"How impertinent!" Shibata Katsuie exclaimed as he and Sakuma Nobumori went out beyond the barracks.
"That is why he's so disliked, even when he doesn't have to be. There's nothing more unpleasant than listening to someone who rattles on about his own cleverness." Almost spitting out their words, they watched the figure of Hideyoshi thread his way through the far-off marsh in the company of Nobunaga.
"He doesn't tell us anything—doesn't consult with us at all."
"First of all, isn't that awfully dangerous? It may be broad daylight, but the enemy could be lurking anywhere in these mountains. What would happen if they started shooting at him?"
"Well, His Lordship is His Lordship."
"No, it's Hideyoshi who's at fault. Even if a large crowd accompanies His Lordship, Hideyoshi fawns all over him until he catches his eye."
There were other commanders besides Katsuie and Nobumori who were unhappy with the situation. Most of them assumed that Hideyoshi was off with Nobunaga in the mountains, planning some battle strategy with his usual glib tongue. This was the primary source of their discomfort.
"He's ignoring us —the inner circle of his generals."
Whether Hideyoshi did not understand such inner workings of human nature or simply chose to ignore them, he led Nobunaga off into the mountains, occasionally laughing with a voice that would have been more fitting for a holiday excursion. With his and Nobunaga's retainers combined, their small force was made up of no more than twenty or thirty men.
"A man really sweats when he climbs mountains. Shall I give you a hand, my lord?"
"Don't be insulting."
"It's just a little farther."
"I haven't climbed enough. Aren't there any mountains higher than this?"
"Unfortunately no, not in this area. But this is pretty high!"
Wiping the sweat from his face, Nobunaga looked down into the neighboring valleys. He saw that Hideyoshi's troops were hiding among the trees, standing guard.
"The men accompanying us should stay here. It wouldn't be good for us to go in a large group past this point." This said, Hideyoshi and Nobunaga walked thirty or forty paces the crest of the hill.
There were no longer any trees. Tender grains and grasses that would have made good fodder stretched along the surface of the mountain. Chinese balloon flowers rustled among the pampas grass. Blooms of beggar's purse clung to the scabbards of their swords. The two of them advanced in silence. It was as though they were looking out to sea, with nothing before them.
"Stoop down, my lord."
"Like this?"
"Hide yourself in the grass." As they crawled to the edge of the precipice, a castle appeared in the valley right beneath them.
"That's Odani," Hideyoshi said softly as he pointed toward the castle.
Nobunaga nodded and looked on silently. His eyes were shrouded in some deep emotion. It was not simply that he was looking at the enemy's main castle. Inside this castle that was now besieged by his own army lived his younger sister, Oichi, who had already borne four children since becoming the wife of the castle's lord.
Both lord and retainer sat down. The flowers and the ears of the autumn grasses came up to their shoulders. Nobunaga stared unblinkingly at the castle beneath them, and then turned toward Hideyoshi.
"I daresay my sister is angry with me. I was the one who married her into the Asai clan without even letting her speak her own mind. She was told to sacrifice herself for the good of the clan, and that the match was necessary to protect the province. Hideyoshi, I feel as though I can still see that scene today."
"I remember it well myself," Hideyoshi said. "She had an enormous amount of baggage and a beautiful palanquin, and she was surrounded by attendants and decorated horrses. It was a splendid event, the day she went off to be married north of Lake Biwa."
"Oichi was only an innocent girl of fourteen."
"She was such a small, pretty bride."
"Hideyoshi."
"Yes?"
"You understand, don't you? How painful this is for me…"
"For that very reason, it's hard for me too."
Nobunaga motioned toward the castle with his chin. "There is no difficulty in the decision to destroy this castle, but when I think about trying to get Oichi out of there without her getting hurt…"
"When you ordered me to spy out the lay of the land around Odani Castle, I guessed that you were planning a campaign against the Asakura and the Asai. I probably sound as though I'm flattering myself again, but if you'll allow me to speak frankly, I think you're somewhat reserved about showing your natural feelings, and certainly the cause of your distress, my lord. It's rude of me to say this, but I think I've discovered one more of your iter qualities."
