"I'm good to all of you, aren't I?" he quickly replied. This quite clearly indicated Nobunaga's feelings toward the missionaries. The way in which he liked Father Gnecchi and the other fathers was essentially equal to his affection for his black slave. Which brings up another point: when Father Gnecchi had his first audience with Nobunaga, he presented him with gifts from overseas. The list included ten guns, eight telescopes and magnifying glasses, fifty tiger skins, a mosquito net, and one hundred pieces of aloeswood. There were also such rare items as a timepiece, a world globe, textile goods, and chinawear.

Nobunaga had all of these things lined up on display, and gazed at them as a child might. He was especially taken by the globe and the guns. With the globe in front of them, he listened intently night after night as Father Gnecchi told him about his home, Italy; the distances across the seas; the differences between northern and southern Europe; and about his travels through India, Annam, Luzon, and southern China. There was one other man present who would listen even more intently and asked any number of questions—Hideyoshi.

"Ah, I'm really glad you've come." Nobunaga happily welcomed Father Gnecchi to his camp.

"What can this be about, my lord? Your summons was so urgent."

"Well, sit down." Nobunaga pointed to a chair used by Zen abbots.

"Why, thank you," Father Gnecchi said, easing into the chair. He was like a reserve pawn on a chessboard, wondering when he might be used. And Nobunaga had invited him here for precisely that reason.

"Father, you once gave me a petition on behalf of the missionaries in Japan, in which you asked permission to build a church and to spread Christianity."

"I don't know how many years we have longed for the day when you would accept our plea."

"Somehow it seems that that day is approaching."

"What? Do we have your permission?"

"Not unconditionally. It is not a custom of the samurai simply to give out special privileges to men who have done no meritorious deeds."

"What exactly do you mean, my lord?"

"I understand that Takayama Ukon of Takatsuki was converted to Christianity when he was about fourteen years old and is even now a fervent believer. I can imagine you're on quite friendly terms with him."

"Takayama Ukon, my lord?"

"As you know, he's joined Araki Murashige's rebellion and has sent two of his children to Itami Castle as hostages."

"This is truly a sad situation, and we, his friends in religion, are much pained by it. I don't know how many prayers we have sent to God for His divine protection."

"Is that so? Well, Father Gnecchi, in times like these, the prayers you offer at the chapel in your temple do not seem to manifest any effects. If you're really that anxious about Ukon, you'll obey the command I'm giving you now. I want you to go to Takatsuk Castle and enlighten Takayama Ukon on the matter of his indiscretion."

"If that's something I can do, I'll be happy to go anytime. But I understand that his castle is already surrounded by the forces of Lord Nobutada as well as those of Lords Fuwa, Maeda, and Sassa. Perhaps they won't let me through."

"I'll provide you an escort and give you a guarantee of passage. It will be a great meritorious deed for the missionaries if you can explain this issue to the Takayama—both father and son—and convince them to enter my ranks. Then you will have my permission to have a church and the freedom to do missionary work. You have my word."

"Oh, my lord…"

"But wait," Nobunaga told Father Gnecchi. "You should understand very clearly that if, on the contrary, Ukon rejects your proposal and continues to defy me, I'm going to regard all Christians the same way that I regard the Takayama; and that I will quite naturally  demolish your temple, exterminate your religion in Japan, and execute every last one of your missionaries and their followers. I want you to leave with that understanding."

The blood drained from Father Gnecchi's face, and for a moment, he cast his eyes to the ground. Not one of the men who had boarded a sailing ship and come east from faraway Europe could have possessed a faint or cowardly heart, but sitting before Nobunaga and being spoken to in this manner, Father Gnecchi felt his body shrink and his heart grow cold with fear. There was really nothing that gave the figure of Nobunaga the appearance of the devil himself, and in fact both his features and his speech were quite elegant. It had been engraved into the missionaries' minds, however, that this man said nothing he did not put into practice. Previous examples of this fact could be seen in both the destruction of Mount Hiei and the subjugation of Nagashima. In fact, this truth could be seen in every policy Nobunaga had ever conceived.

"I'll go. I'll be the envoy you're ordering me to be, and I'll go to meet with Lord Ukon," Father Gnecchi promised.

With an escort of a dozen mounted men, he headed out on the road to Takatsuki. After seeing Father Gnecchi off, Nobunaga felt that everything had gone exactly as he had desired. But Father Gnecchi, who had seemingly been led off by the nose to Takatsuki Castle, was congratulating himself as well. This foreigner was not as easy to manipulate as Nobunaga thought. It was well known among the common people of Kyoto that few people were as shrewd as the Jesuits. Before Nobunaga had even summoned him, Father Gnecchi had already exchanged letters with Takayama Ukon several times. Ukon's father had often asked his spiritual adviser what heaven's will might be in the matter at hand. Father Gnecchi had written the same response over and over again. The correct way did not lie in acting contrary to the wishes of one's lord. Lord Nobunaga was Murashige's master and Ukon's as well.

Ukon had written expressing his deepest feelings.

We've sent two of our children to the Araki as hostages, so that my wife and mother are strongly against submitting to Lord Nobunaga. If it were not for that, I would not want my name associated with rebellion, either.

So, for Father Gnecchi, the success of this mission and the rewards to follow were a foregone conclusion. He had the conviction that Ukon already agreed with what he himself was suggesting.

Soon afterward, Takayama Ukon announced that he could not just look away as his religion was destroyed, even if his wife and children hated him for defending it. One could abandon one's castle and family, he declared, but not the one true way. Secretly leaving the castle one night, he fled to the Church of the Ascension. His father, Hida, immediately sought refuge with Araki Murashige at Itami, and bitterly explained the situation, saying, "We've been betrayed by my worthless son."

There were many people in Murashige's camp who had close and friendly relations with the Takayama clan, and so he could not insist on the punishment of the Takayama hostages. So, although Murashige was a rather insensitive man, he was vaguely aware of the intricacies of the situation.

"There's nothing to be done. If Ukon has run away, the hostages are useless." Regarding the two little children as nothing more than hangers-on, he returned them to Ukon's father. When Father Gnecchi received this information, he went with Ukon to Mount Amano for an audience with Nobunaga.

"You did well." Nobunaga was delighted. He told Ukon that he would grant him a domain in Harima, and presented him with silk kimonos and a horse.

"I would like to take the tonsure and dedicate my life to God," Ukon pleaded.

But Nobunaga would not hear of it, saying, "That's ridiculous for a man so young."

So, in the end, the affair went as Nobunaga had planned and as Father Gnecchi had anticipated. However, the way in which Ukon had conducted himself, resulting in the re­turn of his children, had all been Father Gnecchi's clever scheme.