The outcome of such proposals depends on the other party, however, and the answer that was returned to Hideyoshi had been clearly negative. But even after he had cut off relations with Nobuo, Hideyoshi still sent messengers with even better conditions than before, trying to persuade Ieyasu. The envoys only incurred Ieyasu's indignation, however, and returned utterly discomfited.
"Lord Ieyasu replies that it is Lord Hideyoshi who does not understand him," the envoy reported.
Hideyoshi forced a smile and retorted, "Ieyasu doesn't understand my genuine feelings, either."
No matter what else he did, however, the time he spent in Sakamoto was consumed entirely by work. Sakamoto was both his military headquarters for Ise and southern Owari and the center of a diplomatic and intelligence network that stretched from the north to the western provinces. As the center for secret operations, Sakamoto was much more convenient than Osaka. Also, messengers could come and go to and from Sakamoto hout attracting undue attention.
On the surface, the two spheres of influence seemed to be distinctly drawn: Ieyasu from the east to the northeast, and Hideyoshi from the capital to the west. But even in Hideyoshi's stronghold of Osaka, there were innumerable people in collusion with the Tokugawa. Nor could it be said that there was no one at court who supported Ieyasu and waited for Hideyoshi to stumble.
Even among the samurai clans, there were fathers and mothers in the service of provincial lords in Osaka and Kyoto whose children served generals of the eastern army. Brothers fought on separate sides. Thus the tragic stage was set for bloody conflicts to erupt within families.
Hideyoshi knew the bitter hardships that war brought. The world had been at war from the time he was growing up in his mother's dilapidated house in Nakamura. It had been the same throughout the many years of his wanderings. With Nobunaga's appearance on the stage, society's suffering had become even more severe for a while, but it had been accompanied by a brightness and joy in the lives of the common people. People believed that Nobunaga was going to usher in an era of lasting peace. But he had been cut down halfway through his work.
Hideyoshi had vowed to overcome the setback of Nobunaga's death, and the effort he had made—almost without sleep or rest—had brought him within one step of his goal. Now that final step he needed to take to achieve his ambition was near. It could be said that he had traveled nine hundred leagues of a thousand-league journey. But those last hundred leagues were the hardest. He had presumed that at some point, as a matter of course, he would have to confront the last obstacle—Ieyasu—and either remove it from his path or destroy it. But when he approached, he discovered it was going to be more unyielding than he had imagined.
During the ten days Hideyoshi spent in Sakamoto, Ieyasu moved his army as far as Kiyosu. It was clear that Ieyasu planned to stir up war like a hornet's nest in Iga, Ise, and Kishu and advance westward, entering Kyoto and pressing in on Osaka in one blow, like the path of a typhoon.
But Ieyasu did not think the road was going to be an easy one. He was anticipating one huge engagement on his advance toward Osaka, and Hideyoshi was expecting that as well. But where would it be? The only place of sufficient size to be the site of this all-or-nothing battle between east and west was the broad Nobi Plain that bordered the Kiso River.
A man of initiative would gain the advantage by constructing fortifications and holding the high ground. While Ieyasu had already attended to that and was fully prepared, Hideyoshi could be said to have made a belated start. Even on the evening of the thirteenth day of the month, he still had not moved from Sakamoto.
Despite appearances, however, his seeming tardiness was not the result of negligence. Hideyoshi knew Ieyasu could not be compared with either Mitsuhide or Katsuie. He had to delay in order to complete his own preparations. He waited to win over Niwa Nagahide; he waited to make sure the Mori could do nothing in the western provinces; he waited to destroy the dangerous remnants of the warrior-monks in Shikoku and Kishu; finally, he waited to split the opposition of the generals in nearby Mino and Owari.
The stream of messengers was unending, and Hideyoshi received them even while he ate. He had just finished his meal and put down his chopsticks when a dispatch arrived. He reached out to take the letter box.
It was something he had been waiting for: the answer from Bito Jinemon, whom he had sent as the second messenger to Ikeda Shonyu's castle at Ogaki. Would it be good or bad news? There had been no news at all from the envoys he had sent to win over other castles. Hideyoshi opened the letter, feeling as though he was cutting open the envelope of an oracle, and read it.
