Taiko. Part 100

"This is Okame Valley, my lord."

Speckles of moonlight spilling through the branches fell on Tatewaki and the men who followed behind.

"Do you plan on crossing to the north of Momoyama and then coming out to the Kanshu Temple Road from Ogurusu?" Mitsuhide asked.

"That's right. If we pursue this course and get close to Yamashina and Otsu before it gets light, we won't have to worry."

Shinshi Sakuzaemon suddenly stopped his horse a little in front of Mitsuhide's and signaled them to be quiet. Mitsuhide and the hors.e.m.e.n following him also stopped. Without so much as a whisper, they watched Akechi Shigetomo and Murakoshi Sanjuro as they walked ahead as scouts. The two riders had stopped their horses next to a stream and signaled for the men behind them to wait. They stood there for some time, listening.

Was it an enemy ambush?

Finally, a look of relief appeared on their faces. Following the signals of the two men motioning ahead of them, they once again quietly moved forward. Both the moon and the clouds appeared to be hanging in the middle of the midnight sky. But no matter how stealthily they advanced, when the horses started up the slope, they kicked up stones or stepped on rotten wood, and even the echoes of such little sounds awakened the sleeping birds. Each time it happened, Mitsuhide and his followers quickly restrained their horses.

After their horrible defeat, they had fled to Shoryuji Castle and rested. Later they had disussed what was to be done, but in the end, the only possible plan was to retreat to Sakamoto. All of his retainers had prevailed on Mitsuhide to be patient. Leaving Miyake Tobei in charge of the castle, Mitsuhide slipped out at dusk.

The force that followed him right up to the time he left Shoryuji still numbered about four or five hundred men. But by the time they entered the village of Fushimi, most of them had deserted. The few who remained were his most trusted retainers, and they numbered only thirteen men.

"A great number of us would only stand out to the enemy, and anyone who hasn't resolved to accompany our lord in either life or death would only be a hindrance. Lord Mitsuharu is in Sakamoto along with three thousand troops. All I care about is getting there safely. I pray to the G.o.ds to help our poor lord."

The loyal retainers who remained comforted each other in this way.

Although the area was hilly, it had no really steep places. The moon was visible, but because of the rain, the ground beneath the trees was muddy, and the road was dotted with puddles.

In addition, Mitsuhide and his retainers were exhausted. They were already close to Yamashina, and if they could only get to Otsu, they would be safe. That was how they encouraged each other, but to the tired men themselves it seemed more like a hundred leagues.

"We've entered a village."

"This must be Ogurusu. Go quietly."

Thickly thatched mountain huts could be seen here and there. Mitsuhide's followers would have liked to avoid such human habitations as much as possible, but the road led between the houses. Fortunately, not a light was showing. The houses were surrounded by large bamboo thickets under a white moon, and all indications were that everyone was deeply asleep, completely unaware of the world's confusion.

With narrowed eyes that pierced the darkness, Akechi Shigetomo and Murakoshi Sanjuro scouted far ahead, riding along the narrow village road without mishap. Stopping where the road wound around a bamboo thicket, they waited for Mitsuhide and his group.

The figures of the two men, and the reflection of their spears, could be clearly seen from the shadows of the trees that stood fifty yards ahead.

The sound of bamboo being trampled and the grunt of a wild animal suddenly exploded from the darkness.

Tatewaki, who was leading his horse ahead of Mitsuhide, instinctively looked behind. Darkness lined the brushwood hedge of a hut covered by the gloom of the bamboo thicket. Some twenty yards behind, Mitsuhide's silhouette stood out as if he had been nailed to the spot.

"My lord," Tatewaki called.

There was no answer. The clumps of young bamboo swayed in a windless sky.

Tatewaki was about to turn back, when Mitsuhide suddenly spurred his horse forward and pa.s.sed in front of him without a word. He was slumped over the horse's neck. Tatewaki thought it strange, but nevertheless followed along behind, as did the others.

They galloped along the road in this manner without incident for about three hundred yards. After joining up again with the two scouts, the thirteen men continued to advance, with Mitsuhide riding sixth from the front.

Suddenly, Murakoshi's horse reared up. In that instant, his drawn sword swept by the left of his saddle.

A loud clanging sound rang out as the sword cut the sharpened tip of a bambo spear. The hands that held the spear quickly disappeared into the bamboo thicket, but the others had clearly seen what had happened.

"What was that? Bandits?"

"It must be. Watch out, they seem to be somewhere inside this big bamboo thicket."

"Murakoshi, are you all right?"

"What, you think I'm going to be hurt by the bamboo spear of some wandering thief?"

"Don't be distracted! Just hurry along. Distractions will be nothing but trouble."

"What about His Lordship?"

All of them turned around.

"Look, over there!

Suddenly they all turned pale. About a hundred paces in front of them, Mitsuhide had fallen from his horse. Worse, he was writhing on the ground, groaning in agony, and looked as though he was unable to stand up again.

"My lord!"

Shigetomo and Tatewaki dismounted, ran up to him, and tried to lift him back into the saddle. Mitsuhide no longer seemed to have the will to ride. He simply shook his head.

