"You should prepare yourself quickly, my lord," Toshimitsu said to Mitsuhide.
"Toshimitsu, I slept well last night!"
"I'm glad to hear that."
"When Yusho leaves, you should give him my very best wishes and some money for the road."
"But you know, when I got up this morning and looked in on him, I discovered he had already gone. He got up and went out with the soldiers before the sun came up."
His is an enviable life, Mitsuhide said to himself as he looked at the morning sky.
Saito Toshimitsu unfolded a scroll. "He left this behind. I thought it might be something he had forgotten, but when I looked at it closely, I saw that the ink hadn't yet dried, and then I remembered that you had requested him to make an illustrated copybook. I link he stayed up until dawn working on it."
"What? He didn't sleep?"
Mitsuhide cast his eye over the scroll. The paper was all the more white in the morning sun, and on it a single branch of tree peonies had been freshly painted. An inscription in a corner of the painting read: Tranquillity, this is nobility.
Tranquillity, this is nobility, Mitsuhide recited silently as he rolled out the scroll, now coming upon the illustration of a large turnip. Next to the turnip was written, Having a visitor is a taste.
The turnip had been drawn in India ink without even a trace of effort; and if you looked at it closely, you could smell the fragrance of the earth. This turnip served as the root for a single leaf, and it seemed to be bursting with life. Its wild nature appeared to be laughing at Mitsuhide's rationalism with a marvelous artlessness and lack of concern.
He continued unfolding the scroll, but there was nothing else. The greater part of it was nothing but blank paper.
"It looks like it took him all night to do these two illustrations."
Toshimitsu was also impressed by the scroll, and bent over it in appreciation with Mitsuhide.
Mitsuhide was hesitant to look at it any longer, and asked Toshimitsu to roll it up.
At that point, the sound of the conch shell was heard in the distant sky. It was a call from the headquarters at the Hoyo Temple, signaling the troops throughout the town to get ready. Heard in the arena of the bloody war, the conch shell was a thing of indescribable dread, booming out sorrowful reverberations. But heard on a morning like this its sound was mild and almost quietly comforting.
Mitsuhide was soon on horseback himself. His brow this morning, much like the mountains of Kai, was completely unclouded and without even a hint of shade.
7 TENTH YEAR OF TENSHO 1582 SPRING
Characters and Places
Shimizu Muneharu, commander
of Takamatsu Castle
Akechi Mitsuharu, Mitsuhide's cousin
Akechi Mitsutada, Mitsuhide's cousin
Fujita Dengo, senior Akechi retainer
Amano Genemon, senior Akechi retainer
Yomoda Masataka, senior Akechi retainer
Manase, Kyoto physician
Shoha and Shositsu, poets
Oda Nobutada, Nobunaga's eldest son
Sotan and Soshitsu, merchants from Kyushu
Murai Nagato, governor of Kyoto
Takamatsu, Shimizu Muneharu's castle
Sakamoto, Akechi Mitsuharu's castle
Tamba, province of the Akechi clan
Kameyama, Akechi Mitsuhide's castle
Honno Temple, Nobunaga's
temporary residence in Kyoto
Myokaku Temple, Nobutada's
temporary residence in Kyoto
Fortress in a Lake
Two samurai galloped through the wicket gates of Okayama, their horses raising a cloud of dust as they hurried toward the castle. No one paid much attention to the riders. When they reached the gates, they announced that they carried an urgent dispatch from Lord Nobunaga in Kai.
Hideyoshi was in the citadel when a retainer came in to announce the arrival of the messengers.
"Have them wait in the Heron Room," he ordered.
This room was reserved for conversations of the most secret nature. Almost as soon as the two messengers had entered, Hideyoshi came in and sat down. One of the men took the letter from the folds of his kimono and laid it respectfully in front of Hideyoshi. It was wrapped in two or three sheets of oiled paper. Hideyoshi removed the outer wrapping and cut through the envelope.
"Ah, it's been a long time since I've looked at His Lordship's handwriting," he said. Before opening the letter, he held it reverently to his forehead: it was, after all, written by his lord's own hand.
When he finished reading, Hideyoshi placed the letter into his kimono and asked, "Did our troops in Kai achieve brilliant victories?"
"His Lordship's army was an irresistible force. About the time we left Kai, Lord Nobutada's army had already reached Suwa."
"That's just what you'd expect of Lord Nobunaga. He must have gone out into battle himself. Was he in good spirits?"
"I heard from one of the men on the campaign that going through the mountains was just like a spring flower-viewing outing. It seems that Lord Nobunaga will return by the coast road and view Mount Fuji on the way."
The messengers withdrew. Hideyoshi remained where he was, gazing at the painting of the white herons on the sliding doors. Yellow pigment had been applied to the eyes of the birds, and they looked as if they were staring back at him.
It will have to be Kanbei, Hideyoshi said to himself. He's the only one I can send. He summoned a page and said, "Kuroda Kanbei should be in the outer citadel. Have him and Hachisuka Hikoemon come here."
Hideyoshi took the letter out and read it once more. It was not really a letter, but the pledge he had requested from Nobunaga. Hideyoshi could have easily mobilized sixty thousand soldiers right here in Okayama. However, he had not crossed the border into the enemy province of Bitchu, which he had to conquer first if he was to defeat the Mori clan. There remained one obstacle in Hideyoshi's path into Bitchu that he was determined to remove—bloodlessly, if he could. This obstacle was the main castle of the seven fortresses that formed the enemy line of defense on the borders of the province: Takamatsu Castle.
Kanbei and Hikoemon came into the small room, and Hideyoshi immediately felt more at ease.
"His Lordship's pledge has just arrived," Hideyoshi began. "I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to go through more hardships. I'd like you to go to Takamatsu Castle."
"Would you mind if I read the pledge?" Kanbei asked.
Kanbei read it with the same respect he would have shown had he been addressing Nobunaga in person.
The pledge was addressed to the commander of Takamatsu Castle, Shimizu Muneharu. Nobunaga promised that if Muneharu capitulated, he would be rewarded with a domain consisting of the provinces of Bitchu and Bingo. He had taken an oath before the gods, Nobunaga continued, and nothing could induce him to go back on his word.
"I'd like you and Hikoemon to go to Takamatsu Castle as soon as possible," he told Kanbei. "I doubt there will be any problems when you meet General Muneharu and talk to him, but if there are, I don't imagine he'll remain unmoved after he sees this seal."
Hideyoshi looked optimistic, but the two other men were unable to share his confidence. Did he really believe that Shimizu Muneharu would betray his masters, the Mori, just because of this pledge, or did Hideyoshi have something else in mind?
The journey from Okayama to Takamatsu Castle took less than a day, and the messengers arrived all the quicker because they were on horseback. Passing through their own front lines, they looked up in the direction of the Kibi Mountains at the red setting sun.