In almost the worst period of the Ashikaga anarchy, A.D. 1542, the
Portuguese made their first appearance in Japan. Galvano, who had been
governor of the Moluccas, gives an account of this first visit, when three
fugitives from a Portuguese vessel in a Chinese junk were driven upon the
islands of southern Japan. Concerning the doings(139) of these fugitives
we have no account in any foreign narratives.
But Fernam Mendez Pinto,(140) in his travels, etc., gives a detailed
narrative of the visit which he and his companions made a few years later
in a ship with a Chinese captain and merchandise. The exact year cannot be
ascertained from Pinto’s narrative, but Hildreth(141) assumes that it
could not have been earlier than A.D. 1545. Pinto landed on Tane-ga-shima,
an island south of the extreme southern point of the island of Kyūshū.
They were received with great cordiality by the prince, who evinced the
utmost curiosity concerning the Portuguese who were on this ship. Pinto
naïvely confesses that “we rendered him answers as might rather fit his
humor than agree with the truth, ... that so we might not derogate from
the great opinion he had conceived of our country.”(142)
As a return for some of the kindnesses which the prince showed them, the
Portuguese gave him a _harquebuse_, and explained to him the method of
making powder. The present seems to have been most acceptable, and Pinto
declares the armorers commenced at once to make imitations of it, “so that
before their departure (which was five months and a half after) there were
six hundred of them made in the country.” And a few years later he was
assured that there were above thirty thousand in the city of Fucheo,(143)
the capital of Bungo, and above three hundred thousand in the whole
province. And so they have increased from this one _harquebuse_ which they
gave to the prince of Tane-ga-shima, until every hamlet and city in the
empire in a short time were supplied with them.(144)
A short time after their reception at Tane-ga-shima the Prince of Bungo,
who was a relative of the Prince of Tane-ga-shima, sent for one of the
Portuguese, and Pinto, by his own consent, was selected as being of a
“more lively humor.” He was received with great consideration, and proved
himself of vast service in curing the prince of gout, with which he was
affected. His success in this cure gave him immense repute, and he was
initiated into all the gayeties and sports of the prince’s court. In
particular he amused and interested them all by firing the matchlock which
he had brought with him. A son of the prince of about sixteen or seventeen
years of age was infatuated with this sport, and one day, unknown to
Pinto, he undertook to load and fire the matchlock, as he had seen the
foreigner do. An explosion occurred, by which the young prince was much
injured, and owing to this Pinto came near being put to death for having
wrought this disaster. But the young prince had more sense than the
attendants, and at his request Pinto was given a chance to bind up the
wounds and take care of him. The result was that the young prince quickly
recovered, and the fame of this cure was spread everywhere. “So that,”
says Pinto, “after this sort I received in recompense of this my cure
above fifteen hundred ducats that I carried with me from this place.”
Pinto made a second visit to Japan in the interests of trade in 1547,
which was attended by a circumstance which had far-reaching results. In
critical circumstances they were called upon to take off two fugitives who
appealed to them from the shore. A company of men on horseback demanded
the return of the fugitives, but without answer they pulled off to the
ship and took them aboard. The principal of these two fugitives(145) was
Anjiro, whom the Jesuits usually name Anger, and his companion was his
servant. They were taken in the Portuguese vessel to Malacca, where Pinto
met Father Francis Xavier, who had just arrived upon his mission to the
East. Xavier became intensely interested in these Japanese fugitives, and
took them to Goa, then the principal seat of Jesuit learning and the seat
of an archbishopric in the East Indies. Here both the Japanese became
converts and were baptized, Anjiro receiving the name of Paulo de Santa
Fé(146) (Paul of the Holy Faith), and his companion the name of John. They
learned to speak and write the Portuguese language, and were instructed in
the elements of the Christian religion. With these efficient helps Xavier
was ready to enter Japan and commence the evangelization on which his
heart had long been set.