"Fine," was all he said.
Late that night after he had gone to sleep, he suddenly got up as though he had just thought of something and called for the samurai on night watch.
"Is Bito's messenger returning tomorrow morning?"
"No," the guard replied, "he was pressed for time, and after a short rest he returned to Mino, taking to the road at night." Sitting on top of his bedding, Hideyoshi took up his brush and wrote a letter to Bito.
Thanks to your great efforts, Shonyu and his son have pledged their solidarity with me, and nothing could give me greater joy. But there is something I must say right away: If Nobuo and Ieyasu know that Shonyu is going to support me, they will surely become threatening in every manner conceivable. Do not react. Do nothing rash. Ikeda Shonyu and Mori Nagayoshi have always been brave and proud men with great contempt for the enemy.
As soon as he put down his pen, he sent the note to Ogaki.
Two days later, however, on the evening of the fifteenth, another message was delivered from Ogaki.
Inuyama Castle had fallen. At the same time Shonyu and his son had made their decision, they had captured the most strategic stronghold on the Kiso River and presented it as a gift of their support for Hideyoshi. It was good news.
Hideyoshi was pleased. But he was troubled as well.
On the following day Hideyoshi was in Osaka Castle. During the next few days omes of failure multiplied. After the happy victory at Inuyama, Hideyoshi learned that Shonyu’s son-in-law, Nagayoshi, wanting to achieve a great military exploit of his own, had planned to make a surprise attack on the Tokugawa fortifications at Mount Komaki. His army had been intercepted by the enemy near Haguro, and it was rumored that he had perished with many of his troops.
“We lost this man because of his fighting spirit. Such foolishness is unpardonable!" Hideyoshi's bitter lament was aimed at himself.
Just as Hideyoshi was ready to leave Osaka on the nineteenth, another piece of bad arrived from Kishu. Hatakeyama Sadamasa had rebelled and was pressing in on Osaka from both land and sea. Nobuo and Ieyasu were most likely behind this. Even if they were not, the discontented remnants of the warrior-monks of the Honganji were always-watching for an opportunity to attack. Hideyoshi was obliged to postpone the day of his departure, in order to complete the defenses of Osaka.
It was early in the morning of the twenty-first day of the Third Month. The wrens sang their high-pitched songs in the reeds of Osaka. Cherry blossoms fell, and in the streets, the fallen blooms swirled around the long procession of armored men and horses, making it appear as though nature itself were sending them off. The townspeople who had come to watch formed an endless fence along the roadside.
The army following Hideyoshi that day numbered more than thirty thousand men. Everyone strained to catch a glimpse of Hideyoshi in their midst, but he was so small and ordinary-looking that, surrounded by his mounted generals, he easily escaped notice.
But Hideyoshi looked at the crowd and secretly smiled with assurance. Osaka is going to prosper, he thought. It seems to be flourishing already, and that's the best omen of all. The crowd wore bright colors and bold patterns, and there were no indications of a town in decline. Was it because they had faith in the new castle at its very center?
We'll win. This time we can win. That is how Hideyoshi divined the future.
That night the army camped at Hirakata, a
nd early on the following morning, the thirty-thousand-man army continued east, following a serpentine path along the Yodo
When they arrived in Fushimi, about four hundred men came forward to meet them at the river crossing.
“Whose banners are those?" Hideyoshi asked.
The generals narrowed their eyes suspiciously. Nobody could identify the huge banners of black Chinese characters on a field of red. There were also five golden pendants commander's standard with insignias of eight smaller circles around a large central one on a golden fan. Beneath those banners thirty mounted warriors, thirty spearmen, thirty gunners, twenty archers, and a corps of foot soldiers waited in full formation, their clothing rustling brilliantly in the river breeze.
“Go find out who they are," Hideyoshi ordered a retainer.
The man quickly returned and said, "It's Ishida Sakichi."
Hideyoshi lightly struck his saddle.
"Sakichi? Well, well, that's who it had to be," he said in a happy voice, as though something had just occurred to him.
