Now he was back in Himeji Castle, having arrived exactly at midnight on New Year's Day. If he had faltered for a moment and wasted time by thinking about his wife and mother in Nagahama, he would have been unable to fight with the desperation of a man who expects to meet his death in battle. He would have been pressed by the power of the Mori in the west and watched the Akechi grow stronger in the east.

In the case of both the individual and the entire country, the border between rising and falling is always a wager based on life or death—life in the midst of death, death in the midst of life.

Hideyoshi, however, had not returned to rest. As soon as he entered the main citadel, and even before changing from his traveling clothes, he met with the officials of the castle. He listened attentively to the report on subsequent events in the west and the situation in his various estates.

It was the second half of the Hour of the Rat—midnight. Although unconcerned about their own exhaustion, Hideyoshi's retainers were worried that perhaps the strain might begin to affect their lord's health.

"Your honored mother and Lady Nene have been waiting for you since this evening. Why don't you go inside and show them how well you are?" Hideyoshi's brother-in-law Miyoshi suggested. As he walked on inside, he found his mother, wife, nieces, and sisters-in-law waiting for him. Though they had not slept at all, they greeted him in a line, kneel­ing with their hands to the floor. Hideyoshi passed by each of their bowed heads with sparkling eyes and a smile. Finally he stood before his old mother and said, "I have a moment of leisure this New Year's and have returned to be with you for a little while."

While he was paying his respects to his mother, Hideyoshi looked the image of what she so often called him—"that boy."

From within a large white silk hood, his mother's face beamed with a joy beyond words. "The road you have chosen was filled with extraordinary hardships," she said.

“And the last year in particular was not an easy one. But you endured everything."

“It's been colder this winter than any other year I can remember," Hideyoshi said, “but you look very well, Mother."

"They say that age is something that slips up on you, and somehow I've already gone past my seventieth year. I've lived a long life—much longer than I expected. Never did I think I would live this long."

“No, no. You have to live until you're a hundred. As you can see, I'm still a boy."

“You're going to be forty-six this New Year's," the old lady said with a laugh. "How can you say you're still a boy?"

“But, Mother, aren't you the one who's always calling me 'that boy' from morning to night?”

"That's just a habit, you know."

“Well, I hope you'll always call me that. To confess the truth, even though I keep getting older, the development of my mind just can't keep up with the years. More than that, Mother, if you weren't here I'd lose my greatest motivation and might stop growing altogether.

Miyoshi, who had appeared behind him, saw that Hideyoshi was still there, engrossed in conversation with his mother. Surprised, he said, "Haven't you taken off your traveling clothes yet, my lord?"

“Ah, Miyoshi. Why don't you sit down?"

“I'd like to, but why don't you take a bath first?"

“Yes, you're right. Lead on, Nene."

Hideyoshi was surprised at the cock's crow. He had spent most of the night talking and had only slept for a short while. At dawn, Hideyoshi put on a ceremonial hat and kimono and went to pray at the castle shrine. He then ate rice cakes and soup in Nene's room. After that he went to the main citadel. Today, the second day of the new year, the line of people who had come up to the castle to wish him New Year's greetings seemed endless.

Hideyoshi greeted each one of them, offering each a cup of sake. The well-wishers then walked by any number of groups of preceding visitors, their faces bright and cheerful  Passing through the main and west citadels, one could see that every room was filled with guests—here was a group chanting Noh verses, there was a group reciting poetry.  Even after noon, more well-wishers came before Hideyoshi.

Hideyoshi took care of all business in Himeji until the fifth, and that evening he startled his retainers by announcing that he would be leaving for Kyoto on the following day. They rushed to get things ready in time. They had thought that he would be staying in Himeji until the middle of the month, and indeed until noon Hideyoshi had showed no inclination to leave at all.

It was only much later that people understood the motives behind his actions. Hideyoshi moved quickly and never lost an opportunity.

Seki Morinobu commanded Kameyama Castle in Ise. Although nominally one of Nobutaka's retainers, he was now on friendly terms with Hideyoshi. During the holidays,

Seki came to Himeji in secret to offer his congratulations for the New Year.

As he was congratulating Hideyoshi, a messenger arrived from Ise. Seki's castle had been seized by Nobutaka's leading supporter, Takigawa Kazumasu.

Hideyoshi left Himeji without a moment's delay. He reached Takaradera Castle that evening, entered Kyoto on the seventh, arrived at Azuchi on the following day, and had an audience with the three-year-old Samboshi on the ninth.

"I have just now asked Lord Samboshi for permission to subdue Takigawa Kazumasu," Hideyoshi said to Seki and the other lords as he walked into the hall, almost as if he had kicked a ball into their midst. "Katsuie is behind this. So what we have to do is conquer Ise before Katsuie's soldiers are able to move."

Hideyoshi issued a proclamation from Azuchi. It was circulated widely in his domains, as well as to the generals in those areas friendly to him, and called for all just war­riors to gather at Azuchi. How pitiful for the creator of the blind strategy that inspired that proclamation. There in Kitanosho, married to the beautiful Lady Oichi and sur­rounded by deep snow, Shibata Katsuie waited vainly for nature to take its course.

If only the spring sun would come and melt the snow. But the snow walls that had seemed to him an impenetrable defense were crumbling even before the advent of spring.

Katsuie was shaken by blow after blow: the fall of Gifu Castle, the revolt in Nagahama, Nobutaka's surrender. And now Hideyoshi was going to attack Ise. Katsuie felt he could neither leave nor sit still. But the snow on his borders was as deep as on the moun­tain passes of Szechuan. Neither soldiers nor military supplies would be able to cross them.

He had no need to worry about an attack from Hideyoshi. He would march forward the day that the snow melted, but who could tell when that would be? The snow seemed to have become a protective wall for the enemy.

Kazumasu is a veteran, too, Katsuie thought, but taking the little castles at Kameyama and Mine was a careless movement of soldiers without much regard for timing. That was stupid. Katsuie was furious.

Although his own strategy was riddled with faults, he criticized the actions of Takigawa Kazumasu, who had attacked too early.

But even if Kazumasu had abided by Katsuie's plans and waited for the snows to melt, Hideyoshi—who had already seen through the enemy's intentions—would not have spared them the time. In a word, Hideyoshi had outwitted Katsuie. He had seen what was in Katsuie's heart from the time the man had sent envoys for peace talks.

Katsuie was not simply going to take all that sitting down. Twice he sent out messengers: first to the ex-shogun Yoshiaki, asking him to encourage the Mori to attack from the western provinces; then to Tokugawa Ieyasu.

But on the eighteenth day of the First Month, Ieyasu, for reasons unknown, met secretly with Nobunaga's eldest son, Nobuo. Ieyasu had been professing strict neutrality, so what was his plan now? And why was a man of such cunning meeting with one entirely lacking in that quality?