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

by Eiji Yoshikawa

  “I have no desire to fight with Hideyoshi, but I fear that rumor may have it otherwise,” Katsuie said with a laugh.

  As a man matures, he becomes practiced in a in way of laughing that draws a veil over his true feelings. "It seems strange," Katsuie continued, "to send an envoy to Hideyoshi when we are not at war, but I've received a number of letters from both Lord Nobutaka and Takigawa urging me to send someone. It's been less than six months since Lord Nobunaga died, and already there are rumors that his surviving retainers are fighting among themselves. This is a disgraceful state of affairs. Besides, I don't think we should give the Uesugi, the Hojo, and the Mori the chance they're looking for."

  "I understand, my lord," Inuchiyo said.

  Katsuie had never been very good at explanations, and Inuchiyo summarily accepted his assignment, as though it were unnecessary to listen to the tedious details. Inuchiyo left Kitanosho on the following day. He was accompanied by two men, Fuwa Hikozo and Kanamori Gorohachi. Both were trusted retainers of the Shibata clan, and while they went along as envoys, they were really there to keep an eye on Inuchiyo.

  On the twenty-seventh of the Tenth Month, the three men arrived at Nagahama to collect Katsutoyo. Unfortunately, the young man was ill. The envoys counseled him to stay behind, but Katsutoyo insisted on coming, and the party traveled from Nagahama to Otsu by boat. Spending one night in the capital, they arrived at Takaradera Castle the fol­lowing day.

  This was the battlefield where Mitsuhide had been defeated that past summer. Where before there had been nothing more than a poor village with a decaying post station, now a prosperous castle town was springing up. After the envoys had crossed the Yodo River, they could see scaffolding covering the castle. The road was deeply rutted with the tracks of oxen and horses, and everything they saw spoke of Hideyoshi's energetic plans.

  Even Inuchiyo was beginning to question Hideyoshi's intentions. Katsuie, Takigawa, and Nobutaka accused Hideyoshi of neglecting Lord Samboshi and of working for his own advantage. In Kyoto he was building up his power base, while outside of the capital he was expending huge amounts on castle construction. These projects had nothing to do with enemy clans in the west or north, so against whom was he preparing his army in the very heart of the nation?

  What had Hideyoshi said in his defense? He, too, had several complaints: There was the unfulfilled promise made at the Kiyosu conference to move Samboshi to Azuchi, and there was the memorial service for Nobunaga that Nobutaka and Katsuie had failed to attend.

  The meeting between Hideyoshi and the envoys took place in the partially reconstructed main citadel. A meal and tea were served before the negotiations began. It was the first time Hideyoshi and Inuchiyo had met since the death of Nobunaga.

  "Inuchiyo, how old are you now?" Hideyoshi asked.

  "I'll be forty-five soon."

  "We're both becoming old men."

  "What do you mean? I'm still a year younger than you, aren't I?"

  "Ah, that's right. Like a little brother—a year younger. But looking at the two of us now, you look the more mature."

  "You're the one who looks old for your age."

  Hideyoshi shrugged. "I've looked old since my youth. But frankly speaking, no matter how old I get, I still don't feel like much of an adult, and that worries me."

  "Someone said that a man should be unwavering after the age of forty."

  "It's a lie."

  "You think so?"

  "A gentleman is unwavering—that's how the saying goes. It would be more true in our case that forty is the age of our first wavering. Isn't that pretty much true for you, Inuchiyo?"

  "You're still playing the fool, Lord Monkey. Don't you agree, gentlemen?"

  Inuchiyo smiled at his companions, who had not failed to notice that he was familiar enough with Hideyoshi to call him "Lord Monkey" to his face.

  "Somehow I can't agree with either Lord Inuchiyo's opinion or yours, my lord," said Kanamori, who was the oldest of the group.

  "How is that?" asked Hideyoshi, who was clearly enjoying the conversation. "As far as my ancient self goes, I would say that a man is unwavering from the age of fifteen.

  "That's a little early, isn't it?"

  "Well, look at young men on their first campaign."

  "You have a point. Unwavering at the age of fifteen, even more so at nineteen or twenty, but at forty you slowly start to come undone. Well then, what happens at about the time of one's respected old age?" "When you get to fifty or sixty, you're really confused."