"You're the only one." Nobunaga clicked his tongue. "Katsuie, Nobumori, and the others look at me as though I've been wasting my time for the last ten days. Their faces show that they don't understand me at all. It seems that Katsuie especially is laughing at me behind my back."
'That's because, my lord, you are still confused about which way to go."
"I can't help but be confused. If we were to pulverize the enemy bit by bit, there's no doubt that Asai Nagamasa and his father would drag Oichi down with them to the bottom of the flames."
"That's probably the way it would be."
"Hideyoshi, you say you've felt the same way I do from the very beginning, but you're listening to this with extraordinary composure. Don't you have some sort of plan?"
"I'm not without one."
"Well, why don't you hurry up and put my mind to rest?"
"I've been doing my best not to make recommendations recently."
"Why?"
"Because there are a lot of other people in the staff headquarters."
"Are you afraid of other people's jealousy? That's annoying, too. But the main thing is that I am the one who decides everything. Tell me your plan right away."
"Look over there, my lord." Hideyoshi pointed at Odani Castle. "What makes this castle special is that the three enclosures are more distinct and independent than in most other castles. Lord Hisamasa lives in the first enclosure; and his son, Nagamasa, and Lady Oichi and her children live in the third."
"Over there?"
"Yes, my lord. Now, the area you see between the first and third enclosures is called the Kyogoku enclosure, and that's where the senior retainers, Asai Genba, Mitamura Uemondayu, and Onogi Tosa are quartered. So, in order to capture Odani, rather than hitting the tail or striking the head, if we can first get our hands on the Kyogoku enclosure, the other two will be cut off."
"I see. You're saying that our next move is to attack the Kyogoku."
"No, if we storm the Kyogoku, the first and third enclosures will send reinforcements. Our men will be attacked on both flanks, and a fierce battle will ensue. In that case, would we try to break our way through or retreat? Either way, we cannot be sure of Lady Oichi's fate inside the castle."
"So what should we do?"
"Of course, it's clear that the very best strategy would be to send a messenger to the Asai, explain the advantages and disadvantages of the situation clearly, and take possession of both the castle and Oichi without incident."
"You should know that I've already tried that twice. I sent a messenger to the castle and informed them that if they surrendered, I would allow them to keep their domains. I made sure that they knew that Echizen had been conquered, but neither Nagamasa nor his father is going to budge. They're only going to show off how tough they are, just like before. Their 'toughness,' of course, is nothing more than using Oichi's life as a shield. They think that I'll never make a reckless attack as long as they have my own sister in the castle."
"But it's not just that. For the two years I've been at Yokoyama, I've been watching Nagamasa carefully, and he does have some talent and willpower. Well, I've been trying to think of a plan to capture this castle for a long time, to figure out the best strategy in case we ever had to attack it. I h
ave captured the Kyogoku enclosure without losing a single man."
"What? What are you saying?" Nobunaga doubted his own ears. "The second enclosure you see over there. Our men are already in control of it," Hideyoshi repeated, "so I'm saying you don't have to worry anymore."
"Is this true?"
"Would I lie to you at a time like this, my lord?"
"But… I can't believe it."
"That's understandable, but you'll be able to hear it with your own ears soon, from two men I've summoned. Would you meet with them?"
"Who are they?"
"One is a monk called Miyabe Zensho. The other is Onogi Tosa, the commander of the enclosure."
Nobunaga could not rid himself of his surprised expression. He believed Hideyoshi, but he could not help wondering how he had persuaded a senior retainer of the Asai clan come over to their side.
Hideyoshi explained the situation as though there were nothing unusual about it at all. "Shortly after Your Lordship awarded me the castle at Yokoyama…" he started.
Nobunaga was a little startled. He was unable to look without blinking at the man who was speaking. Yokoyama Castle was situated on the front line of this strategic area, and Hideyoshi's troops were there to check the Asai and Asakura. He remembered the order posting Hideyoshi there temporarily, but he had no memory of a promise to give him the castle. But here was Hideyoshi saying that he had been given the castle. Nobunaga, however, put this in the back of his mind for the moment.