Approaching Hideyoshi's horse, Ishida Sakichi greeted his lord. "I made a promise to you before, and today I have prepared for your use a force financed with the money I earned from clearing the unused land in this area."
"Well, come along, Sakichi. Get in with the supply train at the rear."
More than ten thousand bushels' worth of men and horses—Hideyoshi was impressed with Sakichi's ingenuity.
That day the majority of the troops passed through Kyoto and took the Omi Road. For Hideyoshi, there were memories of the reverses of his youth in every tree and blade of grass.
"There's Mount Bodai," Hideyoshi muttered. Looking up at the mountain, he remembered its lord, Takenaka Hanbei, the hermit of Mount Kurihara. When he reflected on it now, he was thankful that he had not spent a single day in idleness during that short springtime of life. The reverses of his youth and the struggles of that time had made him what he was today, and he felt that he had actually been blessed by that dark world and the muddy currents of its streets.
Hanbei, who called Hideyoshi his lord, had been a true friend whom he had been unable to forget. Even after Hanbei's death, whenever Hideyoshi encountered troubles he would think to himself, If only Hanbei were here. Yet he had allowed the man to die without any reward whatsoever. Suddenly Hideyoshi's eyelids were warm with tears of sadness, blurring his view of the peak of Mount Bodai.
And he thought of Hanbei's sister, Oyu…
Just at that moment he saw the white hood of a Buddhist nun in the shadow of the pines at the side of the road. The nun's eyes momentarily met Hideyoshi's. He reined in his horse and seemed about to give out an order, but the woman beneath the pines had already vanished.
That night in camp Hideyoshi received a plate of rice cakes. The man who delivered it said that it had been brought by a nun who had not given her name.
"These are delicious," Hideyoshi said, eating a couple of the cakes even though he had already taken his evening meal. As he commented on the cakes, there were tears in his eyes.
Later on, the quick-eyed page mentioned Hideyoshi's strange mood to the generals who were attending him. All of them looked surprised and appeared as though they couldn't even guess the reason for their lord's behavior. They worried about his grief, but as soon as his head was on the pillow, Hideyoshi's high-pitched snore was the same as usual. He slept happily for just four hours. In the morning, when the sky was still dark, he got up and departed. During that day, the first and second detachments arrived at Gifu. Hideyoshi was greeted by Shonyu and his son, and soon the castle was overflowing with the huge army, both inside and out.
Torches and bonfires lit the night sky over the Nagara River. Far away, the third and fourth units could be seen flowing continually east all night long.
"It's been a long time!"
Their voices broke out in unison the moment Hideyoshi and Shonyu met.
"It really pleases me that both you and your son are united with me at this time. And I can’tt even express what you've done for me with the gift of Inuyama Castle. No, even I was impressed with your speed and how alert you were to that opportunity."
Hideyoshi was outspoken in his praise of Shonyu's achievements, but said nothing about the great defeat of his son-in-law after the victory at Inuyama.
But even if Hideyoshi was saying nothing about it, Shonyu was ashamed. He seemed be deeply embarrassed that his victory at Inuyama could not atone for the defeat and loss that Nagayoshi had incurred. The letter from Hideyoshi delivered to him by Bito Jinemon had particularly warned against being drawn into a challenge from Ieyasu, but it id come too late.
Shonyu now spoke about that event. "I hardly know how to apologize for our defeat, cause of my son-in-law's foolishness."
"You're too concerned about that," Hideyoshi said, laughing. "That's not like the Ikeda Shonyu I know."
Should I blame Shonyu or just let it alone? Hideyoshi wondered when he awoke the following morning. Regardless of anything else, however, the advantage of having Inuyama Castle in his hands before the coming great battle was extraordinary. Hideyoshi praised Shonyu for his meritorious deed over and over again, and not just to console him.
On the twenty-fifth Hideyoshi rested and assembled his army, which numbered more than eighty thousand men.
Leaving Gifu the next morning, he arrived at Unuma at noon and immediately had a bridge of boats constructed across the Kiso River. The army then camped for the night. On the morning of the twenty-seventh it broke camp and headed toward Inuyama. Hideyoshi entered Inuyama Castle exactly at noon.
