The two men would not have been so perplexed if they could have found anything of merit in Nobuo's character, but it was clear that he was nothing more than a mediocrity. Both before and after the conference at Kiyosu, it was clear to everyone that he was not the man to grasp the reins that had fallen from Nobunaga's hands.

But unfortunately no one would tell Nobuo the truth. The good-natured young aristocrat—who had always leaned on the strength of his retainers, who had bowed and nodded approval at flatterers on every occasion, and who had been taken in by others who had manipulated him to their own advantage—had let a great moment in history pass by without even being aware of it.

Nobuo had secretly met with Ieyasu the year before and after the battle of Yanagase, had forced his brother to commit suicide on Hideyoshi's advice. More recently he had been rewarded with the provinces of Ise, Iga, and Owari for his victory in Ise and, perhaps thinking that his day was at hand, expected that Hideyoshi would next transfer the authority of the central government to him.

"But we can't just let the situation continue like this and look on like spectators. Don't you have some good ideas, Lord Shonyu?"

"No, I hoped to get some from you. You've got to think of something, Lord Gamo."

"I think the best thing would be to have Lord Nobuo meet with Lord Hideyoshi. Then he could speak frankly."

"That's an excellent idea. Well, he's been assuming an air of importance recently, so how will we go about this?"

"I'll invent some pretext."

For Nobuo, something that might have been interesting yesterday today was not. In his heart he was always discontented. Moreover, he was not the kind of man who would reflect on why that was so. The previous autumn he had moved to Nagashima Castle in his new province of Ise, and he had been granted a new court rank. When he went out the crowds bowed to him, and when he returned he was greeted by flutes and stringed instruments. There was nothing he wished for that he could not have, and that spring he Was still only twenty-six years old. The tragedy of Nobuo was that living in such enviable conditions, he was all the less satisfied.

“Ise is too provincial," he would complain. "Why is Hideyoshi building that absurdly big caste in Osaka? Is he planning on living there himself, or is he going to invite the rightful heir to do so?"

When he spoke that way, it was Nobunaga speaking in his head. It was as though he had received his father's form but not his substance. "That Hideyoshi is immodest. He's forgotten that he was my father's retainer, and now he not only taxes my father's remaining retainers and hurries to build a gigantic castle, but he treats me as though I were an encumbrance. Lately he doesn't consult with me about anything."

The silence between the two men dated from the Eleventh Month of the previous year.  Recent rumors that Hideyoshi was making plans and leaving him out of them were lough to raise his suspicions.

At the same time, Nobuo let out certain unguarded statements among his retainers, and these became public, so that his innermost thoughts became a further irritation to Hideyoshi. As a result, the New Year passed by without their exchanging greetings.

At New Year's, when Nobuo was playing kickball in the rear garden with his ladies-in-waiting and pages, a samurai announced a visitor. It was Gamo. He was two years older than Nobuo and was married to Nobuo's sister.

“Gamo? He's here just at the right time," Nobuo said, gracefully kicking the ball.  “He’ll be a good opponent. Bring him to the garden immediately."

The messenger left but quickly returned, saying, "Lord Gamo says he's in a hurry and is waitng for you in the guest room."

“What about kickball?"

“He said to tell you that he has no skill at the game."

“What a peasant!" Nobuo laughed, showing a line of elegantly blackened teeth.

A number of days after Gamo's visit, a letter arrived from Gamo and Shonyu. Nobuo had been in a very good mood, and he quickly summoned four of his elder retainers and passed on the information.

“We're going to Otsu tomorrow. They say that Hideyoshi is waiting for me at the Onjo Temple."

“Will that be safe, my lord?" one of the four elders asked.

Nobuo smiled, clearly displaying his blackened teeth.

“Hideyoshi must be troubled by the public rumors about our falling out. I'm sure that’s it.  He hasn't been dutiful to the person closest to my father."

“But what sort of arrangements have been made for this meeting?"

In his answer Nobuo sounded quite self-assured. "It's like this. A while ago, Gamo came and said that there was gossip of something unseemly between Hideyoshi and me, but Gamo assured me Hideyoshi harbors no grudge at all. He asked me to go to the Onjo Temple in Otsu and have a New Year's meeting with him. I felt there was no reason to have any animosity toward Hideyoshi and agreed to go. Both Lord Shonyu and Lord Gamo assured me that I would be quite safe."

It could be said that Nobuo's tendency to accept at face value whatever was written or spoken was the result of his upbringing. So his elder retainers were all the more inclined to be prudent, and they could not hide their misgivings.

Crowding together, they looked over Gamo's letter.

"There's no mistake," one said, "it seems to be in his handwriting."

"Nothing else can be done," another replied. "If Lord Shonyu and Lord Gamo have gone to the trouble to handle the matter this far, we should not be remiss."

And so it was decided that the four senior retainers would accompany Nobuo to Otsu.

On the following day Nobuo set out for Otsu. When he arrived at the Onjo Temple, Gamo called on him immediately, and Ikeda appeared a little later.

"Lord Hideyoshi arrived yesterday," Shonyu said. "He's waiting for you."

The place for the meeting had been prepared at Hideyoshi's lodgings, the main temple, but upon being asked politely when it would be convenient for him to meet Hideyoshi, Nobuo replied with a little display of willfulness, "I'm tired from the trip, so I'd like to rest all day tomorrow."

"Well then, we'll make arrangements for the day after tomorrow." And the two men returned to inform Hideyoshi.

No one had the leisure to spend an entire day doing nothing, but since Nobuo had said he wanted to rest, everyone spent the day in useless tedium.

Upon his arrival, Nobuo had been annoyed to find that Hideyoshi and his retainers had occupied the main buildings, while the smaller ones had been allotted to his party. In arranging the day of the meeting Nobuo had tried to be a little self-assertive and had acted on whim, but the next day he himself seemed to be greatly troubled by his own boredom, and he started to complain.

"Even my senior retainers aren't here."

Nobuo spent the day being shown the temple's treasured books of poetry and being bored to tears by the endless talk of the old priests. When evening finally came, his four senior retainers appeared in his room. "Did you have a good rest, my lord?" one of the four asked.

The fools! Nobuo was angry. He wanted to scream that he was bored and had nothing to do, but instead he replied, "Yes, thank you. Did each of you make yourself comfortable in your own lodgings?"

"There was no time to make ourselves comfortable."

"Why is that?"

"The messengers from the other clans were unending."

"There were that many visitors? Why didn't you come and tell me?"

"You said that you wanted to rest for the day, and we did not want to disturb you, my lord."

Drawing circles with his fingers and tapping his kneecaps, Nobuo looked at them with haughty disinterest.

"Well, fine. But the four of you should eat your evening meal with me. We'll have a little sake too." The senior retainers looked at each other and seemed to be embarrassed. "Is there something else that will prevent you from doing that?" Nobuo asked.