At last arrangements were made with a Chinese vessel, which according to
Pinto’s account was a piratical craft, to convey Xavier and his companions
to Japan. They arrived at Kagoshima, the capital of the province of
Satsuma, August 15, A.D. 1549. Besides Xavier and his Japanese companions
there were Cosme de Torres, a priest, and Jean Ferdinand, a brother of the
Society of Jesus. They were cordially received by the Prince of Satsuma,
and after a little, permission was given them to preach the Christian
religion in the city of Kagoshima. The family and relatives of Anjiro, who
lived in Kagoshima, were converted and became the first fruits of the
mission. In the letters which Xavier wrote home about this time we have
his early impressions concerning the Japanese. The princess took great
interest in the subjects discussed by Anjiro, and was especially struck
with a picture of the Madonna and child which he showed her. She asked to
have the heads of the Christian faith put in writing in order that she
might study them. For this reason a creed and a catechism were prepared
and translated into the Japanese language, for the use of the princess and
other enquirers. In one of his early letters he says: “I really think that
among barbarous nations there can be none that has more natural goodness
than Japan.”(147) In the same letter he says: “They are wonderfully
inclined to see all that is good and honest and have an eagerness to
learn.” Xavier, in letter 79, narrates his meeting with the Buddhist
priest whom he calls Ningh-Sit, which name he says means Heart of Truth.
This priest was eighty years old, and in the conversation expressed great
surprise that Xavier should have come all the way from Portugal to preach
to the Japanese.
The biographers of Xavier have given us the fullest details of his life
and works. That he was a man of the most fervent piety as well as the most
conspicuous ability, is apparent from the energy and success with which he
conducted his short but brilliant mission. Both in their accounts of him,
as well as in the papal bull announcing his canonization, the claim is
distinctly set forth of his possession of miraculous power. He is
represented as having raised a Japanese girl from the dead; as possessing
the gift of tongues, that is, as being able to speak in fluent Japanese,
although he had not learned the language; as having given an answer which
when heard was a satisfactory reply to the most various and different
questions,(148) such as, “the immortality of the soul, the motions of the
heavens, the eclipses of the sun and moon, the colors of the rainbow, sin
and grace, heaven and hell.”
[Illustration]
St. Francis Xavier.
Yet it must be stated that Xavier himself does not claim these miraculous
powers. Indeed among the letters published by Father Horace Tursellini is
one in which he thus speaks of himself: “God grant that as soon as
possible we may learn the language of Japan in order to make known the
divine mysteries; then we shall zealously prosecute our Christian work.
For they speak and discourse much about us, but we are silent, ignorant of
the language of the country. At present we are become a child again to
learn the elements of the language.”
The desire for trade with the Portuguese seems to have been a principal
reason for the ready reception of the missionaries. And when the
Portuguese merchant ships resorted to Hirado, an island off the west coast
of Kyūshū, instead of the less accessible Kagoshima, the Prince of
Kagoshima turned against the missionaries and forbade them from preaching
and proselyting. From Kagoshima Xavier went to Hirado, where he was
received with a salvo of artillery from a Portuguese vessel then at anchor
there. Here he made a short stay, preaching the gospel as usual and with
the approval of the prince establishing a church. Leaving Kosmé de Torres
at Hirado and taking with him Fernandez and the two Japanese assistants he
touched at Hakata, famous as the place where the Mongol invaders were
repulsed. Then he crossed over to the Main island and travelling by land
along the Sanyōdō he entered Yamaguchi in the province of Nagato. His
humble and forlorn appearance did not produce a favorable impression on
the people of this city and he was driven out with obloquy. He set out for
Kyōto with a party of Japanese merchants, and as it was winter and Xavier
had to carry; on his back a box containing the vestments and vessels for
the celebration of mass, the journey was trying and difficult. He arrived
at Kyōto A.D. 1550 in the midst of great political troubles. A fire had
destroyed a great part of what had been once a beautiful and luxurious
city. Many of the principal citizens had abandoned it and taken up their
residence with local princes in the provinces. Xavier could obtain a
hearing neither from the emperor nor from the Ashikaga shōguns, who
maintained a representative in the capital at this time. He preached in
the street as he could obtain opportunity. But the atmosphere was
everywhere unfavorable, and he resolved to abandon the field for the
present. Accordingly he went back to Bungo, whence he sailed for China
November 20, A.D. 1551, with the purpose of establishing a mission. He had
spent two years and three months in Japan and left an impression which has
never been effaced. He died on his way, at the little island of Sancian,
December 2, A.D. 1552, aged forty-six. His body was carried to Malacca and
afterward to Goa, where it was buried in the archiepiscopal
cathedral.(149)
The departure and death of Xavier did not interrupt the work of the
mission in Japan. Kosmé de Torres was left in charge and additional
helpers, both priests and lay brothers, were sent to prosecute what had
been so conspicuously begun. The political disturbances in Yamaguchi for a
time interfered with the labors of the missionaries there. Bungo was the
principal province where their encouragement had made their success most
conspicuous. The prince had not indeed been baptized but he had permitted
the fathers to preach and he had allowed converts to adopt the new
religion, so that the work had assumed a promising appearance. The Prince
of Ōmura became a convert and by his zeal in the destruction of idols and
other extreme measures aroused the hostility of the Buddhist priesthood.
