Nobunaga was trembling. "Are you sure? Did you actually see them?"
"A group of us guarded them on the way back, right after they ran from the castle, which was collapsing in flames. They were exhausted, so we took them to a place of safety and gave them some water. Lord Hideyoshi commanded me to run ahead and make this report."
Nobunaga said, "You're Hideyoshi's retainer; what is your name?"
"I'm his chief page, Horio Mosuke."
"Thank you for bearing such good news. Now go and take a rest."
"Thank you, my lord, but the battle is still raging." With this, Mosuke quickly took his leave and dashed out toward the faraway clamor of warriors.
"Divine help…" someone mumbled off to the side with a sigh. It was Katsuie. The other generals also congratulated Nobunaga.
"This is an unanticipated blessing. You must be very happy."
A thread of emotion found its way wordlessly among them. These men were jealous of Hideyoshi's accomplishments, and were the very ones who had advocated abandoning him and hastening a general attack on the castle.
Nevertheless, Nobunaga's joy was overflowing, and his excellent mood immediately caused a brighter spirit to spread through his headquarters. While the others were offering their congratulations, the shrewd Katsuie said privately to Nobunaga, "Shall I greet him?"
Receiving Nobunaga's permission, he hurried off with a few retainers down the steep slope toward the castle. Finally, under the protection of Hideyoshi, the long-awaited Oichi climbed up to the headquarters on the plateau. A small corps of soldiers went in front, carrying torches. Hideyoshi panted along behind the men, still carrying Chacha on his back.
The first thing Nobunaga saw was the sweat on Hideyoshi's forehead, glistening in the light of the torches. Next came the old general, Fujikake Mikawa, and the two tutors, each carrying a child on his back. Nobunaga gazed at the children silently. No emotion showed on his face at all. Then, from about twenty paces to the rear, Shibata Katsuie came up, a white hand holding the shoulder of his armor. The hand belonged to Oichi, who was now half-dazed.
"Lady Oichi," Katsuie said, "your brother is right here." Katsuie quickly led her to Nobunaga.
When Oichi had fully regained her senses, all she could do was weep. For an instant the woman's sobbing blotted out every other sound in the camp. It wrung the hearts of even the veteran generals who were present. Nobunaga, however, looked disgusted. This was the beloved sister he had worried about so much until just a few moments before. Why wasn't he greeting his sister with wild joy? Had something ruined his mood? The generals were dismayed. The situation passed even Hideyoshi's understanding. Nobunaga's close retainers were constantly troubled by their lord's quick changes of mood When they saw the familiar expression on his face, not one of them could do anything but stand by silently; and in the midst of the silence, Nobunaga himself found it difficul to cheer up.
There were not very many of Nobunaga's retainers who could read his inner thought; and disentangle him from his moody and introverted self. In fact, Hideyoshi and the absent Akechi Mitsuhide were about the only ones who had this ability.
Hideyoshi watched the situation for a moment, and since no one seemed about to do anything, he said to Oichi, "Now, now, my lady. Go to his side and greet him. It won't do just to stand here crying for joy. What's the matter? You're brother and sister, aren't you?'
Oichi did not budge; she could not even look at her brother. Her mind was set on Nagamasa. To her, Nobunaga was nothing more than the enemy general who had killed her husband and had brought her here, a shamed captive in the enemy camp.
Nobunaga could tell exactly what was in his sister's heart. So, along with his satisfaction at her safety, he felt an uncontrollable revulsion for this foolish woman who could not understand her brother's great love.
"Hideyoshi, let her be. Don't waste your breath." Nobunaga stood up abruptly from his camp stool. He then lifted a section of the curtain surrounding his headquarters.
"Odani has fallen," he whispered, gazing at the flames. Both the battle cries and the fires burning the castle were dying down, and the waning moon cast a white light on the peaks and valleys as they waited for the dawn.
Just then, an officer and his men ran up the hill, yelling victory cries. When they set down the heads of Asai Nagamasa and his retainers in front of Nobunaga, Oichi screamed, and the children clinging to her started to cry.
