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It was this baron that had attacked the
palace of Nijo when Yoshiteru, the shogun, had to commit suicide, and
Shingen's object in approaching him was to sow seeds of discord
between the shogunate and Nobunaga. Most imminent of all perils,
however, was the menace of the Asai family in Omi, and the Asakura
family in Echizen. A glance at the map shows that the Asai were in a
position to sever Nobunaga's communications with his base in Mino,
and that the Asakura were in a position to cut off his communications
with Kyoto. In this perilous situation Nobunaga's sole resource lay
in Tokugawa Ieyasu and in the latter's alliance with the Uesugi,
which compact the Owari chief spared no pains to solidify. But from a
military point of view Ieyasu was incomparably weaker than Shingen.

THE STRUGGLE WITH THE ASAKURA AND THE ASAI

In 1570, Nobunaga determined to put his fortunes to a final test.
Having concentrated a large body of troops in Kyoto, he declared war
against Asakura Yoshikage, who had refused to recognize the new
shogun. Success crowned the early efforts of the Owari forces in this
war, but the whole situation was changed by Asai Nagamasa, who
suddenly marched out of Omi and threatened to attack Nobunaga's rear.
It is true that before setting out for Kyoto originally, Nobunaga had
given his sister in marriage to Nagamasa, and had thus invited the
latter's friendship. But Nagamasa had always been on terms of close
amity with Yoshikage, and, indeed, had stipulated from the outset
that Nobunaga should not make war against the latter. It cannot be
said, therefore, that Nagamasa's move constituted a surprise.
Nobunaga should have been well prepared for such contingencies. He
was not prepared, however, and the result was that he found himself
menaced by Yoshikage's army in front and by Nagamasa's in rear.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had associated himself by invitation with this
expedition into Echizen, advised Nobunaga to countermarch with all
rapidity for Kyoto, and it was so determined. Hideyoshi was left with
three thousand men to hold Yoshikage's forces in some degree of
check.

The situation at that moment was well-nigh desperate. There seemed to
be no hope for either Nobunaga or Hideyoshi. But Nobunaga was saved
by the slowness of Nagamasa, who, had he moved with any rapidity,
must have reached Kyoto in advance of Nobunaga's forces; and
Hideyoshi was saved by an exercise of the wonderful resourcefulness
which peril always awoke in this great man. Calculating that
Yoshikage's army would reach Kanagasaki Castle at nightfall,
Hideyoshi, by means of thousands of lanterns and banners gave to a
few scores of men a semblance of a numerous army. Yoshikage, who
believed that Nobunaga had retired, was visited by doubts at the
aspect of this great array, and instead of advancing to attack at
once, he decided to await the morning. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi with his
little band of troops, moved round Yoshikage's flank, and delivering
a fierce attack at midnight, completely defeated the Echizen forces.*

*See A New Life of Toyolomi Hideyoshi, by W. Dening.

This episode was, of course, not conclusive. It merely showed that so
long as Nagamasa and Yoshikage worked in combination, Nobunaga's
position in Kyoto and his communications with his base in Mino must
remain insecure. He himself would have directed his forces at once
against Nagamasa, but Hideyoshi contended that the wiser plan would
be to endeavour to win over some of the minor barons whose
strongholds lay on the confines of Omi and Mino. This was gradually
accomplished, and after an unsuccessful attempt upon the part of
Sasaki Shotei of Omi to capture a castle (Choko-ji) which was under
the command of Nobunaga's chief general, Katsuiye, the Owari forces
were put in motion against Nagamasa's principal strongholds, Otani
and Yoko-yama. The former was attacked first, Nobunaga being assisted
by a contingent of five thousand men under the command of Ieyasu.
Three days of repeated assaults failed to reduce the castle, and
during that interval Nagamasa and Yoshikage were able to enter the
field at the head of a force which greatly outnumbered the Owari
army.

In midsummer, 1570, there was fought, on the banks of the Ane-gawa,
one of the great battles of Japanese history. It resulted in the
complete discomfiture of the Echizen chieftains. The records say that
three thousand of their followers were killed and that among them
were ten general officers. The castle of Otani, however, remained in
Nagamasa's hands. Nobunaga now retired to his headquarters in Gifu to
rest his forces.

But he was quickly summoned again to the field by a revolt on the
part of the Buddhist priests in the province of Settsu, under the
banner of Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and Saito Tatsuoki. Nobunaga's attempt
to quell this insurrection was unsuccessful, and immediately Nagamasa
and Yoshikage seized the occasion to march upon Kyoto. The priests of
Hiei-zan received them with open arms, and they occupied on the
monastery's commanding site, a position well-nigh impregnable, from
which they constantly menaced the capital. It was now the
commencement of winter. For the invading troops to hold their own
upon Hiei-zan throughout the winter would have been even more
difficult than for Nobunaga's army to cut off their avenues of
retreat and supply.

