During that time he selected several hundred stalwart warriors. No one was to carry firearms; only spears and swords.
"Now I'm going to see it done! Cut your way into the tower!" he ordered.
The specially picked spear corps immediately enveloped the tower like a swarm of wasps and soon penetrated into the interior.
Jet black smoke poured from the third floor, from the fourth, then from the fifth.
"Good!" Hideyoshi yelled when a huge umbrella of flames shot out from the tower's multifaceted eaves.
That was the flash that signaled Katsuie's end. Katsuie and the eighty members of his household held the attackers back on the third and fourth floors of the keep and fought hard until the very end, slipping in the spilled blood. But now three members of his family called to him.
"Prepare yourself quickly, my lord!"
Running up to the fifth floor, he joined Lady Oichi. After witnessing her death, Shibata Katsuie ended his life by cutting open his stomach.
It was the Hour of the Monkey. The keep burned all night. The magnificent buildings that had stood on the banks of the Kuzuryu River since the time of Nobunaga burned like a funeral pyre for innumerable past dreams and a thousand souls. Nothing, however, could be found in the ashes that in any way resembled Katsuie.
It was said that he had packed dry grass into the tower with meticulous care so that he would be burned up completely. And for that reason, Katsuie's head could never be offered as sure proof of his death. For a while some said that Katsuie had escaped, but Hideyoshi reacted with almost complete indifference to those rumors. By the following day he had already turned toward Kaga.
Oyama Castle in Kaga had been until the day before the headquarters of Sakuma Genba. When the fall of Kitanosho was reported, the people in that area could see what was in the wind and surrendered to Hideyoshi. He entered Oyama Castle without a fight. But the more victories his armies won, the more he warned them about the gravity of the situation and cautioned them against the slackening of military discipline. His aim was to overawe the solid warriors of the Shibata and their allies once and for all.
Sassa Narimasa in Toyama Castle was one of those warriors. Indeed, he was a strong supporter of the Shibata and held Hideyoshi in complete contempt. In terms of lineage, Sassa was far above Hideyoshi. He had been Katsuie's second in command during the northern campaign, and during the campaign against Hideyoshi, he had been asked to stay behind, not only to check the Uesugi clan but also to manage internal matters in the north.
Sassa is here. That is the stance he took as he glared out of the castle, standing firm in his guardianship of the northern provinces. Even though Katsuie had already perished and Kitanosho had fallen, there was a good possibility that—with his natural ferocity and professed dislike of Hideyoshi—Sassa might make a desperate effort to step into Katsuie's shoes and do his best to prolong the war. And he was indeed thinking of doing that by combining his own fresh troops with the remaining Shibata.
Hideyoshi purposely did not confront the man. The numbers of Hideyoshi's army demonstrated his power, and he decided to let their presence persuade Sassa to reconsider his position. In the meantime he approached the Uesugi clan with an invitation to form an alliance. Uesugi Kagekatsu sent a retainer to congratulate Hideyoshi on his victory and to respond affirmatively to Hideyoshi's offer.
Considering the apparently friendly relationship between Hideyoshi and the Uesugi clan, Sassa Narimasa found it impossible to plan a battle of resistance. He therefore disguised his intentions and finally declared his submission to Hideyoshi. He then married his daughter to Inuchiyo's second son, Toshimasa, and settled down with relief in his own province. Thus the area north of Kitanosho was pacified by momentum, and virtually no fighting had been required.
Having secured the north, Hideyoshi's victorious army returned to Nagahama Castle on the Boys' Festival, the fifth day of the Fifth Month.
At Nagahama Hideyoshi listened to reports of the situation in Gifu. After Kitanosho, it was chiefly Gifu Castie that continued its attacks on Hideyoshi, but after the great defeat of the Shibata, the martial spirit of Nobutaka and his soldiers was considerably dampened. To make matters worse, there were in Nagahama Castle many retainers from Gifu who had deserted Nobutaka and joined Hideyoshi. In the end, the situation had become so extreme that a mere twenty-seven men remained with Nobutaka. Because Nobutaka had relied particularly upon the Shibata, for him their destruction was akin to cutting the roots of a plant. His men all deserted him, except for his favorites. Nobuo assembled his forces and surrounded Nobutaka's castle. He sent a message saying his brother should go to Owari.
Nobutaka left Gifu Castle, took a boat, and landed at Utsumi in Owari. One of Nobuo's attendants went to Nobutaka with an order for him to commit seppuku, and, feeling that his time had come, Nobutaka calmly wrote out his last words and then took his own life. Thus Nobutaka's end was caused by his own brother. But the man who was behind his death was Hideyoshi. It is hardly necessary to say that Hideyoshi was unwilling to attack Nobutaka—who was so closely related to Nobunaga—with his own army, and so resorted to using Nobuo.