Nobunaga shouted, "Stop that noise! Katsuie! Get the young ones out of here! I'm putting them in your care—both Oichi and the children. Hurry up and take them of someplace where no one will see them."
Then he summoned Hideyoshi and told him, "You will be in charge of the former Asai domain." He had decided to return to Gifu as soon as the castle had fallen.
Oichi was helped away. Later she would marry Katsuie. But one of Nagamasa's three young daughters who had come down the fiery mountain that night held a fate even stranger than her mother's. The eldest, Chacha, was later to become Lady Yodogimi, Hideyoshi's mistress.
* * *
It was the beginning of the Third Month of the following year. Good news had come to Nene, which, of course, was a letter from her husband.
While some of the walls of Nagahama Castle are still a bit rough, it's been so long that I can hardly wait to see the two of you. Please tell Mother to start preparations to move here soon.
With such a short note, one could hardly have imagined what was going on, but actually a number of letters had been passing back and forth between husband and wife since the New Year. Hideyoshi had no leisure at all. He had been campaigning in the mountains of northern Omi for many months, and having to fight battles here and there, even when he did have some small respite he was soon sent running off to some other place.
Hideyoshi's services had been unsurpassed during the invasion of Odani. Nobunaga awarded him by granting him his own castle for the first time, and a hundred eighty thousand bushels of the former Asai domain. Until then he had only been a general, but in one leap he joined the ranks of the provincial lords. At the same time, Nobunaga awarded him a new surname: Hashiba.
Hashiba Hideyoshi came into prominence that fall and now stood shoulder to shoulder with the other veteran Oda generals. He was not satisfied with his new castle at Odani, however; the castle was a defensive one, good for retreating into and withstanding siege, but not a suitable base for an offensive. Three leagues to the south, on the shore of Lake Biwa, he found a better place to reside: a village by the name of Nagahama. Receiving Nobunaga's permission, he began construction immediately. By spring the white-railed keep, the sturdy walls, and the iron gates had been completed.
Hachisuka Hikoemon had been given the task of escorting Hideyoshi's wife and mother from Sunomata, and he arrived from Nagahama a few days after Nene had received Hideyoshi's letter. Nene and her mother-in-law were carried in lacquer palanquins, and their escort consisted of one hundred attendants.
Hideyoshi's mother had asked Nene to pass through Gifu and to ask for an audience with Lord Nobunaga to thank him for the many favors he had bestowed upon them. Nene felt this duty to be a heavy responsibility and considered it to be an ordeal. She was sure that if she went up to Gifu Castle and presented herself alone before Lord Nobunaga, she would be able to do nothing but sit and quake.
Nevertheless, the day came and, leaving her mother-in-law at the inn, she went alone to the castle, bringing gifts from Sunomata. At the castle she seemed to forget all of her anxiety. Once there, she looked up to her lord for the first time and, contrary to her expectations, found that he was completely open-minded and affable.
"You must have really exerted yourself, taking care of the castle for such a long time and looking after your mother-in-law. More than that, you must have been very lonely," Nobunaga said with such familiarity that she realized that her own family was in some way connected to Nobunaga's. She felt that she could be completely unreserved.
"I feel unworthy to be living peacefully at home w
hile others are out on campaign. Heaven might punish me if I complained of loneliness."
Nobunaga stopped her with a laugh. "No, no. A woman's heart is a woman's heart and you shouldn't have to conceal it. It's by thinking about the loneliness of caring for the household alone that you'll come to a deeper understanding of your husband's good points. Somebody wrote a poem about this; it goes something like, 'Off on a journey the husband understands his wife's value at the snow-laden inn.' I can imagine that Hideyoshi too can hardly wait. Not only that, but the castle at Nagahama is new. Waiting alone during the campaign must have been difficult, but when you meet, you will be like newlyweds again."
Nene blushed all the way to her collar, and prostrated herself. She must have remembered being a new bride. Nobunaga guessed what she was thinking and smiled.
Food and lacquered vermilion sake cups were brought in. Receiving her cup from Nobunaga, Nene sipped her sake gracefully.
