"Indeed."
"He also felt that if you stayed any longer at Mount Komaki, we would be letting you see the defenses of the province, so I was ordered to take you back to Sunomata immediately. Take you back and…" Hideyoshi cut his words off short as though they stuck in his throat. Even Osawa was upset, but he looked Hideyoshi straight in the eye, encouraging him to say the rest of the sentence.
"This is difficult to say, but it was His Lorship's order, so I'd like you to hear it. I was ordered by him to take you back to Sunomata, lock you up in the castle, and kill you. He thought this was a grand opportunity—one not to be missed."
When Osawa looked around, he realized that he was accompanied by not one single soldier and was inside the enemy's castle. And fearless as he was, his hair stood up on the back of his neck.
Hideyoshi continued, "But as for myself, if I obey His Lordship's order, I will have broken the pledge I already made to you, and this would be trampling the honor of a samurai. I cannot do that. At the same time, however, if I presume myself not to be lacking in the loyalty of a retainer, I'll be turning my back on my lord's orders. I've reached the point where I can neither advance nor retreat. So, on the way back from Mount Komaki, I was despondent and unhappy, which, I suppose, probably made you somewhat suspicious. But please, put away your doubts. I now have the solution very clearly in mind."
"What do mean? What are you going to do?"
"By disembowelling myself, I think I can apologize to both you and Lord Nobunaga There's no other way. General Osawa, let's drink a farewell cup. After that, I'm resigned. I guarantee that no one is going to lay a hand on you. You can get away from here under the cover of night. Don't worry about me, just put your heart at ease!"
Osawa listened silently to everything Hideyoshi said, but his eyes were filled with tears. In contrast to the ferocity that had earned him his nickname, these were tears beyond an ordinary man's; it was clear that he had a character with a strong sense of righteousness. "I'm indebted to you," he sniffed, and wiped his eyes. Could this be the general who had fought in countless battles? "But listen, Lord Hideyoshi. It would be unpardonable for you to commit seppuku!'
"But if I don't, there are no words for an apology, either to you or His Lordship."
"No, no matter what you say, there's no righteousness in cutting open your stomach and helping me. My honor as a samurai will not allow it."
"I was the one who explained things to you and invited you here. I'm also the one who was mistaken about the way His Lordship thinks. So to apologize to both you and His Lordship, it's only proper that I'm the one who should atone for the crime by taking my own life. Please don't try to stop me."
"No matter what kind of mistake you claim to have made, I was also to blame. This is not worthy of your suicide. Instead, let me offer my head to you in appreciation of your good faith. Take my head back to Mount Komaki." Osawa began to draw his short sword
Shaken, Hideyoshi grabbed Osawa's hand. "What are you doing?"
"Let go of my hand."
“I will not. Nothing could be more painful than to let you commit seppuku!”
'I understand. That's why I'm offering you my head. If you had planned some cowardly trick I could have shown you a real escape, even if I would have had to build a mountain of corpses to do it. But I've been touched by your samurai spirit."
“But wait. Think for just a moment. It seems very strange that we're both fighting to die. General Osawa, if you trust me to that extent, I have a plan that will allow us both to live and maintain our honor as warriors. But do you still have the heart to assist the Oda clan one more step?"
"One more step?"
"In the end, Nobunaga's doubts are based on his high regard for you. So at this point, if you did something that would truly manifest your support of the Oda clan, his doubts would melt."
That night, Osawa left Sunomata Castle and went off to an unknown destination. What was the plan revealed to him by Hideyoshi? There was no reason for anyone to know, but later its nature was plain to see. Someone now spoke to Iyo, Ando, and Ujiie—the Three Men of Mino, the very foundation of Saito power—proposing that they all three pledge allegiance to the Oda clan. The man who spoke to them so eloquently, and through whose good offices they were introduced, was none other than Osawa Jirozaemon.
Of course, Hideyoshi did not commit seppuku. Osawa fared well, and Nobunaga added four famous generals of Mino to his allies without ever leaving his castle. Was this Nobunaga's wisdom or Hideyoshi's genius? A subtle interplay of minds seemed to have taken place between lord and retainer, and no one could have said for certain which mind was actually in command.
* * *
Nobunaga was impatient. He had made a large sacrifice to build the castle at Sunomata, and it had taken a good deal of time, so he naturally felt frustrated.
"To avenge the name of my late father-in-law, I will strike down this immoral clan, and release the people who gasp under its evil administration." This had been the declaration of Nobunaga's motive, so that the battle might be one the world would accept, but as time passed, these words naturally started to lose their power. There was also the possibility that his ability was being questioned by the Tokugawa of Mikawa, whom he could feel watching him from the rear.
The actual strength of the Oda was under question, and there was a real danger to the Oda-Tokugawa alliance. Nevertheless, Nobunaga felt impatient. Certainly he had brought Osawa and the Three Men of Mino over to his camp, but this alone had not won him any victories.
To conquer Mino with a single blow was what he asked for. It seemed that, ever since Okehazama, Nobunaga's faith in the concept of "the single blow" had become much stronger than before. Therefore, on a number of occasions, men like Hideyoshi had expressed some opposition.
At the conference to discuss the conquest of Mino that summer, Hideyoshi sat silently in the lowest seat throughout the proceedings. When asked for his views he responded, "I think, perhaps, the time is still not ripe."
This answer was extremely uncongenial to Nobunaga, who asked, almost as a rebuke, "Was it not you who said that if the Tiger of Unuma were to bring the Three Men over to our side, Mino would crumble on its own without our having to leave the castle?"
"Begging your pardon, my lord, but Mino has more than ten times the strength and wealth of Owari."
"First you said it was an excess of men of talent, and now you fear their wealth and strength. If that's the case, just when are we going to attack them?" Nobunaga no longer asked for Hideyoshi's opinion about anything. The council moved on. It was decided that, in the summer, a large army would start out from Mount Komaki for Mino, using Sunomata as its base camp.
The battle to cross the river into enemy territory lasted over a month. Throughot that time, a great number of wounded were sent back. There were never any reports of victory. The battle-weary army simply retreated in complete silence, soldiers and general alike tight-lipped and morose.
When asked by the men who had remained at the castle how the battle had gone, they all looked down and silently shook their heads. Nobunaga was silent from then on, too. It was clear he had learned that not every battle is fought like Okehazama. The castle at Sunomata was quiet now, visited only by the desolate autumn winds from the river.
A call came suddenly to Hikoemon from his master. "Among your former ronin, I imagine there must be a number who were born in other provinces, and quite a few from Mino," Hideyoshi began.
"Yes, there are."
"Do you suppose any of them were born in Fuwa?"
"I'll find out."
"Good. If you can find one, would you call him here?" In a while, Hachisuka Hikoemon brought one of his former ronin, a man named Saya Kuwaju, out to the garden where Hideyoshi waited. He appeared to be a strong man of about thirty.
"You're Saya?" Hideyoshi asked.
"Yes, my lord."
"And you're from Fuwa in Mino?"
"A village called Tarui."
"Well, I imagine you're pretty familiar with the area."
"I lived there until I was twenty years old, so I know it a little."
"Do you have any relatives there?"
"My younger sister."
"What is she doing?"
"She married into a local farming family, and I imagine she has children by now."
"Wouldn't you like to go back there? Just once?"
"I've never thought about it. It's likely that if my sister heard that her brother, the ronin, was coming home, she'd feel very uncomfortable around her husband's relatives and the rest of the village."