At any rate, the mediocrity of Nobuo and Nobutaka cannot be doubted. If they had made their minds one as brothers—or if either one had been distinguished in bravery and blessed with an eye that could perceive the tide of the times—they would not have experienced such a collapse in the end. Compared with Nobuo, who showed a good-natured stupidity, Nobutaka was a bit more courageous. But he was really not much more than an incompetent bluffer.On that seventh day Hideyoshi left for Azuchi, stopping at Sakamoto Castle on the eleventh. In Ise, Takigawa Kazumasu also surrendered. Hideyoshi gave him a province in Omi worth five thousand bushels. He did not venture to question Kazumasu about his past crimes.
Gamo Ujisato, senior Oda retainer
Nakagawa Kanemon, commander of Inuyama Castle
Ikeda Yukisuke, Shonyu's son
Bito Jinemon, retainer to Hideyoshi
Mori Nagayoshi, Ikeda Shonyu's son-in-law
Sakai Tadatsugu, senior Tokugawa retainer
Honda Heihachiro, senior Tokugawa retainer
Ii Hyobu, senior Tokugawa retainer
Miyoshi Hidetsugu, Hideyoshi's nephew
Oda Nobuteru, Nobuo's uncle
Ise, Oda Nobuo's province
Nagashima, Oda Nobuo's main castle
Ogaki, Ikeda Shonyu's castle
Mount Komaki, fortified position held by Ieyasu
Gakuden, Hideyoshi's main camp
Okazaki, Tokugawa Ieyasu's castle
Osaka, Hideyoshi's new castle
In just one short year, Hideyoshi had risen so rapidly to prominence that even he was surprised. He had struck down the Akechi and the Shibata; Takigawa and Sassa knelt before him; Niwa held him in special confidence; and Inuchiyo had demonstrated his loyalty to their old friendship.
Hideyoshi now controlled almost all the provinces that Nobunaga had conquered. Even his relationship with provinces outside Nobunaga’s sphere of influence had undergone a complete change. The Mori, who for years had obstinately resisted Nobunaga's plans for hegemony, had signed a treaty of alliance and sent hostages.
There was, however, one man who remained an open question: Tokugawa Ieyasu. There had been no communication between the two for some time. They were silent, like poor chess players waiting for the other side to make a good move.
The silence was finally broken by a diplomatic overture from Ieyasu, soon after Hideyoshi's return to Kyoto on the twenty-first day of the Fifth Month. Ieyasu's most senior general, Ishikawa Kazumasa, called on Hideyoshi at Takaradera Castle.
"I have come to convey Lord Ieyasu's congratulations. Your great victory has brought peace to the nation." With that solemn announcement, Kazumasa presented Hideyoshi with a valuable antique tea container called Hatsuhana.
Hideyoshi had become a devotee of the tea ceremony, and he was delighted to receive the precious gift. But it was also clear that he derived even greater satisfaction from having received the courtesy from Ieyasu first. Kazumasa had planned on returning to Hamamatsu that very day, but Hideyoshi detained him.
"You don't have to hurry," Hideyoshi said. "Stay for two or three days. I'll tell Lord Ieyasu that I insisted. Especially since we're having a little family celebration tomorrow.
What Hideyoshi called "a little family celebration" was the banquet to mark his Investiture with a new court title, which was the seal of imperial approval on his domestic policies and military successes. He was also to announce the construction of a major new castle in Osaka.
The banquet lasted three days. A seemingly endless line of guests made its way up to the castle, and the narrow streets of the town were clogged with the carriages of courtiers, servants and horses.
Kazumasa was forced to admit that Nobunaga's mantle had come to rest on Hideyoshi’s shoulders. Until that day he had firmly believed that it would be his lord, Ieyasu, who would succeed Nobunaga, but the time he spent with Hideyoshi changed his mind. When he compared Hideyoshi's and Ieyasu's provinces and reflected on the differences between their troops, he concluded sadly that the Tokugawa domain was still a small provincial outpost in eastern Japan.
A few days later, Kazumasa announced his intention to leave, and Hideyoshi accompanied him as far as Kyoto. As they were riding along, Hideyoshi turned in the saddle and looked back. He beckoned to Kazumasa, who was riding some way behind, to join him. As a retainer of another clan, Kazumasa had been received with the courtesy due to a guest, but he quite naturally rode behind Hideyoshi.
Hideyoshi said warmly, "We decided to travel together, and that doesn't mean that we should ride separately. The road to Kyoto is particularly boring, so let's talk as we ride."
Kazumasa hesitated for a moment but then rode up to Hideyoshi's side.