In these circumstances peace presented itself to both sides as the
most feasible plan, and the forces of Nagamasa and Yoshikage were
allowed to march away unmolested to Omi and Echizen, respectively.
This result was intensely mortifying to Hideyoshi, who had devoted
his whole energies to the destruction of these dangerous enemies. But
the final issue was only postponed. By contrivances, which need not
be related in detail, Nagamasa was again induced to take the field,
and, in 1573, the Owari forces found themselves once more confronted
by the allied armies of Echizen and Omi. By clever strategy the
Echizen baron was induced to take the fatal step of separating
himself from his Omi colleague, and at Tone-yama he sustained a
crushing defeat, leaving two thousand of his men and twenty-three of
his captains dead upon the field. He himself fled and for a time
remained concealed, but ultimately, being closely menaced with
capture, he committed suicide. Meanwhile, Nagamasa had withdrawn to
his stronghold of Otani, where he was besieged by Nobunaga. The
castle ultimately fell, Nagamasa and his son dying by their own
hands.

This year witnessed also the death of Takeda Shingen, and thus
Nobunaga not only established his sway over the whole of the
provinces of Omi and Echizen but also was relieved from the constant
menace of a formidable attack by a captain to whom public opinion
justly attributed the leading place among Japanese strategists. The
whole of Nagamasa's estates, yielding an annual return of 180,000
koku, was given to Hideyoshi, and he was ordered to assume the
command of Otani Castle, whence, however, he moved shortly afterwards
to Nagahama.

HIEI-ZAN

It was now possible for Nobunaga to devote his entire attention to
the soldier-priests who had allied themselves with his enemies. It
has been shown that the monastery of Hiei-zan had afforded shelter
and sustenance to the forces of Echizen and Omi during the winter of
1570-1571, and it has been shown also that Nobunaga, underrating the
strength of the priests in the province of Settsu, sustained defeat
at their hands. He now (1574) sent an army to hold the soldier-monks
of Settsu in check while he himself dealt with Hiei-zan. This great
monastery, as already shown, was erected in the ninth century in
obedience to the Buddhist superstition that the northeastern quarter
of the heavens is the "Demon's Gate," and that a temple must be
erected there to afford security against evil influences. The temple
on Hiei-zan had received the munificent patronage of monarch after
monarch, and had grown to be a huge monastery, containing some three
thousand priests. This miniature city completely commanded Kyoto, and
was guarded in front by a great lake. But, above all, it was
sanctified by the superstition of the people, and when Nobunaga
invested it, he found the greatest reluctance on the part of his
generals to proceed to extremities. Nevertheless, he overcame these
scruples, and drawing a cordon of troops round the great monastery,
he applied the torch to the buildings, burnt to death nearly all its
inmates, including women, confiscated its estates, and built, for
purposes of future prevention, a castle at Sakamoto, which was placed
under the command of Akechi Mitsuhide. When, in after years, this
same Mitsuhide treacherously compassed Nobunaga's death, men said
that the opening of the Demon's Gate had entailed its due penalty.

OTHER PRIESTLY DISTURBANCES

It was not in Settsu and at Hiei-zan only that the Buddhist soldiers
turned their weapons against Nobunaga. The Asai sept received
assistance from no less than ten temples in Omi; the Asakura family
had the ranks of its soldiers recruited from monasteries in Echizen
and Kaga; the Saito clan received aid from the bonzes in Izumi and
Iga, and the priests of the great temple Hongwan-ji in Osaka were in
friendly communication with the Mori sept in the west, with the
Takeda in Kai, and with the Hojo in Sagami. In fact, the difficulties
encountered by Nobunaga in his attempts to bring the whole empire
under the affective sway of the Throne were incalculably accentuated
by the hostility of the great Shin sect of Buddhism. He dealt
effectually with all except the monastery at Ishi-yama in Osaka. The
immense natural strength of the position and the strategical ability
of its lord-abbot, Kosa, enabled it to defy all the assaults of the
Owari chief, and it was not until 1588--six years after Nobunaga's
death--that, through the intervention of the Emperor, peace was
finally restored. After eleven years of almost incessant struggle,
his Majesty's envoy, Konoe Sakihisa, succeeded in inducing the Ikko
priests to lay down their arms. It will be presently seen that the
inveterate hostility shown by the Buddhists to Nobunaga was largely
responsible for his favourable attitude towards Christianity.

THE CASTLE OF AZUCHI

The lightness and flimsiness of construction in Japanese houses has
been noted already several times.