"What's happened to you, my lord?" Completely forgetting themselves, the other men crowded around in the dark. The groans of the suffering Mitsuhide and the sighs of the men filled the air. Just at that moment, the moon shone with special clarity.

Suddenly the undisguised footsteps and screams of the bandits came clamoring noisily out of the darkness of the bamboo thicket.

"It looks like the accomplices of the man with the bamboo spear are coming up at us from behind. It's the nature of these marauders to try to take advantage of any show of weakness. Sanjuro and Yojiro, take care of them."

At Shigetomo's words, the men split up. A spear was quickly positioned and swords drawn.

"d.a.m.n you!" With a thunderous yell, someone leaped into the bamboo thicket. A sound like a rain of leaves, or perhaps a pack of monkeys, split the silence of the night.

"Shigetomo... Shigetomo..." Mitsuhide whispered.

"I'm here, my lord."

"Ah... Shigetomo," Mitsuhide said again. He then groped around as though searching for the arms that were supporting him.

Blood was spurting from the side of his chest, his vision was fading, and he was finding it difficult to speak.

"I'm going to bind your wound and give you some medicine, so be patient for just a little while."

Mitsuhide shook his head to show that binding the wound would be unnecessary. Then his hands moved as though they were searching for something.

"What is it, my lord?"

"A brush..."

Shigetomo hurriedly took out paper and ink and a brush. Mitsuhide took the brush with shaking fingers and looked at the white paper. Shigetomo knew that he would be writing his death poem and began to feel a choking sensation in his chest. He could hardly stand to see Mitsuhide writing such a thing now and in this place, and in his attachment to what he felt was his lord's greater destiny, he said, "Don't take up your brush now, my lord. Otsu is hardly a breath away, and if we can just find our way there, you'll welcomed by Lord Mitsuharu. Let me bandage up this wound."

As Shigetomo put the paper on the ground and began to untie his own sash, Mitsuhide suddenly waved his hand with surprising strength. Then, with his left hand, he lifted himself off the ground. Stretching out his right hand, he grasped the brush with almost crushing strength and started to write: There are not two gates: loyalty and treason.

But his hand shook so much that he seemed to be unable to write the next line. Mitsuhide pa.s.sed the brush to Shigetomo. "You write the rest."

Leaning on Shigetomo's lap, Mitsuhide turned his head toward the sky and gazed at the moon for a little while. When the color of death even paler than the moon had filled his face, he spoke with a voice surprisingly free of confusion and finished the verse.

The Great Way penetrates the font of the heart.

Waking from the dream of fifty-five years, I return to the One.

Shigetomo put down the brush and began to weep. Just at that moment, Mitsuhide drew his short sword and cut his own throat. Sakuzaemon and Tatewaki ran back in shock and saw what had happened. Approaching the dead body of their lord, each man fell on his own blade. Another four men, then six, then eight surrounded Mitsuhide's body in the same way and followed him in death. In no time at all, their lifeless bodies formed the petals and heart of a flower of blood on the ground.

Yojiro had dashed into the bamboo thicket to fight with the bandits. Murakoshi called out into the darkness, worried that he might already have been cut down.

"Yojiro, come back! Yojiro! Yojiro!"

But regardless of the number of times he called, Yojiro did not come back again. Murakoshi had also received a number of wounds. When he was somehow able to crawl out through the bamboo stand, he saw the silhouette of a man pa.s.sing right by him.

"Ah! Lord Shigetomo."

"Sanjuro?"

"How is His Lordship?"

"He has breathed his last."

"No!" Sanjuro was surprised. "Where?"

"He is right here, Sanjuro." Shigetomo indicated Mitsuhide's head, which he had wrapped in a cloth and attached to his saddle. He looked away sadly.

Sanjuro leaped with a violent force toward the horse. As he seized Mitsuhide's head he raised a long, wailing cry. At length he asked, "What were his last words?"

"He recited a verse that began 'There are not two gates: loyalty and treason.'"

"He said that?"

"Even though he attacked n.o.bunaga, his action could not be questioned as a matter of loyalty or treason. Both he and n.o.bunaga were samurai, and they served the same Emperor. When he finally woke from fifty-five years of a dream, he found that even he was not someone who could escape from the world's blame and praise. After saying these words, he killed himself."

"I understand." Murakoshi was sobbing convulsively, wiping the tears from his face with his fist. "He neither listened to Lord Toshimitsu's admonishments nor refused to fight a decisive battle at Yamazaki on disadvantageous ground with a small army, because he depended on that Great Way. In that light, retreating from Yamazaki would have amounted to abandoning Kyoto. When I realize what was in his heart, I can't stop crying."

"No, even though he was defeated, he never abandoned the Way, and doubtless died with that long-cherished ambition. He showed his last verse to heaven. But you know, if we waste time here, those brigands will probably come back and attack again."

"Right."

"I was unable to take care of everything here by myself. I have left our lord's corpse without the head. Would you bury it so no one will find it?"

"What about the others?"

"They all gathered around his body and died bravely."

"After I've carried out your orders, I'll find some place to die too."

