Nobunaga gave the report a quick look and said only, "Very good." He was disgusted that this shogun was so difficult to save, but he also felt that Yoshiaki's behavior s really a blessing. That night he called in the officials in charge of the construction of the Imperial Palace, and as he listened to the reports on the progress of the rebuilding, his mood brightened.

The next morning he rose early and inspected the nearly completed buildings. Then, after paying his respects to the Emperor at the old palace, he returned to his lodgings as the sun was coming up, ate breakfast, and announced that he was leaving the capital.

When Nobunaga had arrived in Kyoto, he had been dressed in a kimono. On his return, however, he wore armor, because he was not returning to Gifu. Once again he made a tour of the battlefield at the Ane River, met with Hideyoshi, who was stationed at Yokoyama Castle, flew about giving orders to the units left in various places, and then laid siege to Sawayama Castle.

Having made a clean sweep of his enemies, Nobunaga returned to Gifu, but for him and his men there was still no time to rest from the fatigue of the lingering summer heat.

It was in Gifu that urgent letters reached Nobunaga from Hosokawa Fujitaka, who was at Nakanoshima Castle in Settsu, and from Akechi Mitsuhide in Kyoto. These letters informed him that in Noda, Fukushima, and Nakanoshima in Settsu, the Miyoshi had more than a thousand men building fortresses. These had been joined by the warrior-monks of the Honganji and their followers. Both Mitsuhide and Fujitaka stressed that there was no time to delay, and asked for Nobunaga's orders.

The main temple of the Honganji had been built during a period of civil disorder and confusion. It had been constructed to withstand the disturbances of the day: outside its stone walls was a deep moat, spanned by a fortified bridge. Although the Honganji was a temple, its construction was that of a castle. To be a monk here meant to be a warrior, and this place had no fewer warrior-monks than Nara and Mount Hiei. Very likely there was not a single priest living in this ancient Buddhist fortress who did not hate the up-start Nobunaga. They accused him of being an enemy of Buddhism who flouted tradition, a destroyer of culture, and a devil who knew no bounds—a beast among men.

When, instead of negotiating, Nobunaga had confronted the Honganji and forced them to cede some of their land to him, he had gone too far. The pride of the Buddhist fortress was strong, and the privileges it enjoyed were ancient. Reports from the west and other regions began to trickle in that the Honganji was arming itself. The temple had bought two thousand guns, the number of warrior-monks had increased manyfold, and new defensive moats were being dug around the fortress.

Nobunaga had anticipated that they would ally themselves with the Miyoshi clan, and that the weak shogun would be seduced to their side. He had also expected that malicious propaganda would be spread among the common people, and that this would most likely set off a popular uprising against him.

When he received urgent messages from Kyoto and Osaka, he was not particularly surprised. Rather, he was more fully resolved to take the opportunity, and quickly went to Settsu himself, stopping in Kyoto on the way.

“I humbly request that Your Excellency accompany my army," he told the shogun. “Your presence will be an inspiration to my troops, and will speed the quelling of the insurrection."

Yoshiaki was naturally reluctant, but he could not refuse. And although it seemed that Nobunaga was taking along a useless hanger-on, it benefited him to have the shield of the shogun's name as one more ploy to sow dissension among his enemies.

*  *  *

The area between the Kanzaki and Nakatsu rivers in Naniwa was a vast marshy plain, dotted with occasional patches of farmland. Nakajima was divided into the northern and southern districts. The fortress in the north was held by the Miyoshi, and the small castie in the south by Hosokawa Fujitaka. The battle was centered in this area, and continued violently from the beginning to the middle of the Ninth Month, now with a victory, now with a defeat. It was open warfare, with the new style of both small and large firearms in use.

In the middle of the Ninth Month, the Asai and Asakura, who had remained barricaded in their mountain casties, meditating on the bitterness of defeat and watching for Nobunaga to make a mistake, took up arms, crossed Lake Biwa, and set up their camps on the beaches at Otsu and Karasaki. One unit went to the Buddhist stronghold of Mount Hiei. For the first time, all the warrior-monks of the various sects were united against Nobunaga.

Their common complaint was, "Nobunaga has arbitrarily confiscated our lands and trampled our honor and the mountain that has been inviolate since the time of Saint Dengyo!"

There were close ties between Mount Hiei and the Asai and Asakura clans. The three agreed to cut off Nobunaga's retreat. The Asakura army moved out from the mountains north of the lake, while the Asai army crossed the lake and went ashore. The disposition of their troops indicated that they intended to grip the throat of Otsu and enter Kyoto. Then, waiting at the Yodo River, they would move in concert with the Honganji and destroy Nobunaga in a single offensive.

Nobunaga had been fighting hard for several days, confronting the warrior-monks and the large Miyoshi army from the fortress at Nakajima in the swamps between the Kanzaki and Nakatsu rivers. On the twenty-second, an alarming but cryptic report that a calamity was approaching from the rear reached his ears.

The details were not yet available, but Nobunaga inferred that when they came they would not be pleasant. He ground his teeth, wondering what this calamity might be. Calling Katsuie, he ordered him to take charge of the rear guard. As for himself he said, "I'm going to pull back immediately and crush the Asai, the Asakura, and Mount Hiei."

"Shouldn't we wait one more night for the next detailed report?" Katsuie said, trying to stop him.

"Why? Now is the time when the world is going to change!" That said, nothing was going to change his mind. He rode hard to Kyoto, changing horses more than once.

"My lord!"

"What a tragedy!"

Crying bitterly, a number of retainers crowded in front of his horse. "Your younger brother, Lord Nobuharu, and Mori Yoshinari met with heroic deaths at Uji, struck down after two days and two nights of bitter fighting."

The first man could not go on, so one of his companions continued, his voice quavering, "The Asai and Asakura and their allies, the monks, had a great army of over twenty thousand, so their strength could not be withstood."

Seemingly unmoved, Nobunaga replied, "Don't just read the names of dead men who are never going to come back at a time like this—what I want to hear is what’s going on now! How far has the enemy advanced? Where is the front line? I suppose none of you knows that. Is Mitsuhide here? If he's at the front, call him back immediately. Call Mitsuhide!"

A forest of banners surrounded the Mii Temple—the headquarters of the Asai and Asakura. The day before, the generals had inspected the severed head of Nobunaga’s younger brother, Nobuharu, before a large crowd. After that, they had examined the heads of other famous warriors of the Oda clan, one after another, until they were almost bored.

"That avenges our defeat at the Ane River. I feel a lot better now," one man muttered.

"Not until we've seen Nobunaga's head!" another man said.

Then someone laughed in a hoarse voice, thick with the accent of the north. "We've as good as seen it already. Nobunaga's got the Honganji and the Miyoshi in front of him, and us behind. Where is he going to run? He's a fish in a net!"

They inspected the heads for well over a day, until they became sick of the smell of blood. When night fell, the sake jars were carried into the headquarters, helping to raise the spirits of the victors. As the liquor was ladled out and drunk, the discussion turned to strategy.