In Kyōto the progress of the work encountered many vicissitudes. The
political troubles arising out of the contests between Mōri of Chōshū and
the rival house interfered with the propagation of Christianity both in
Yamaguchi and Kyōto. Mōri himself, the most powerful prince of his time
and who once held the control in ten provinces, was hostile to the
Christians. By his influence the work in Kyōto was temporarily abandoned
and the fathers resorted to Sakai, a seaport town not far from Ōsaka,
where a branch mission was established.
It was in A.D. 1573 that Nagasaki became distinctively a Christian city.
At that time the Portuguese were seeking various ports in which they could
conduct a profitable trade, and they found that Nagasaki possessed a
harbor in which their largest ships could ride at anchor. The merchants
and Portuguese fathers therefore proposed to the Prince of Ōmura, in whose
territory the port of Nagasaki was situated, to grant to them the town
with jurisdiction over it. The prince at first refused, but finally by the
intervention of the Prince of Arima the arrangement was made.(150) The
transference to Nagasaki of the foreign trade at this early day made it a
very prosperous place. The Prince of Ōmura had the town laid out in
appropriate streets, and Christian churches were built often on the sites
of Buddhist temples which were torn down to give place for them. It is
said that in A.D. 1567 “there was hardly a person who was not a
Christian.”
We shall have occasion often in the subsequent narrative to refer to the
progress of Christianity in the empire. In the meantime we must trace the
career of Nobunaga, who exerted a powerful effect on the affairs of his
country and particularly upon the condition of both Buddhism and
Christianity. He must be regarded always as one of the great men of Japan
who at an opportune moment intervened to rescue its affairs from anarchy.
He prepared the way for Hideyoshi and he, in turn, made it possible for
Ieyasu to establish a peace which lasted without serious interruption for
two hundred and fifty years.
Ota Nobunaga was descended from the Taira family through Ota Chikazane, a
great-grandson of Taira Kiyomori. The father of Chikazane had perished in
the wars between the Taira and Minamoto families, and his mother had
married as her second husband the chief man in the village of Tsuda in the
province of Ōmi. The step-child was adopted by a Shintō priest of the
village of Ota in the province of Echizen, and received the name of Ota
Chikazane. When he grew up, he became a Shintō priest and married and
became the father of a line of priests. One of this succession was Ota
Nobuhide, who seems to have reverted from the priestly character back to
the warlike habits of his ancestors. In the general scramble for land,
which characterized that period, Nobuhide acquired by force of arms
considerable possessions in the province of Owari, which at his death in
A.D. 1549 he left to his son Ota Nobunaga. This son grew up to be a man of
large stature, but slender and delicate in frame. He was brave beyond the
usual reckless bravery of his countrymen. He was by character and training
fitted for command, and in the multifarious career of his busy life, in
expeditions, battles, and sieges, he showed himself the consummate
general. Like many other men of genius he was not equally as skilful in
civil as military affairs. He was ambitious to reduce the disorders of his
country, and he was able to see in a great measure the success of his
schemes. But he failed in leaving when he died any security for the
preservation and continuance of that peace and unity which he had
conquered.
