would pretend to be gone but would really be there; at other times they would pretend to be there but would really be gone, for the way of a soldier lay in properly using the forms of truth and falsehood.
Of course, Hideyoshi had also traveled incognito on this trip, and quite likely that was also the reason he had arrived so suddenly at Gifu.
“Hideyoshi?" Nobunaga had him wait in another room, and soon came in and sat down. He was in an extraordinarily good mood.
Hideyoshi was dressed with extreme simplicity, looking no different from an ordinary traveler. In this attire he prostrated himself, but then looked up and laughed. "I'll bet you’re surprised."
Nobunaga looked as though he didn't understand. "About what?" he asked.
“My sudden arrival."
“What kind of foolishness is this? I've known you were not in Yokoyama for the last two weeks."
“But you probably didn't expect me to show up here today."
Nobunaga laughed. "You think I'm blind, don't you? You probably got tired of playing around with the prostitutes in the capital, came down the Omi Road as far as some man's house in Nagahama, secretly called Oyu, and came here after a rendezvous."
TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN Page 58