  "And at seventy or eighty?"

  "Then you start forgetting that you're confused." They all laughed.

  It seemed as though the feasting would last until evening, but Katsutoyo's condition was deteriorating. The conversation changed, and Hideyoshi suggested that they move to another room. A physician was summoned. He immediately gave Katsutoyo some medicine, and everything was done to warm the room in which the talks would be held.

  Once the four men were settled, Inuchiyo opened the proceedings. "I believe you have received a letter from Lord Nobutaka, who also counsels peace with Lord Katsuie," Inuchiyo began.

  Hideyoshi nodded, apparently eager to listen. Inuchiyo reminded him of their common duty as retainers of Nobunaga, then frankly admitted that it was Hideyoshi who had truly discharged that duty completely. But after that, it appeared that he was out of harmony with the senior retainers, neglecting Lord Samboshi and working for his own advant­age. Even if this were untrue, Inuchiyo felt that it was regrettable that Hideyoshi's actions were open to such an interpretation.

  He suggested to Hideyoshi that he should look at the situation from the standpoints of Nobutaka and Katsuie. One of them had met with disappointment, while the other now felt ill at ease. Katsuie, who had been called "Jar-Bursting" and "the Demon," had been slow in moving and was a step behind Hideyoshi. Even at the conference in Kiyosu, had not Katsuie deferred to him?

  “So won't you end this quarrel?" Inuchiyo asked finally. "It's not really a problem for someone like me, but Lord Nobunaga's family is still embroiled in it. It's unbecoming that his surviving retainers should share the same bed and have different dreams."

  The look in Hideyoshi's eyes seemed to change with Inuchiyo's words. Inuchiyo had laid the blame for the quarrel at Hideyoshi's door, and he steeled himself for a violent refutation. Unexpectedly, Hideyoshi nodded vigorously. "You're absolutely right," he said with a sigh. “I'm really not to blame, and if I were to list my excuses, there would be a mountain of them. But when I look at the situation the way you've explained it, it would appear that

  I've gone too far. And in that sense, I've been wrong. Inuchiyo, I leave it in your hands."

  The negotiations were concluded on the spot. Hideyoshi had spoken so frankly that the envoys felt somewhat bemused, but Inuchiyo knew Hideyoshi well.

  "I'm very grateful to you. Just hearing that has made it worth coming all the way here from the north," he said with great satisfaction.

  Fuwa and Kanamori, however, did not show their joy unguardedly. Understanding the reason for their reticence, Inuchiyo went a step further.

  "But Lord Hideyoshi, if you have some dissatisfaction you'd like to express about Lord Katsuie, I hope you'll express it frankly. I'm afraid these peace accords won't last long if you're concealing something. I will spare no effort to settle any problem, no matter what it might be."

  "That's unnecessary," Hideyoshi said, laughing. "Am I the kind of person who keeps something bottled up inside and remains silent? I've said everything I want to say, to both Lord Nobutaka and Lord Katsuie. I've already sent a long letter that explains everything in detail."

  "Yes, the letter was shown to us before we left Kitanosho. Lord Katsuie felt that everything you had written was reasonable and would not have to be brought up again dur­ing these peace talks."

  "I understand that Lord Nobutaka suggested holding peace talks after reading my letter. Inuchiyo, I was being particularly careful not to upset Lord Katsuie before you came
here."

  "Well, you know, an elder statesman should be accorded respect in any situation. But I know I've rattled the horns of Demon Shibata from time to time."

  "It's difficult to do anything without rattling those horns. Even when we were both young, those horns were strangely scary—especially for me. In fact, the Demon's horns were even scarier than Nobunaga's moods."

  "Did you hear that?" Inuchiyo laughed. "Did you hear that, gentlemen?" Both men were drawn into the laughter. To say such things in front of them was hardly speaking ill of their lord behind his back. Rather, they felt it was a shared sentiment they could not deny.

  The human mind is a subtle thing. After that moment, Kanamori and Fuwa felt more at ease with Hideyoshi and relaxed their watchfulness of Inuchiyo.

  "I think this is indeed a happy event," Kanamori said.

  "We really couldn't be happier," Fuwa added. "More than that, I have to thank you for your generosity; we have completed our mission and saved our honor."