"I'm taking his head to give to Lord Mitsutada at the Chionin Temple. I'll think about disposing of myself after that. Well, good-bye then."

"Good-bye."

The two men went separate ways on the narrow path through the bamboo grove. The speckles of light scattered by the moon were lovely to behold.

Shoryuji Castle fell that night. It happened just as Mitsuhide was dying in Ogurusu. The generals Nakagawa Sebei, Takayama Ukon, Ikeda Shonyu, and Hori Kyutaro all moved their command posts there. Lighting a huge bonfire, they lined their camp stools outside the castle gate and waited for n.o.butaka and Hideyoshi to arrive. n.o.butaka soon stood before them.

To have taken the castle was a resplendent victory. Both soldiers and officers straightened their banners and looked up at n.o.butaka with great reverence. As n.o.butaka dismounted and pa.s.sed through the ranks of the army, he nodded to the men with a friendly expression. He was almost overly polite to the generals, greeting them respectfully and showing his grat.i.tude.

Taking Sebei's hand, he said with special affection, "It is due to your loyalty and courage that the Akechi were crushed in a single day's battle. My father's soul has been appeased, and I will not forget this."

He gave the same praise to Takayama Ukon and Ikeda Shonyu. Arriving a little later, however, Hideyoshi said nothing at all to those men. As he rode by them in his palanquin, he even appeared to be looking down on them.

Sebei was a man of unequaled ferocity, even in the midst of rough warriors, and it is likely that he felt offended by Hideyoshi's behavior. He cleared his throat loud enough to be heard. Hideyoshi glanced out from inside the palanquin and pa.s.sed on with a parting remark.

"Good work, Sebei."

Sebei stamped his feet in anger. "Even Lord n.o.butaka was civil enough to dismount for us, but this man is so arrogant that he goes right by in his palanquin. Maybe Monkey thinks he's already running the country," he said, loudly enough so that everyone around him could hear, but beyond that he could do nothing.

Ikeda Shonyu, Takayama Ukon, and the others held the same rank as Hideyoshi, but at some point Hideyoshi had started treating them as though they were his subordinates They, too, had steadily come to feel that they were somehow under Hideyoshi's command. To be sure, that was not a pleasant feeling for any of them, but no one had protested.

Even on entering the castle, Hideyoshi simply gave a quick glance to the burned-out ruins of the building and gave no thought to resting. Ordering that a curtained enclosure be set up in the garden, he placed his camp stool next to n.o.butaka's, quickly summoned the generals, and began giving out orders.

"Kyutaro, lead an army to the village of Yamashina and push on toward Awadaguchi.

Your objective is to come out at Otsu and cut off the road pa.s.sage between Azuchi and Sakamoto." Then he turned to Sebei and Ukon. "You should hurry down the Tamba Road as quickly as possible. It appears that many of the enemy have fled toward Tamba and we don't want to give them time to get to Kameyama Castle and make preparations. If we're slow here, we're likely to lose even more time. If you can reach Kameyama by midday tomorrow, it should fall without much trouble."

Some, then, were sent hurrying to Toba and the area of Shichijo, while others were to advance to the vicinities of Yoshida and Shirakawa. The instructions were highly explicit and n.o.butaka only sat to the side as they were being given. In the eyes of all the generals, Hideyoshi's att.i.tude was nothing less than presumptuous.

Nevertheless, even Sebei, who had at first opened his mouth in anger, meekly accepted his orders like the others. Finally they distributed provisions to the soldiers for the first time since morning, ladled out some sake, filled their stomachs, and once again started off for the next battlefield.

Hideyoshi understood that there was a time and place for making people yield to his control, and his ploy this time had been to wait for the time when each of the generals had just won a victory. But Hideyoshi knew that his colleagues were men of matchless valor and unmanageable courage, and he was not so imprudent as to risk addressing them as subordinates by use of this ploy alone.

An army must have a leader. While n.o.butaka should have been the commander-in-chief in terms of rank, he had only recently joined the campaign, and all of the generals recognized the fact that he was lacking in both authority and resolve. That being so, there was absolutely no one left to a.s.sume leadership other than Hideyoshi.

Although not one of the generals felt disposed to submit to Hideyoshi, each one knew that no one else was acceptable to the whole group. Hideyoshi had planned this battle to be the requiem for n.o.bunaga, and he had rallied them together. So if they now complained about his handling of them as subordinates, they would only have exposed themselves to the accusation of self-interest.

The generals had no time for rest but were to set off at once for the new battlefields to which they had been ordered. As they stood up together to depart, Hideyoshi remained in the commander's seat and gestured to each man with his chin.

Hideyoshi stayed at the Mii Temple, and on the night of the fourteenth there was another huge thunderstorm. The smoldering embers of Sakamoto Castle were extinguished, and all night long, pale white lightning flashed over the ink-colored lake and Shimeigatake.

With the dawn, however, the heavens were wiped clean and the hot summer sky appeared once again. From the main camp at the Mii Temple, a thick yellow smoke could be seen rising from the eastern bank of the lake in the direction of Azuchi.