At the time Nobunaga became prominent, the Emperor Go-Nara had died and
Ōgimachi in A.D. 1560 had just succeeded to the throne as the one hundred
and fifth emperor. Ashikaga Yoshifusa had become shōgun in A.D. 1547 as a
boy eleven years old, and was at this time a young man, who as usual
devoted himself to pleasure while the affairs of government were conducted
by others. Both emperor and shōgun were almost powerless in the empire,
the real power being held by the local princes. In many cases they had
largely increased their holdings by conquest, and were almost entirely
independent of the central authority. For more than a century this
independence had been growing, and at the time of Nobunaga there was
little pretence of deferring to the shōgun in any matter growing out of
the relations of one prince to the other, and none at all in reference to
the internal government of the territories within their jurisdiction. The
principal local rulers at this time were the following: Imagaya Yoshimoto
controlled the three provinces of Suruga, Tōtōmi, and Mikawa; Hōjō Ujiyasu
from the town of Odowara ruled the Kwanto, including the provinces of
Sagami, Musashi, Awa, Kazusa, Shimosa, Hitachi, Kōtsuke, and Shimotsuke;
Takeda Shingen ruled the province of Kai and the greater part of the
mountainous province of Shinano; Uesugi Kenshin held under his control the
northwestern provinces of Echizen, Echigo, Etchū, and Noto; Mōri Motonari
after a severe contest had obtained control of almost all the sixteen
provinces which composed the Chūgoku or central country; the island of
Kyūshū had been the scene of frequent civil wars and was now divided
between the houses of Shimazu of Satsuma, Ōtomo of Bungo, and Ryōzoji of
Hizen; and finally the island of Shikoku was under the control of
Chōsokabe Motochika.(151) Besides these principal rulers, there were many
smaller holders who occupied fiefs subordinate to the great lords, and
paid for their protection and their suzerainty in tribute and military
service. In the letters of the Jesuit missionaries of this period the
great lords are denominated _kings_, but neither according to the theory
of the Japanese government, nor the actual condition of these rulers can
the name be considered appropriate. The term daimyō(152) came into its
full and modern use only when Ieyasu reorganized and consolidated the
feudal system of the empire. But even at the period of Nobunaga the name
was employed to indicate the owners of land. We prefer to continue down to
the time of the Tokugawa shōguns the use of the terms _prince_ and
_principality_ for the semi-independent rulers and their territories.
The holdings which Ota Nobunaga inherited from his father consisted only
of four small properties in the province of Owari. Acting according to the
fashion of the times he gradually extended his authority, until by A.D.
1559 we find him supreme in Owari with his chief castle at Kiyosu near to
the city of Nagoya. His leading retainers and generals were Shibata
Genroku and Sakuma Yemon, to whom must be added Hideyoshi,(153) who
gradually and rapidly rose from obscurity to be the main reliance of his
prince. Nobunaga was a skilful general, and whenever an interval occurred
in his expeditions against his hostile neighbors he employed the time in
carefully drilling his troops, and preparing them for their next
movements. He found in Hideyoshi an incomparable strategist, whose plans,
artifices, and intrigues were original and effective, and were worth more
to his master than thousands of troops.
It was not difficult in those days to find excuses to invade neighboring
domains, and hence we find Nobunaga, as soon as he had made himself master
of Owari, on one pretext or another making himself also master of the
provinces of Mino, Ōmi, and Isé. Before this was accomplished, however, we
see plain indications both on the part of Nobunaga and his retainers that
the ultimate aim in view was the subjugation of the whole country, and the
establishment of a government like that of Yoritomo.