"Bring me a horse with strong legs," he ordered, and immediately after finishing his lunch, he galloped from the castle gate, accompanied by only a few mounted men in light armor.
"Where will you be going, my lord?" a general asked, chasing after him at full gallop.
"Just a few of you should come along," Hideyoshi replied. "If there are too many of us, we'll be spotted by the enemy."
Hurrying through the village of Haguro, where Nagayoshi had reportedly been killed, they climbed Mount Ninomiya. From there Hideyoshi could look down into the enemy's main camp at Mount Komaki.
The combined forces of Nobuo and Ieyasu were said to number about sixty-one thousand men. Hideyoshi narrowed his eyes and looked far into the distance. The sun at midday was glaringly bright. Silently put his hand over his eyes, he quietly gazed out over Mount Komaki, which was covered with the enemy forces.
On that day Ieyasu was still in Kiyosu. He had gone to Mount Komaki, given his instructions for the battle lineup, and quickly returned. It was as though a go master were moving a single stone on the board with extreme care.
On the evening of the twenty-sixth, Ieyasu received a confirmed report that Hideyoshi was in Gifu. Ieyasu, Sakakibara, Honda, and other retainers were seated in a room. They were just being told that the construction of the fortifications at Mount Komaki had been completed.
"So Hideyoshi's come?" Ieyasu muttered. As he and the other men looked around ateach other, he smiled, the skin under his eyes wrinkling like a turtle's. It was happening just as he had foreseen.
Hideyoshi had always been quick to start, and the fact that he was not displaying his usual speed this time caused Ieyasu substantial concern. Would he make his stand in Ise or would he come east to the Nobi Plain? As Hideyoshi was still at Gifu he could go in either direction. Ieyasu waited for the next report, which when it came told him that Hideyoshi had built a bridge across the Kiso River and was at Inuyama Castle.
Ieyasu received this information at dusk on the twenty-seventh day of the month, and the look on his face announced that the time had come. Preparations for the battle were completed during the night. On the twenty-eighth, Ieyasu's army advanced toward Mount Komaki to the thunder of drums and the fluttering of banners.
Nobuo had returned to Nagashima, but upon receiving a report of the situation, he immediately hurried to Mount Komaki where he joined forces with Ieyasu.
"
I've heard that Hideyoshi's forces here alone number more than eighty thousand men and his entire forces combined are well beyond a hundred and fifty thousand,' Nobuo said, as if he had never thought that he was the cause of this great battle. His trembling eyes revealed what could be not concealed within his breast.
* * *
Shonyu grimaced in the smoke of the evening kitchen fires as he rode out through the castle gate.
The Ikeda warriors were apprehensive of his frame of mind just from glancing at his face. They all knew that Shonyu's bad mood was due to Nagayoshi's defeat. Owing to his misjudgment, he had burdened his allies with a severe blow at the very outset of the war even before Hideyoshi, the commander-in-chief, had arrived on the battlefield.
Ikeda Shonyu had always been confident that no one had ever pointed a finger of scorn at him, and for a man who had lived a warrior's life for forty-eight years, this disgrace must have been unexpected, at the very least.
"Yukisuke, come over here. Terumasa, you come, too. The senior retainers should come up close, too."
Sitting cross-legged in the hall of the main citadel, he had called together his sons Yukisuke and Terumasa and his senior retainers.
"I want to hear your unreserved opinions. First, take a look at this," he said, producing a map from his kimono.
As the men passed the map around, they realized what Shonyu was suggesting.
On the map a line had been drawn in red ink from Inuyama through the mountain: and over the rivers to Okazaki in Mikawa. After looking at the map, the men silently waited to see what Shonyu would say next.
"If we put Komaki and Kiyosu aside and advance our men along one road to the Tokugawa main castle at Okazaki, there's no doubt that even Ieyasu will be thrown into confusion. The only thing we need to be concerned about is how to keep our army from being seen by the enemy at Mount Komaki."
TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN Page 133