The men who climbed to the castle were not from the Shibata clan alone, of course, but were also from the Niwa, the Takigawa, and other clans. The only men who had been there the day before but who were no longer present were those under the command of Hideyoshi.

Takigawa Kazumasu informed Katsuie that Kumohachi had been waiting in the castle since early morning, as a representative of Hideyoshi.

“He said Hideyoshi would not be able to attend today because of illness and was sening his apologies to Lord Samboshi. He also mentioned that he had hoped for an audience with you, my lord. He's been waiting for a little while."

Katsuie nodded bitterly. While it angered him that Hideyoshi was scrupulously feigning ignorance of the whole affair, he too had to pretend to know nothing, and now

granted an audience to Kumohachi. Katsuie then cantankerously asked one question after another. What kind of illness did Hideyoshi have? If he had decided to return home so suddenly the night before, why hadn't he informed Katsuie? If he had, Katsuie himself would have come to visit and taken care of all the arrangements. But it seemed that old Kumohachi had grown extremely deaf and was only able to hear about half of what Katsuie was saying.

And no matter what was being said, the old man appeared not understand, but repeated the same answer over and over. Feeling that the interview was as useless as beating the air, Katsuie could not help but be vexed at Hideyoshi's ulterior motives in sending such a senile old warrior as a formal envoy. No matter how much he rebuked the old man, nothing came of it. With pent-up anger from his irritation, he asked Kumohachi one more question to finish the conversation.

"Envoy, how old are you, anyway?"

"Exactly… yes, indeed."

"I'm asking you about your age…How old are you?"

"Yes, it's just as you say."

"What?"

Katsuie felt as though he were being made a fool of. Thrusting his angry face next to Kumohachi's ear, he yelled out in a voice loud enough to crack a mirror.

"How old are you this year?"

Thereupon Kumohachi nodded vigorously and answered with exceeding calm.

"Ah, I see. You're asking me my age. I'm ashamed to say that I've done nothing o merit that the world might have heard of, but this year I'll be seventy-five."

Katsuie was dumbfounded.

How ridiculous it was for him to be losing his temper with this old man, with today's pressure of work in front of him and the probability that he would be unable to relax all day. Along with an awareness of self-scorn, Katsuie felt his hostility toward Hideyoshi moving him to make a pledge that the two of them would shortly not exist under the same sky.

"Go on home. That's enough."

Gesturing with his chin, he ordered the old man to leave, but Kumohachi's buttocks seemed to be stuck to the floor with rice paste.

"What? What if there's a reply?" he asked, gazing sedately at Katsuie.

"There is none! No reply at all! Just tell Hideyoshi that we'll meet wherever we chance to meet."

With this parting remark, Katsuie turned and walked away down the narrow corridor toward the inner citadel. Kumohachi also ambled down the corridor. With one hand on his hip, he turned toward Katsuie's retreating image. Chuckling to himself, he finally walked on toward the castle gate.

The celebration for Samboshi's accession was completed that day, and a feast was given that surpassed the one of the evening before. Three halls were opened up inside the castle for the announcement of the new lord's installation, and people attended in far greater numbers than the day before. The main topic of conversation among the guests was Hideyoshi's insulting behavior. To feign illness and be absent on the day of

This important event was outrageous, and there were some who said that Hideyoshi's disloyalty and insincerity could clearly be seen.

Katsuie knew quite well that the criticism of Hideyoshi was being artificially generated by the followers of Takigawa Kazumasu and Sakuma Genba, but he indulged in the comfort of gloating secretly over the knowledge that the advantage was going to him.

After the conference, the observance of the anniversary of Nobunaga’s death, and the day of celebration, Kiyosu was inundated by heavy rains every day.

Some of the lords left for their provinces the day after the celebration. A number of others, however, were held back by the rising waters of the Kiso River. Those who remained behind waited for the weather to clear, thinking it might happen the next day or day after that, but they could really do nothing more than pass the days in inactivity in their lodgings.

To Katsuie, however, the time was not necessarily wasted.

The comings and goings of Katsuie and Nobutaka between their respective lodgings were quite noticeable. It must be remembered that Oichi, Katsuie's wife, was Nobunaga's younger sister and therefore Nobutaka's aunt. Moreover, it was Nobutaka who had persuaded Oichi to remarry and become Katsuie's wife. It was really from the time of the marriage that the relationship between Nobutaka and Katsuie had become intimate. Certainly they were more than simple in-laws.

Takigawa Kazumasu was at those meetings as well, and his presence seemed to have some significance.

On the tenth day of the month Takigawa sent out an invitation for a morning tea cer-ny to all the remaining lords.

The gist of the invitation was as follows:

The recent rains are clearing, and each of you is thinking of returning to his home province. It is a maxim among warriors, however, that uncertainty governs the time of their next meeting. As we remember our former lord, I would like to offer you a bowl of plain tea in the morning dew. I know you must be in a hurry to leave for home after this long stay, but I do anticipate your presence.

That was all it said, and it was nothing more than what might be expected. But the people of Kiyosu gaped at the men going in and out that morning. What was it? A secret council of war? Men like Hachiya, Tsutsui, Kanamori, and Kawajiri attended the tea ceremony that morning, while Nobutaka and Katsuie were probably the guests of honor. But whether the meeting was the tea ceremony it purported , or some secret affair, could not have been known by anyone other than the host and his guests that day.

Later that afternoon the generals finally returned to their home provinces. On the night of the fourteenth Katsuie announced that he would leave for Echizen, and on the fifteenth he left Kiyosu.

As soon as he had crossed the Kiso River and entered Mino, however, Katsuie was troubled by rumors that Hideyoshi's army had closed all the passes in the mountains between Tarui and Fuwa and was barring his way home.

Katsuie had only just decided that he would attack Hideyoshi, but now the situatior had been reversed, and he found the path home as dangerous as thin ice. To get to Echizen Katsuie had to pass Nagahama, and his antagonist had already returned there. Would Hideyoshi let him pass through without challenging him?

When Katsuie had left Kiyosu, his generals had advised him to take a more round-about route, through Takigawa Kazumasu's province in Ise. But if he had done so, the world would certainly have believed he was afraid of Hideyoshi—a loss of face that Katsuie would have been unable to bear. As they entered Mino, however, the central question persisted with every step.

Reports of troop movements in the mountains ahead forced Katsuie to halt his army's advance and arrange its units into battle formation until the reports could be verified.

A rumor was then reported that units under Hideyoshi's command had been sighted in the area of Fuwa, and as Katsuie and his field staff sat on their horses, their hair stood on end. Trying to imagine the numbers and strategy of the enemy waiting in their path they were overcome by feelings as black as ink.