"Nene," he said, laughing. Finally able to look at him directly, she raised her eyes, wondering what he would say. Nobunaga spoke suddenly. "Just one thing: don't be jealous."
"Yes, my lord," she answered without really thinking, but she blushed right away. She, too, had heard a rumor about Hideyoshi visiting Gifu Castle in the company of a beautiful woman.
"That's just Hideyoshi. He's not perfect. But then a tea bowl that is too perfect has no charm. Everyone has faults. When an ordinary person has vices, he becomes a source of trouble; but very few men have Hideyoshi's abilities. I've often wondered what kind of woman would choose a man like him. Now I know after meeting you today, that Hideyoshi must love you, too. Don't be jealous. Live in harmony."
How could Nobunaga have understood a woman's heart so well? Although a little frightening, he was a man both her husband and herself could rely upon, She didn't know whether to be pleased or embarrassed.
She returned to her lodgings in the castle town. But what she spoke about most of all to her anxiously waiting mother-in-law was not Nobunaga's admonition about jealousy. "Whenever someone says the name Nobunaga, everyone shakes with fear, so I wondered what kind of person he would be. But there must be very few lords in this country who are as tender as he is. I couldn't imagine how a man who is so refined could turn into the fearsome demon they say he is on horseback. He also knew something about you, and said that you have a wonderful son and should be the happiest person in Japan. He told me that there are very few men like Hideyoshi in the whole country, and that I had chosen a good husband. Why, he even flattered me and told me I had discerning eyes."
The journey of the two women continued peacefully. They crossed through Fuwa and finally looked out from their palanquins at the springtime face of Lake Biwa.
5 THIRD YEAR OF TENSHO 1575
Characters and Places
Takeda Katsuyori, son of Takeda Shingen and Lord of Kai
Baba Nobufusa, senior Takeda retainer
Yamagata Masakage, senior Takeda retainer
Kuroda Kanbei, Odera retainer
Myoko, name taken by Ranmaru's mother
when she became a nun
Uesugi Kenshin, lord of Echigo
Yamanaka Shikanosuke, senior Amako retainer
Mori Terumoto, lord of the western provinces
KIKKAWA Motoharu, Terumoto's uncle
Kobayakawa Takakage, Terumoto's uncle
Oda Nobutada, Nobunaga's eldest son
Ukita Naoie, Lord of Okayama Castle
Araki Murashige, senior Oda retainer
Nakagawa Sebei, senior Oda retainer
Takayama Ukon, senior Oda retainer
Shojumaru, Kuroda Kanbei's son
Sakuma Nobumori, senior Oda retainer
Nagahama, Hideyoshi's castle
Kofu, capital of Kai
Azuchi, Nobunaga's new castle near Kyoto
Himeji, Hideyoshi's base for the invasion of the west
Western provinces, domain of the Mori clan
Itami, Araki Murashige's castle
Sunset of Kai
Takeda Katsuyori had seen the coming of thirty springs. He was taller and broader than his father, Takeda Shingen, and it was said that he was a handsome man.
It was the third year after Shingen's death; the Fourth Month would be the end of the official period of mourning.
Shingen's final command, "Hide your mourning for three years," had been followed to the letter. But every year on the anniversary of his death, the lamps of all the temples of Kai—and particularly those of the Eirin Temple—were lit for secret memorial services. For three days Katsuyori had forsaken all military matters and stayed shut up in the Bishamon Temple, deep in meditation.
On the third day, Katsuyori had the doors of the temple opened to let out the smoke of the incense burned during Shingen's memorial service. As soon as Katsuyori had changed his clothes, Atobe Oinosuke requested an urgent, private audience.
"My lord," Oinosuke began, "please read this letter immediately and give me an answer. A spoken one will do; I'll write the reply for you."
Katsuyori quickly opened the letter. "Well, now… from Okazaki." It was clear that he had been expecting the letter for some time, and it was no ordinary expression that moved across his face as he read. For a moment he seemed unable to come to a decision.
