"Why did you leave the castle without a fight?" Yoshikage shouted, enraged, but he was obliged to unite the two armies and return to Ichijogadani.
Nobunaga's men pushed on as far as Kinome Pass. If he could break through that strategic position, the very headquarters of the Asakura clan would be right before him. But an urgent message shocked the invading Oda troops.
A dispatch informed them that Asai Nagamasa of Omi, whose clan had been allied with the Asakura for several generations, had taken his army from north of Lake Biwa and cut off Nobunaga's retreat. Additionally, Sasaki Rokkaku, who had already tasted defeat at the hands of Nobunaga, was acting in concert with the Asai and coming from the mountainous area of Koga. One after another, they had led their armies to strike at Nobunaga's flank.
The enemy was now before and behind the invading army. Perhaps because of this change of events, the morale of the Asakura forces was high, and they were ready to sally from Ichijogadani and mount a furious counterattack.
"We've entered the jaws of death," Nobunaga said. He realized it was as if they had been looking for their own graves in enemy territory. What he suddenly feared was not just that Sasaki Rokkaku and Asai Nagamasa obstructed his retreat; what Nobunaga feared to the very marrow of his bones was the likelihood that the warrior-monks of the Honganji, whose fortress was in this area, would raise a war cry against the invader and unfold the banner opposing him. The weather had suddenly changed, and the invading army was a boat heading into the storm.
But where was an opening large enough for the retreat of ten thousand soldiers? Strategists warn that, by nature, an advance is easy and a retreat difficult. If a general makes one mistake, he may suffer the misfortune of the annihilation of his entire army.
"Please allow me to take charge of the rear guard. Then my lord can take the shortcut through Kuchikidani, unencumbered by too many men, and under cover of night, slip out of this land of death. By dawn the rest of the troops could retreat directly toward the capital," Hideyoshi offered.
With each moment that passed, the danger became greater. That evening, accompanied by a few retainers and a force of only three hundred men, Nobunaga followed the pathless valleys and ravines and rode all night toward Kuchikidani. They were attacked countless times by the warrior-monks of the Ikko sect and local bandits, and for two days and nights they went without food, drink, or sleep. They finally reached Kyoto on the evening of the fourth day, but by that time, many of them were so tired that they were almost invalids. But they were the lucky ones. The one more to be pitied was the man who had taken responsibility for the rear guard on his own and, after the main army had made its escape, stayed behind with a tiny force in the lone fortress of Kanegasaki.
This was Hideyoshi. The other generals, who until now had envied his successes and secredy called him a quibbler and an upstart, now parted from him with heartfelt praise, calling him "the pillar of the Oda clan" and "a true warrior," and bringing firearms, gunpowder, and provisions to his camp as they left. As they laid the supplies down and left, it was as if they were leaving wreaths at a grave.
Then, from dawn until midday on the morning after Nobunaga's night escape, the nine thousand troops under Katsuie, Nobumori, and Shonyu made good their escape. When the Asakura forces saw this and pursued to attack them, Hideyoshi struck their flank and threatened them from behind. And when the Oda force had finally been able to slip away from disaster, Hideyoshi and his troops shut themselves up in the castle at Kanegasaki, vowing, "This is where we'll leave this world."
Demonstrating their will to die fighting, they barred the castle gate tightly, eating what there was to eat, sleeping whenever there was time to sleep, and said their farewells to the world. The commander of the attacking Asakura forces was the brave general Keya Shichizaemon. Rather than injure many of his own men by dashing against troops who were ready to die, he besieged the fortress, cutting off Hideyoshi's retreat.
"Night attack!" When this warning was given in the middle of the second night, all the preparations made beforehand were deployed without the least confusion. Keya’s army rushed out against the enemy moving in the dark and completely routed Hideyoshi's small force, which fled quickly back into the castle.
"The enemy is resigned to die, and is shouting its own death cry! Take this opportunity, and we'll capture the castle by dawn!" Keya ordered. They rushed to the edge of the moat, assembled rafts, and crossed the water. In no time at all, thousands of soldiers took possession of the stone walls.
Then, just as Shichizaemon had vowed, Kanegasaki fell with the coming of the dawn. But what did his forces find? Not one of Hideyoshi's men was in the castie. Their banners were standing. Smoke already curled toward the sky. Horses were neighing. Hideyoshi, however, was not there. The attack the night before had not been an attack at all.
Led by Hideyoshi, his small army had only pretended to flee back into the castle, while in fact it searched like the wind for a way of escape from certain death. By dawn, Hideyoshi's men were already at the base of the mountains that wound their way along the provincial border, making good their escape.
Keya Shichizaemon and his troops did not, of course, watch them go in mute amazement. "Make ready for pursuit!" he ordered. "After them!"
Hideyoshi's troops took the path of retreat deep into the mountains, continuing their flight throughout the night without pausing to eat or drink.
"We're not out of the tiger's den yet!" Hideyoshi warned them. "Don't slacken up. Don't rest. Don't think about thirst. Just keep your will to live!" On they marched to Hideyoshi's admonishments. As expected, Keya began to catch up with them. When he heard the enemy's battle cries behind them, Hideyoshi first ordered a short rest and then spoke to his soldiers.
"Don't be alarmed. Our enemies are fools. They're raising their war cries as they climb up the valley while we're on high ground. We're all tired, but the enemy is chasing after us in anger, and many of them are going to be exhausted. When they're in range, shower them with rocks and stones, and thrust your spears at them."
His men were tired, but they regained their confidence at his reason and clarity.
"Come and get us!" they yelled as they stood ready for the attack. Keya's chastisement of Hideyoshi's troops was returned to him in a miserable defeat. Innumerable corpses piled up beneath the rocks and spears.
"Retreat!" The voices that screamed the order finally grew hoarse in the valleys into which the Asakura retreated.
"Now's our chance! Pull back! Retreat!"
Hideyoshi seemed almost to mimic the enemy, and his men turned and fled toward the southern lowlands. Leading his surviving soldiers, Keya once again went in pursuit. Keya's men were truly implacable, and though the remaining strength of the punitive force had already weakened considerably, the warrior-monks of the Honganji joined the attack, blocking the road as Hideyoshi's men tried to pass through the mountains leading down into Omi. When the men tried to turn from the road, arrows and stones flew from the swamps and forests to the right and left, accompanied by screams of "Don't let them pass!" Even Hideyoshi started to think that his time had come. But now was the moment to summon the will to live and to resist the temptation to succumb.
'Let heaven decide whether our luck is good or bad and whether we live or die! Run down through the marsh to the west. Escape along the mountain streams. Their waters flow into Lake Biwa. Run as fast as the water itself. Your escape from death is speed!" He did not tell them to fight. This was the Hideyoshi who knew so well how to employ men, but even he did not think of ordering his starving troops, who had gone two days and two nights without sleep or rest, to repel an ambush by unknown numbers of warrior-monks. All he wanted was to help every last soldier in his pitiful force to return to the capital. And there was nothing stronger than the will to live.