Yesterday's conditions can hardly be thought of in terms of today's, for time works its transfigurations moment by moment. Neither is it unreasonable to change one's course of action. The reasons for which men have erred in their ambitions and lost their lives are as plentiful as mushrooms after a shower.
It was toward the end of the Eleventh Month. Nakagawa Sebei—the man upon whom Araki Murashige depended as on his own right arm—suddenly left his castle and submitted to Nobunaga.
"This is a significant time for the nation; we should not punish small mistakes," Nobunaga said, and not only did not question Sebei about his crime but also presented him with thirty gold coins. He presented gold and clothing to the three retainers who had come with him, as well. Sebei had surrendered in response to Takayama Ukon's appeal.
The Oda generals wondered why these men were being treated so kindly. While Nobunaga was aware that there was some dissatisfaction among his own men, there was nothing else he could do if he wanted to achieve his military objectives.
Conciliation, diplomacy, and patience did not conform with his nature. Violent, fierce attacks, therefore, continually rained down upon the enemy. For example, Nobunaga attacked Hanakuma Castle in Hyogo and showed no mercy in burning down the temples and surrounding villages. He did not forgive the slightest hostile action, whether it was committed by the old or the young, by men or by women. But now his maneuvering on the one hand and his intimidations on the other were coming to fruition.
Araki Murashige was isolated in Itami Castle, a stronghold that had had both of its wings clipped. His battle array no longer included Takayama Ukon or Nakagawa Sebei.
"If we strike now, he'll fall down like a scarecrow," Nobunaga said. He believed that Itami could now be taken anytime he liked. A combined attack was commenced at the beginning of the Twelfth Month. On the very first day, the attack began before evening and continued into the night. Resistance, however, was unexpectedly stiff. The commander of one corps of the attacking troops was struck down and killed, and there were hundreds of dead and wounded.
On the second day the number of casualties continued to increase, but not a single inch of the castle walls had been taken. Murashige was famous for his courage, after all, and there were a good many gallant men among his troops. More than that, when Murashige himself had been ready to fold up the flag of revolt following Nobunaga's attempts at appeasing him, it had been his family members and officers who had restrained him by saying, “To give up now would be the same as presenting him with our own heads."
The news of the start of these hostilities also quickly echoed throughout Harima and shook the officials in Osaka. Shock waves were spreading as far as Tamba and the Sanin.
First, in the western provinces, Hideyoshi immediately started the attack on Miki Castle, and had the auxiliary troops of Nobumori and Tsutsui push the Mori back to the boders of Bizen. He had thought that as soon as the Mori clan heard the shouts from the capital, its army would march on Kyoto. In Tamba, the Hatano clan considered that the tide was now favorable, and began to rebel. Akechi Mitsuhide and Hosokawa Fujitaka had been governing that area, and rushed to its defense in the nick of time.
The Honganji and the huge forces of the Mori communicated by ship-borne messengers, and the enemies that now faced Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Mitsuhide all danced to the music of these two powers.
"It's probably finished here," Nobunaga said, gazing at Itami Castie. Which was to say that he considered everything to be in order. Although Itami Castle was completely isolated, it had not surrendered. In Nobunaga's eyes, however, it had already fallen. Leaving the encircling army, he suddenly returned to Azuchi.
It was the end of the year. Nobunaga planned on spending New Year's at Azuchi. It was a year that had been filled with unexpected disturbances and campaigns, but as he looked over the streets of the castle town, he caught the scent of a rich new culture rising through the air. Shops both large and small were lined up in an orderly fashion, bringing Nobunaga's economic policies to fruition. Guests overflowed the inns and post stations, while at the lakeside, the masts of the anchored ships resembled a forest.
Both the residential area of the samurai, wound all through with small paths, and the magnificent mansions of the great generals had for the most part been completed. The Temples, too, had been expanded, and Father Gnecchi had also begun to build a church.
What is called "culture" is as intangible as mist. What had begun as a simple act of destruction was suddenly taking form as an epoch-making new culture right at Nobunaga's feet. In music, theater, painting, literature, religion, the tea ceremony, clothing, cooking, and architecture, old styles and attitudes were being abandoned, and the new and fresh were being adopted. Even the new patterns for women's silk kimonos rivaled each other in this burgeoning Azuchi culture.
This is the New Year I've been waiting for, and it is a New Year for the nation. It's hardly necessary to say that to build is more pleasant than to destroy, Nobunaga thought, imagining that the new dynamic culture would move like an incoming tide, flooding the eastern provinces, the capital, and even the west and the island of Kyushu, leaving no place untouched.
Nobunaga was absorbed in such thoughts when Sakuma Nobumori, with the bright sun shining at his back, greeted him and stepped into the room. Seeing Nobumori, Nobunaga suddenly remembered.
"Ah, that's right. How did that affair go afterward?" he asked quickly, passing the cup in his hand to the page who delivered it to Nobumori.
Nobumori raised the cup reverently to his forehead, and said, "That affair?" He peered at his master's brow.
"That's right. I told you about Shojumaru, didn't I? Kanbei's son—the one who's in Takenaka Hanbei's castle as a hostage."
"Ah, you mean the matter of the hostage."
"I sent you with an order for Hanbei to cut off Shojumaru's head and send it to Itami. But afterward there was no response even though the head was supposed to have been cut off and sent. Have you heard anything?"
"No, my lord." Nobumori shook his head and, as he spoke, he appeared to be remembering his mission of the year before. He had accomplished his mission, but Shojumaru had been placed in Takenaka Hanbei's care in Mino, so the execution was unlikely to have been carried out immediately.
"If this is Lord Nobunaga's command, it will be carried out, but I will need some more time," Hanbei had said, acknowledging the request in a normal fashion and, of course, Nobumori had understood.
"Well then, I have given you His Lordship's order," Nobumori had added, and promptly returned to report to Nobunaga.
Owing possibly to his own responsibilities, Nobunaga seemed to have forgotten about the matter; but the fact was that Nobumori, too, had not really kept the fate of Shojumaru in mind. He had simply assumed that Hanbei would report the boy's execution directly to Nobunaga.
"You have heard nothing else about it from either Hideyoshi or Hanbei, my lord?"
"They haven't said a word about it."
"That's rather suspicious."
"You're sure you spoke to Hanbei?"
"That's hardly necessary to ask. But he's been extraordinarily lazy recently," Nobumori mumbled vexatiously, and then added, "To have considered this simply as a measure affecting the child of a traitor, and not yet to have taken any action on Your Lordship's important command, would be a crime of disobedience that could not be ignored. On my way back to the front, I'll stop in Kyoto and very definitely question Hanbei about it."
"Really?" Nobunaga's response did not show much interest. The strictness of the command he had given at that time and the way he was recalling the matter right now reflected two completely different frames of mind. He did not, however, tell Nobumori to forget about it. Certainly, that would have meant a complete loss of face for the man who had been sent on the mission.