The song of a bush warbler could be heard coming from amid the young greenery of approaching summer.
Katsuyori stared at the sky through the window. "I understand. That's my answer."
Oinosuke looked up at his master. "Will it be enough, my lord?" he asked, just to make sure.
“It will," Katsuyori replied. "We shouldn't miss this heaven-sent opportunity. The messenger has to be a trustworthy man."
"This is an extremely important matter. You need have no worries about that." Not too long after Oinosuke had left the temple, the Office of State Affairs issued a call to arms. Soldiers could be seen moving throughout the night, and there was constant activity inside and outside the castle. When dawn broke, fourteen or fifteen thousand men, wet with the morning dew, were already silently waiting on the assembly ground outside the castle. And still more soldiers were coming. The conch shell proclaiming the departure of the troops rang out over the sleeping houses of Kofu several times before the sun rose.
Katsuyori had slept only a little during the night, but now he was in full armor. He did not look like a man suffering from lack of sleep, and his extraordinary good health and his dreams of greatness shone forth from his body like the dew on the new leaves.
He had not been idle for even one day during the three years since his father's death. Mountains and swift rivers formed strong natural defenses around Kai, but he was not content with the province he had inherited. He had, after all, been given more courage and resourcefulness than his father. Katsuyori—unlike the offspring of many great samurai clans—could not be called an unworthy son. Instead, it might be said that his pride, sense of duty, and his military prowess were excessive.
No matter how secret the clan had tried to keep it, news of Shingen's death had leaked out to the enemy provinces, and many had considered it too good an opportunity to miss. The Uesugi had made a sudden attack; the Hojo had also changed their attitude. And it was certain that if the opportunity were to arise, the Oda and the Tokugawa would make incursions from their own territories.
Katsuyori, like the son of any great man, found himself in a difficult position. Still he had never disgraced his father's name. In almost every engagement he fought, he came away with the victory. For this reason, rumors had spread that Shingen's death was just a fabrication, because he seemed to appear whenever an opportunity presented itself.
"Generals Baba and Yamagata have requested an audience before the campaign begins," a retainer announced.
The army was on the point of leaving when this message was delivered to Katsuyori. Both Baba Nobufusa and Yamagata Masakage had been senior retainers in Shingen's day.
Katsuyori asked in return, "Are they both ready to march?"
"Yes, my lord," the messenger replied.
Katsuyori nodded at the man's reply. "Show them in, then," he said.
Moments later the two generals appeared before Katsuyori. He already knew what they were going to say to him.
"As you can see," Baba began, "we hurried to the castle without a moment's delay at the call to arms last night. But this is extraordinary; there was no war council, and we were wondering what the prospects of this campaign are. Our situation these days does not allow us the luxury of frivolous troop movements." Yamagata continued, "Your late faher, Lord Shingen, tasted the bitter cup of defeat too many times when he attacked the west. Mikawa is small, but its warriors are stouthearted men, and the Oda have had time come up with a number of countermeasures by now. If we were to get in too deep, we might not be able to extricate ourselves."
Speaking in turn, the two men outlined their objections. These men were experienced veterans trained by the great Shingen himself, and they had no great regard for either Katsuyori's resourcefulness or his valor. On the contrary, they saw them as a danger. Katsuyori had felt this for some time, and his character would not let him accept their conservative advice—that the best thing to do would be to guard the borders of Kai for several years.
"You know I wouldn't start out on a rash campaign. Ask Oinosuke for the details. But this time we are sure to take Okazaki Castle and Hamamatsu Castle. I'll show them how to accomplish a long-cherished dream. We must keep our strategy a secret. I don't plan on telling our men what we're doing until we're pressing in on the enemy."
Katsuyori deftly avoided the remonstrances of his two generals, who both looked unhappy.
The advice to ask Oinosuke did not sit well with them; they were not used to being spoken to in this way. Of the same mind, the two men exchanged glances and for a moment looked at each other in blank amazement. Troops were being moved without anyone having consulted them—Shingen's veteran generals—and decisions were being made with the likes of Atobe Oinosuke.
TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN Page 65