At that point, the Shibata officers were no longer able to control their troops. Katsuie finally mounted his horse. Riding around the area of Kitsunezaka, he personally berated the soldiers in the separate encampments. Apparently he had come to the conclusion that it would be ineffective to let his own generals pass on the strict orders coming from headquarters.

"Anyone leaving camp for no reason will be cut down immediately," he screamed. Chase down and shoot any cowardly deserters! Anyone spreading rumors or dampening the martial spirit of the men is to be killed on the spot!"

But the situation had advanced too far, and the revival of Katsuie's severe martial spirit was in vain. Over half of his seven thousand troops had already deserted, and the remaining men hardly had their feet on the ground. In addition, they had already lost confidence in their own commander-in-chief. Reduced as he was to a position lacking in respect, even Demon Shibata's orders sounded hollow.

He rode back into his main camp, which was already under attack.

Ah, he thought, the end has come for me, too…. Seeing his dispirited army, Katsuie realized the futility of the situation. His fierce spirit, however, pushed him on relentlessly toward his own desperate death. As dawn began to break, horses and men were scattered thinly over his sparse camp.

"My lord, this way. Over here for just a moment." Two warriors held on to either side of Katsuie's armor as though they were supporting his large body. "It's not like you to be this quick-tempered." Leading him forcibly through the maelstrom of horses and men and out of the temple gate, they shouted desperately at the others, "Hurry up and bring his horse! Where is our lord's horse!"

In the meantime Katsuie himself was shouting. "I will not retreat! Who do you think I am! I'm not running away from this place!" His fierce words came with increasing vehemence. Once again he glared and yelled at the staff officers who would not leave hisSide.  “Why are you doing this? Why are you keeping me from going out to attack? While you hold me down, why aren't you attacking the enemy?"

A mount was brought up. A soldier carrying the beautiful commander's standard emblazoned with the golden emblem came and stood next to it.

“We can't stem the tide here, my lord. If you die in this place, it will be in vain. Why don’t you fall back to Kitanosho and put your thoughts into a plan for another attempt?"

Katsuie shook his head and yelled, but the men around him hastily forced his body into the saddle. The situation was urgent. Suddenly the captain of the pages, Menju Shosuke, a man who had never distinguished himself in battle, ran forward and prostrated himself in front of Katsuie's horse.

“Please, my lord! Allow me to take your commander's standard."

To ask one's lord for permission to carry the commander's standard meant that one was volunteering to make a stand in his place.

Shosuke said nothing more but remained kneeling in front of Katsuie. He displayed no particular preparedness for death, desperation, or ferocity; he looked as he usually did when he appeared before Katsuie as the captain of the pages.

“What? You want me to give you the commander's standard?"

Mounted on his horse, Katsuie stared down at Shosuke's back in amazement. The

generals around him, struck with surprise, also fixed their eyes on Shosuke. Among Katsuie's many personal attendants, few had been treated more coldly than Shosuke had been.

Katsuie, who held that kind of prejudice against Shosuke, must have known what effect it had been having better than anyone else. And yet, wasn't that very Shosuke now before Katsuie, offering to put himself in Katsuie's place?

The wind of defeat blew desolately across the camp, and it had been unbearable for Katsuie to watch his men wavering since dawn. The cowards who had quickly thrown down their weapons and deserted had not been few in number; Katsuie had looked warmly upon many of those men and had given them his favors for many years. As those thoughts came to him, Katsuie was unable to hold back his tears.

Butt whatever Katsuie was thinking, he now kicked his horse's flanks with the heels of his stirrups, and chased away the pained look in his face with a thundering roar.

“What are you talking about, Shosuke? Once you die, that's the time for me to die! Now move away!"

Shosuke scurried away from the rearing horse but grabbed its reins,

"Then let me accompany you."

Against Katsuie's will, Menju put the battlefield behind him and hurried off in the direction of Yanagase. Both the man who guarded the commander's standard and Katsuie's retainers surrounded his horse and hurried him off in the middle of their group.

But Hideyoshi's vanguard had already broken through Kitsunezaka and, ignoring the Shibata warriors standing in its defense, put their sights on the golden standard fleeing into the distance.

"That's Katsuie! Don't let him get away!" A crowd of swift-running spearmen gath-Jgether and ran in Katsuie's direction.

We'll take our leave here, my lord!" Tossing off those words of farewell, the generals fleeing with Katsuie suddenly left his side, wheeled around, and dashed into the midst of the fierce spears of the pursuing troops. Their corpses soon fell to the ground.

Menju Shosuke had also turned and faced the enemy's onslaught, but now he once again chased after his lord's horse and yelled at Katsuie from behind.

"The commander's standard… please… let me carry it!"

They were just outside of Yanagase.

Katsuie brought his horse to a halt and took the gold commander's standard from the man next to him. It held so many memories—he had raised it in his camps together with his reputation as the "Demon Shibata."

"Here, Shosuke. Take it among my warriors!"

With those words, he suddenly tossed the standard to Shosuke.

Shosuke bent forward and agilely caught it by the shaft.

He was overjoyed. Waving the standard for a moment or two, he sent his final words in the direction of Katsuie's back.

"Good-bye, my lord!"

Katsuie turned, but his horse continued galloping toward the mountainous area of Yanagase. Only ten mounted men were accompanying him.

The commander's standard had been tossed into Shosuke's hands just as he had begged, but at that moment Katsuie had also left him with the words, "Take it among my warriors!

That had been his request and it no doubt had been made in consideration of the men who were being left to their deaths along with Shosuke.

Some thirty men instantly gathered beneath the standard. Those were the only men who truly respected their own honor and who were willing to die for their lord.

Ah, there are some honorable Shibata men left, Shosuke thought, looking happily at the faces around him. "Come on! Let's show them how to die happily!"

Putting the standard into the hands of one of the warriors, he dashed out in front, hurrying west from Yanagase village toward the northern ridge of Mount Tochinoki. When the small force of not even forty men made the resolve to go forward, they manifested a spirit far more intense than that of the thousands of men on Kitsunezaka that morning.

"Katsuie has fallen back to the mountains!"

"It appears that he's made his final resolve and is prepared to die."

As might be expected, the pursuing Hideyoshi troops exhorted each other to go on.

"We'll have Katsuie's head!"

Each one fought to take the lead as they started to climb Mount Tochinoki. Flashing the golden standard on the mountaintop, the Shibata warriors watched breathlessly as the numbers of enemy warriors—who were scrambling up even in places where there was no path—increased moment by moment.

"There's still time to pass around a farewell cup of water," Shosuke said.