  The next day, however, Kanamori still had misgivings and said to Fuwa, "If we go back to Echizen and report to our lord without Lord Hideyoshi's having put anything in writing, won't this agreement seem a bit unreliable?"

  Before departing that day, the envoys once again went to the castle to meet with Hideyoshi, to pay their respects.

  Several attendants and horses were waiting outside the main entrance, and the envoys thought that Hideyoshi must have been receiving guests. But in fact it was Hideyoshi himself who was going out. At that moment he stepped from the main citadel.

  "I'm glad you came," he said. "Well, let's go inside." Turning around, Hideyoshi led

  His guests to a room. "I had a really good laugh last night. Thanks to you, I slept late this morning."

  And sure enough, he looked as though he had just gotten up and washed his face. That morning, however, each of the envoys looked somehow different—as though he had woken up inside a different shell.

  “You've been much too hospitable in the midst of all your work, but we are returning home today," Kanamori said.

  Hideyoshi nodded. "Is that so? Well, please give my regards to Lord Katsuie on your return.”

  “I'm sure Lord Katsuie will be delighted by the outcome of the peace talks."

  “My heart has been lifted just by your coming here as envoys. Now all those people would like to make us fight will be disappointed."

  “But won't you please take your brush and sign a solemn pledge, just to stop up the mouths of such people?" Kanamori entreated.

  That was it. That was what had suddenly become essential for the envoys that morning. The peace talks had gone too smoothly, and they had become uneasy with words alone. Even if they reported to Katsuie what had transpired, without some sort of document it was nothing more than a verbal promise.

  “All right." The look on Hideyoshi's face showed full agreement. "I'll give one to you, and I’ll expect one from Lord Katsuie. But this pledge isn't limited to Lord Katsuie and me. If the names of the other veteran generals are not attached as well, the document will be meaningless. I'll speak to Niwa and Ikeda immediately. That should be all right, shouldn't it?"

  Hideyoshi's eyes met Inuchiyo's.

  “That should be fine," Inuchiyo answered clearly. His eyes read everything in Hideyoshi­'s heart—he had seen the future even before leaving Kitanosho. If Inuchiyo could be called a rogue, he was a likable one.

  Hideyoshi stood up. "I was just about to leave myself. I'll go with you as far as the town."

  “They left the citadel together.

  “I haven't seen Lord Katsutoyo today. Has he already left?" Hideyoshi asked.

  “He is still unwell," Fuwa said. "We left him at his lodgings."

  They mounted their horses and rode as far as the crossroads in the castle town.

  “Where are you off to today, Hideyoshi?" Inuchiyo asked.

  “I'm going to Kyoto, as usual."

  Well, we'll separate here then. We still have to return to our lodgings and make our rations for the journey."

  “I'd like to look in on Lord Katsutoyo," Hideyoshi said, "to see if he's improved."

  Inuchiyo, Kanamori, and Fuwa returned to Kitanosho on the tenth day of the same month, and immediately reported to Katsuie. Katsuie was overjoyed that his plan to establih a pretense of peace had been carried out more smoothly than he had anticipated.

  Soon thereafter Katsuie held a secret meeting with his most trusted retainers and told

  them, "We'll keep the peace through the winter. As soon as the snows melt, we'll butcher our old enemy with a single blow."

  As soon as Katsuie had completed the first stage of his strategy by making peace with Hideyoshi, he dispatched another envoy, this time to Tokugawa Ieyasu. That was at the end of the Eleventh Month.

  For the last half year—since the Sixth Month—Ieyasu had been absent from the cen­ter of activity. After the Honno Temple incident, the entire nation's attention had been fo­cused on filling the void that had been created when the center had so suddenly collapsed. During that time, when no one had had a moment to look anywhere else, Ieyasu had taken his own independent road.

  At the time of Nobunaga's murder, he had been on a sightseeing tour of Sakai and had barely been able to return to his own province with his life. Immediately ordering military preparations, he pushed as far as Narumi. But the motive behind that action was quite different from the one Katsuie had had for crossing over Yanagase from Echizen.

  When Ieyasu heard that Hideyoshi had reached Yamazaki, he said, "Our province is entirely at peace." Then he withdrew his army to Hamamatsu.

