The general who spoke was Sassa Narimasa, who had been watching battle with Nobunaga.
Nobunaga immediately had Narimasa transmit his orders to the troops inside the palisade. He said, "Leave the palisade and attack. Destroy them all!"
Even Katsuyori's headquarters collapsed in the attack. The Tokugawa pressed in on the left. The Oda broke through the Takeda vanguard and made a fierce assault on the central army. Caught in the middle, the numerous banners, commanders' standards, signal flags, whinnying horses, shining armor, and spears and swords that sparkled like constellations around Katsuyori were now enveloped in blood and panic.
Only the forces of Baba Nobufusa, which had remained at Maruyama, were still intact. Baba sent a samurai to Katsuyori with a message advocating retreat.
Katsuyori stamped the ground with vexation. But he was unable to defy reality. Defeated, the central corps had retreated, covered with blood.
"We should retreat temporarily, my lord."
"Swallow your anger and think of what our prospects are."
Desperately leading the men of the main camp, Katsuyori's generals somehow extricated him from the trap he was in. To the enemy it was clear that the central Kai army was in a disorderly retreat.
When they had accompanied Katsuyori as far as a nearby bridge, the generals turned back, forming a rear guard to fight with the pursuing troops. They were heroically struck down in battle. Baba had also accompanied the fleeing Katsuyori and the pathetic remnants of his army as far as Miyawaki, but finally the old general turned his horse to the west, his breast filled with a thousand thoughts.
I've lived a long life. Or I could say it's been short, too. Truly long or truly short, only this one moment is eternal, I suppose. The moment of death… Can eternal life be anything more than that?
Then, just before galloping into the midst of the enemy, he swore, I'll make my excuses to Lord Shingen in the next world. I was an incompetent counselor and general. Good-bye, you mountains and rivers of Kai!
Turning around, he shed a single tear for his province, then suddenly spurred his horse. "Death! I won't dishonor the name of Lord Shingen!"
His voice sank into the sea of the great enemy army. It is hardly necessary to add that each of his retainers followed him, to be struck down gloriously.
From the very beginning, no one had been able to see through this battle as Baba had. He had doubtless perceived that, after it, the Takeda clan would fall and would even be destroyed, and that that was its fate. Nevertheless, even with his foresight and loyalty, he was unable to save the clan from disaster. The huge forces of change were simply overwhelming.
Together with a dozen or so mounted attendants, Katsuyori crossed over the shallows of Komatsugase and finally sought shelter in Busetsu Castle. Katsuyori was a courageous nan, but now he was as speechless as a deaf mute.
The entire surface of Shidaragahara was red—a deep red—as the sun began to sink. The great battle this day had commenced around dawn and finished in the late afternoon. No horse neighed; not a soldier cried out. The wide plain quickly sank into darkness in :omplete desolation.
The dew of night settled before the dead could be carried away. The Takeda corpses alone were said to have numbered more than ten thousand.
The Towers of Azuchi
The Emperor had appointed Nobunaga to the court rank of Councillor of State not long before, and now he had been named General of the Right. The congratulatory ceremony for this latest promotion was conducted during the Eleventh Month with a pomp that exceeded anything seen in preceding eras.
Nobunaga's lodgings in the capital were in the shogun's former palace at Nijo. Guests crowded into the palace every day: courtiers, samurai, tea masters, poets, and merchants from the nearby trading cities of Naniwa and Sakai.
Mitsuhide had planned on leaving Nobunaga and returning to his castle in Tamba and while it was still light, he had come to the Nijo Palace from his own lodgings to take his leave.
"Mitsuhide," Hideyoshi greeted him with a broad smile.
"Hideyoshi?" Mitsuhide answered with a laugh.
"What brings you here today?" Hideyoshi asked, taking Mitsuhide by the arm.
"Oh, just that His Lordship is leaving tomorrow," Mitsuhide said with a grin.
“That's right. Where do you suppose we'll meet again?"
"Are you drunk?"
"There's not a day I don't get drunk while I'm in the capital. His Lordship drinks more when he's here, too. In fact, if you went to see him now he'd make you drink quite bit of sake ."
“Is he having another drinking party?" Mitsuhide asked.
Certainly Nobunaga had been drinking more recently, and an old retainer, who had served Nobunaga for many years, had remarked that Nobunaga had never drunk to the extent that he did now.
Hideyoshi always took part in these revelries, but he did not have Nobunaga's resistance.
Nobunaga seemed to have the more delicate constitution, but he was by far the stronger of the two men. If you looked carefully, you could see his spiritual strength. Hideyoshi was just the opposite. Outwardly he seemed a healthy countryman, but he did not have real stamina.
His mother still lectured him about neglecting his health: "It's fine to have a good time, but please take care of your health. You were sickly from the time you were born, and until you were four or five years old, none of the neighbors thought you would live to be an adult."
Her concern had an effect on Hideyoshi, because he knew the reason for his weakness as a youth. When his mother had been pregnant with him, their poverty had been such that they had sometimes had no food on the table, and this state of adversity had surely affected his growth in the womb.
The fact that he had been able to survive was due almost solely to his mother's devotion. Thus, while he certainly did not dislike sake, he would recall his mother's words every time he held a cup in his hands. And he could hardly forget the times when his mother had cried so much because of her drunkard husband.
No one, however, would have thought he took drinking so seriously. People said of him, "He doesn't drink much, but he sure loves drinking parties. And when he does drink, he drinks freely." In fact, there was no one more prudent than Hideyoshi. And speaking of drinking, it was Mitsuhide, whom he now met in the corridor, who had just been doing a good bit of it himself. Nevertheless, Mitsuhide looked disappointed, and it was clear that Nobunaga's drinking—just now confirmed by Hideyoshi—was troubling his retainers a great deal.
Hideyoshi laughed and denied what he had just said. "No, that was a joke." Amused at Mitsuhide's wavering there so seriously, he shook his red face. "The truth is, I was just having fun with you a little. The drinking party is over, and the proof is that here I am, leaving intoxicated. And that's a lie too," he laughed.
"Ah, you're a bad man." Mitsuhide forced a smile. He tolerated Hideyoshi's teasing, for he did not dislike him. Neither did Hideyoshi hold any ill feelings toward Mitsuhide. He always joked freely with his sober-minded colleague, but at the same time he respected him when respect was required.
For his part, Mitsuhide seemed to acknowledge that Hideyoshi was a useful man. Hideyoshi was just a bit ahead of Mitsuhide in seniority and was above him in the seating at field staff headquarters, but like the other veteran generals, Mitsuhide was proud of his own family status, bloodline, and education. Certainly he did not take Hideyoshi lightly, but he somehow manifested a condescending attitude toward his senior with such comments as, "You're a likable man."
This condescension was due, of course, to Mitsuhide's character. But even when Hideyoshi felt that he was being condescended to, he didn't feel unhappy. On the contrary, he considered it natural to be looked down upon by a man of superior intellect such as Mitsuhide. He was comfortable acknowledging of Mitsuhide's great superiority in terms of intellect, education, and background.