"Wasn't that the year right after the attack on Mount Hiei, when you came to Gifu to make a New Year's call?" Nobunaga asked.
"That's right. On the way back, Takenaka Hanbei fell ill and we were delayed. By the time we arrived at Yokoyama Castle, it was after dark."
"I don't feel like listening to a long story. Get to the point."
"The enemy had found out that I was away from the castle and was making a night attack. We repulsed them, of course, and at the time we captured the monk Miyabe Zensho."
"You took him alive?"
"Yes. Rather than cutting off his head we treated him kindly, and later, when I had a moment, I counseled him about the coming times and instructed him in the true significance of being a samurai. He, in turn, talked to his former master, Onogi Tosa, and persuaded him to surrender to us."
"Really?"
"The battlefield is no place for jokes," Hideyoshi said.
Lost in admiration, even Nobunaga was amazed at Hideyoshi's cunning. The battlefield is no place for jokes! And, just as he had bragged, Miyabe Zensho and Onogi Tosa were led in by Hideyoshi's retainer for an audience with Nobunaga. He questioned Tosa closely to confirm Hideyoshi's story.
The general responded clearly. "This surrender is not at my own discretion. The other two senior retainers stationed in the Kyogoku have realized that opposing you is not only foolish, but it would also hasten the fall of the clan and impose needless suffering on the people of the province."
Nagamasa was under thirty, but he already had four children by the Lady Oichi, who herself was twenty-three. He occupied the third enclosure of Odani Castle, which was really three castles in one.
Gunfire could be heard from the ravine to the south until the evening. The report of cannon sounded periodically, and each time the fretwork ceiling shook as if it were going to come loose.
Oichi looked up instinctively with frightened eyes, and held a baby more tightly against her breast. The child was as yet unweaned. There was no wind, but soot was blowing everywhere, and the light of the lamp flickered wildly.
"Mother! I'm scared!" Her second daughter, Hatsu, clung to her right sleeve while her eldest daughter, Chacha, silently held fast to her left knee. Her son, however, did not come to his mother's lap even though he was still small. He was brandishing an arrow shaft at a lady-in-waiting. This was Nagamasa's heir, Manjumaru,
"Let me see! Let me see the battle!" Manju cried petulantly, striking the lady-in-waiting with the headless arrow.
"Manju," his mother reproved him, "why are you hitting her? Your father is fighting. Have you already forgotten that he told you to behave during the fighting? If you're laughed at by the retainers, you won't become a good general even when you grow up."
Manju was old enough to understand a little of his mother's reasoning. He listened to her silently for a moment, but then suddenly began to cry out loud fretfully.
"I wanna see the battle! I wanna see!" The child's tutor did not know what to do either, and simply stood there watching. Just then there was a lull in the fighting, but gunfire could still be heard. The eldest girl, Chacha, was already seven years old, and she somehow understood the difficult circumstances her father was in, her mother's sorrow, and even the feelings of the warriors in the castle.
She said precociously, "Manju! Don't say things that upset Mother! Don't you think this is horrible for her? Father's out there fighting the enemy. Isn't that right, Mother?"
Taken to task, Manju looked at his sister and jumped on her, still brandishing the arrow shaft. "You stupid Chacha!" he shouted.
Chacha put her sleeve over her head and hid behind her mother.
"Be good now!" Trying to humor him, Oichi took the arrow shaft and talked to him quietly.
Suddenly there was the sound of violent footsteps in the entrance hall outside.
"What's that? To the likes of the Oda? They're nothing but little samurai who have pushed their way from the backwoods of Owari. Do you think I'm going to surrender to a man like Nobunaga? The Asai clan is in a different class from them!" Asai Nagamasa entered unannounced, followed by two or three generals.
When he saw that his wife was out of harm's way in this cavernous, poorly lit room, he was relieved. "I'm a little tired," he said, sitting down and loosening the cords on a section of his armor. Then he said to the generals behind him, "With the way things are going this evening, the enemy may well make an all-out attack around midnight. We'd better rest now."