At this time (A.D. 1567) the affairs of the Ashikaga shōguns, who ruled in
the name of the emperor, were in a state of great confusion. Yoshiteru,
the shōgun, had been assassinated by one of his retainers, Miyoshi
Yoshitsugu. The younger brother of Yoshiteru was Yoshiaki, who desired to
succeed, but this did not comport with the designs of the assassins.
Accordingly after making several unsuccessful applications for military
aid he finally applied to Nobunaga. This was exactly the kind of alliance
that Nobunaga wanted to justify his schemes of national conquest. With his
own candidate in the office of shōgun, he could proceed without impediment
to reduce all the princes of the empire to his supreme authority. He
therefore undertook to see Yoshiaki established as shōgun, and for this
purpose marched a large army into Kyōto. Yoshiaki was installed as shōgun
in A.D. 1568, and at his suggestion the emperor conferred on Nobunaga the
title of Fuku-shōgun(154) or vice-shōgun. This was Nobunaga’s first
dealings with the imperial capital, and the presence of his large army
created a panic among the inactive and peaceful citizens.
He appointed Hideyoshi as commander-in-chief of the army at the capital,
who with a sagacity and energy that belonged to his character set himself
to inspire confidence and to overcome the prejudice which everywhere
prevailed against the new order of things. Kyōto had suffered so much from
fires and warlike attacks, and still more by poverty and neglect, that it
was now in a lamentable condition. To have somebody, therefore, with the
power and spirit to accomplish his ends, undertake to repair some of the
wastes, and put in order what had long run to ruin, was an unexpected and
agreeable surprise. The palaces of the emperor and the shōgun were
repaired and made suitable as habitations for the heads of the nation.
Streets and bridges, temples and grounds were everywhere put in order.
Kyōto for the first time in many centuries had the benefit of a good and
strong government.
It was the custom to celebrate the establishment of a new year-period with
popular rejoicings. The period called Genki was begun in December A.D.
1570 by the Emperor Ōgimachi. Nobunaga brought to Kyōto on this occasion a
very large army in order to impress on the minds of the nation his
overwhelming military power. He intended, moreover, to march his forces,
as soon as this celebration was over, against Prince Asakura Yoshikage of
the province of Echizen, who had not yet submitted himself to Nobunaga’s
authority, and who had not given in his adhesion to the new shōgun. Taking
with him Hideyoshi and all the troops that could be spared from Kyōto,
Nobunaga marched north into the domains of Yoshikage. He was aided in his
resistance by Asai Nagamasa, the governor of the castle of Itami in the
province of Ōmi. An attempt had been made by Nobunaga to conciliate
Nagamasa by giving him his sister in marriage. But Nagamasa was still
cool, and now at this critical time he turned to help Nobunaga’s enemy.
The unexpected combination came very near causing Nobunaga a disastrous
defeat. At an important battle which was fought in this short campaign, we
see together the three most noted men of their time, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi,
and Ieyasu. The last of the three was only a few years younger than
Hideyoshi, and had already shown indications of the clear and steady
character of which he afterward gave such indubitable proof. The result
was the defeat of Nobunaga’s enemies and his victorious return to the
castle of Gifu in the province of Mino.
But his way was not yet quite free from obstacles. Asakura Yoshikage and
Asai Nagamasa although defeated were not crushed, and made various efforts
to regain the advantage over Nobunaga. The most noted of these was when
Nobunaga was absent from Kyōto with troops quelling a disturbance in
Ōsaka, Asakura and Asai took advantage of the opportunity and marched a
strong force upon the city. They had proceeded as far as Hiei-zan on the
borders of Lake Biwa. This mountain was then occupied by an immense
Buddhist monastery called Enriaku-ji from the year-period when it was
established. It was said, that at this time there were as many as three
thousand buildings belonging to the monastery. The monks of this
establishment were exceedingly independent, and were so numerous and
powerful that they were able to exact whatever concessions they desired
from the government at Kyōto, from which they were only a few miles
distant. They disliked Nobunaga and his powerful government with which
they dared not take their usual liberties. Accordingly they made common
cause with Asakura and Asai and furnished them with shelter and supplies
on their march to Kyōto. But Nobunaga met them before they reached Kyōto,
and so hemmed them in that they were glad to sue for peace and get back to
their own provinces as well as they could. But on the ill-fated monastery
Nobunaga in A.D. 1571 visited a terrible revenge. He burned their
buildings, and what monks survived the slaughter he drove into banishment.