  Ieyasu had never considered himself to be in the same category as Nobunaga's surviving retainers. He was an ally of the Oda clan, while Katsuie and Hideyoshi were Nobunaga's generals. He wondered why he should take part in the struggle among the surviving retainers, why he should fight to pick over the ashes. And there was something far more substantial for him now. For some time he had watched eagerly for a chance at territorial expansion into Kai and Shinano, the two provinces that bordered his own. He had been unable to play his hand while Nobunaga was alive, and there would likely be no better opportunity than now.

  The man who foolishly opened up a path toward that goal and who gave Ieyasu a splendid opportunity was Hojo Ujinao, the lord of Sagami, another of the men who took advantage of the Honno Temple incident. Thinking that the time was ripe, a huge Hojo army of fifty thousand men crossed into the former Takeda domain of Kai. It was a large-scale invasion, executed almost as though Ujinao had simply taken a brush and drawn a line across a map, taking possession of what he thought he could.

  That action gave Ieyasu a splendid reason to dispatch troops. The force he raised, however, consisted of only eight thousand men. The three-thousand-man vanguard checked a Hojo force of well over ten thousand men before it joined Ieyasu's main force. The war lasted more than ten days. Finally, the Hojo army could do nothing more than make a last stand or—as Ieyasu had hoped for and as it finally did—sue for peace.

  "Joshu will be handed to the Hojo, while the two provinces of Kai and Shinano will be awarded to the Tokugawa clan."

  That was the agreement to which they came, and it was just as Ieyasu had intended.

  * * *

  Their packhorses and traveling attire covered with the snow of the northern provinces, Shibata Katsuie's envoys to Kai arrived on the eleventh day of the Twelfth Month. They were first asked to rest in the guest quarters in Kofu. Their party was a large one and was led by two senior Shibata retainers, Shukuya Shichizaemon and Asami Dosei.

  For two days they were more or less entertained. Otherwise, however, it seemed that they were being put off.

  Ishikawa Kazumasa apologized profusely, telling the party that Ieyasu was still busy with military affairs.

  The envoys grumbled at the coolness of their reception. In response to the many gifts of friendship from the Shibata clan, the Tokugawa retainers had simply received a list of the gifts and h
ad given no other recognition at all. On their third day, they were granted an audience with Ieyasu.

  It was the middle of a severe winter. Nevertheless, Ieyasu was sitting in a large room without even a hint of a warming fire. He did not look to be a man who had been afflicted by hardships and reverses since his youth. The flesh of his cheeks was plump. His large earlobes gave a certain weight to his entire body, like the rings of an iron teakettle and caused the visitors to wonder if the man could really be a great general still only forty years old

  If Kanamori had come as an envoy, he would have quickly seen that the phrase "unwavering at the age of forty" applied absolutely to this man.

  'Thank you for coming all this way with so many gifts of friendship. Is Lord Katsuie in good health?"

  He spoke in an extremely dignified manner, and his voice overwhelmed the others, even though it was soft. His retainers stared at the two envoys, both of whom felt like the representatives of a dependent clan bringing tribute. To relate the message from their lord now would be mortifying. But there was nothing else they could do.

  “'Lord Katsuie congratulates you on your conquest of the provinces of Kai and Shinano. As a token of his congratulations, he sends these gifts to you."

  “Lord Katsuie has sent you here to give me his congratulations at a time when we've been out of contact for so long? My goodness, how polite."

  So the envoys set out on the road home with a truly bad aftertaste in their mouths. Ieyasu had not given them any message for Katsuie. It was going to be difficult reporting to Katsuie that Ieyasu had not said a kind word about him, quite apart from reporting the cold treatment they themselves had received.

  Particularly galling was the fact that Ieyasu had written no reply to the warm letter Katsuie had sent. In short, it was not simply that their mission had ended in complete failure, but Katsuie seemed to have humbled himself in front of Ieyasu far more than was necessary for his own ends.

  The two envoys discussed the situation with some anxiety. Naturally their enemy, Hideyoshi, featured in their somber thoughts, but so did their long-standing foes, the Uesugi. If, added to those dangers, there were the threat of discord between the Shibata and Tokugawa clans… They could only pray that that would not come to pass.