When the commanders got up to leave, Nagamasa heaved a sigh of relief. Even in the midst of battle, he was able to remember that he was both a father and a husband.
"Was the sound of the guns this evening frightening, my dear?" he asked his wife.
Surrounded by her children, Oichi replied, "No, we were in here, so it was all right."
"Didn't Manju or Chacha get scared and cry?"
You should be proud of them. They acted like adults."
Really?" he said, forcing a smile. Then he continued, "Don't worry. The Oda made a fierce attack, but we pushed them back with a volley from the castle. Even if they continue attacking us for twenty or thirty, or even one hundred days, we'll never surrender. We are the Asai clan! We're not going to yield to someone like Nobunaga." He railed against the oda almost as though he could spit, but then suddenly fell silent.
With the light of the lamp behind her, Oichi's face was buried in the child suckling at her breast. This was Nobunaga's little sister! Nagamasa shook with emotion. She even looked like him. She had her brothers' delicate complexion and his profile.
“Are you crying?"
“The baby sometimes gets fretful and chews my nipple when the milk doesn't come out.”
“The milk isn't coming out?"
“No, not now."
“That's because you have some unseen sorrow and you're getting too thin. But you are a mother, and this is a mother's true battle."
“I know."
“I suspect you think I'm a hard husband."
She edged up to her husband's side, still holding the child to her breast. "No, I don't! Why should I bear a grudge? I look at it all as fate."
People can't be reconciled just by saying that it's fate. The life of a samurai's wife is more painful than swallowing swords. If you are not completely resolved, it won't be a resolution at all."
“I'm trying to come to that kind of an understanding, but all I can think of is that I’m a mother."
“My dear, even on the day I married you, I didn't think that you would
be mine forever. Neither did my father give his permission for you to become a true bride of the Asai.”
“What! What are you saying?"
“At a time like this, a man has to tell the truth. This moment will never come again, so I’m going to open my heart to you. When Nobunaga sent you to marry me, it was really nothing more than a political strategem. I could see through to what was in his heart from the very first." He paused. "But even while I knew that, a love grew between us that nothing could ever stop. Then we had four children. At this point you are no longer Nobuaga's sister. You're my wife and the mother of my children. I won't allow you to shed tears for our enemy. So why are you growing so thin and holding back the milk you should be giving to our child?"
Now she could see. Everything that had been a result of "fate" had been conceived as political strategem. She was a bride of political strategy: from the very first Nagamasa had seen Nobunaga as someone to watch. But Nobunaga had sincerely loved his brother-in-law.
Nobunaga believed that the heir of the Asai clan had a future, and he had trusted him. He had pushed for the marriage enthusiastically. But the match had been in doubt from the very beginning, because of the much older alliance between the Asai and the Asakura of Echizen. Their pact was not simply one of mutual defense, but a complex relationship based on friendship and mutual favors. The Asakura and Oda had been enemies for years. When Nobunaga had attacked the Saito in Gifu, how much had they hindered him and come to the aid of the Saito?
Nobunaga overcame this obstacle to the match by sending a written pledge to the Asakura, promising not to invade their domain.
Soon after the wedding, both Nagamasa's father and the Asakura clan—to which he owed so many favors—began to pressure Nagamasa to regard his wife with suspicion. In the meantime, the Asai had joined the Asakura, the shogun, Takeda Shingen of Kai, and the warrior-monks of Mount Hiei in an anti-Nobunaga alliance.
The following year Nobunaga had invaded Echizen. Suddenly he was struck from behind. Cutting off Nobunaga's path of retreat and acting in concert with the Asakura clan, Nagamasa had plotted the man's utter annihilation. At the time, Nagamasa made it clear to Nobunaga that he was not going to let his judgment be affected by his wife, but Nobunaga would not believe it. The forces of the Asai and the martial valor of the man whom Nobunaga had trusted had become a fire at his very feet. Indeed, they had become chains. After the destruction of Echizen, however, Odani Castle was no longer either a fire or constricting chains.
TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN Page 61