The monastery was partially restored subsequently by Ieyasu, but it was
restricted to one hundred and twenty-five buildings and never afterwards
was a political power in the country.
During these years of Nobunaga’s supremacy, the Jesuit fathers had been
pushing forward their work of proselyting and had met with marvellous
success. The action of the Buddhist priests in siding with his enemies and
the consequent aversion with which he regarded them, led Nobunaga to favor
the establishment of Christian churches. In the letters of the fathers at
this period frequent references are made to Nobunaga and of his favorable
attitude toward Christianity and their hope that he would finally become a
convert. But it is plain that the fathers did not comprehend fully the
cause for the enmity of Nobunaga to the Buddhist monks, and his political
reasons for showing favor to the Christian fathers. He remained as long as
he lived friendly to the Christian church, but made no progress towards an
avowal of his faith. Under his patronage a church was built in Kyōto, and
another at Azuchi on Lake Biwa, where he built for himself a beautiful
castle and residence. By this patronage and the zeal of the fathers the
Christian church rose to its greatest prosperity(155) during the closing
years of Nobunaga’s life. In the year A.D. 1582 a mission was sent to the
pope, consisting of representatives from the Christian princes of Bungo,
Arima, and Ōmura. This mission consisted of two young Christian princes
about sixteen years of age, accompanied by two counsellors who were of
more mature years, and by Father Valignani, a Portuguese Jesuit, and by
Father Diego de Mesquita as their preceptor and interpreter. They visited
the capitals of Portugal and Spain, which at this time were combined under
the crown of Philip II. of Spain, and were received at both with the most
impressive magnificence. They afterward visited Rome and were met by the
body-guard of the pope and escorted into the city by a long cavalcade of
Roman nobles. They were lodged in the house of the Jesuits, whence they
were conducted by an immense procession to the Vatican. The Japanese
ambassadors rode in this procession on horseback dressed in their richest
native costume. They each presented to the pope the letter(156) which they
had brought from their prince, to which the reply of the pope was read.
The presents which they had brought were also delivered, and after a
series of most magnificent entertainments, and after they had been
decorated as Knights of the Gilded Spears, they took their departure. In
the meantime Pope Gregory XIII., who had received them, a few days later
suddenly died A.D. 1585. His successor was Pope Sixtus V., who was equally
attentive to the ambassadors, and who dismissed them with briefs addressed
to their several princes.
Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, whom Nobunaga had been instrumental in
installing, became restive in the subordinate part which he was permitted
to play. He sought out the princes who still resisted Nobunaga’s supremacy
and communicated with them in reference to combining against him. He even
went so far as to fortify some of the castles near Kyōto. Nobunaga took
strenuous measures against Yoshiaki, and in A.D. 1573 deposed him. He was
the last of the Ashikaga shōguns, and with him came to an end a dynasty
which had continued from Taka-uji in A.D. 1335 for two hundred and
thirty-eight years.
Nobunaga assumed the duties which had hitherto been performed by the
shōgun, that is he issued orders and made war and formed alliances in the
name of the emperor. But he never took the name of shōgun(157) or presumed
to act in a capacity which from the time of Yoritomo had always been
filled by a member of the Minamoto family, while he was a member of the
Taira family. Whether this was the cause of his unwillingness to call
himself by this title to which he might legitimately have aspired we can
only conjecture. Of one thing we may be sure, that he was disinclined to
arouse the enmity of the ambitious princes of the empire, whose
co-operation he still needed to establish his power on an enduring basis,
by assuming a position which centuries of usage had appropriated to
another family. The emperor bestowed upon him the title of _nai-daijin_,
which at this time however was a purely honorary designation and carried
no power with it.
The Prince of Chōsū was one of the most powerful of those who had not yet
submitted to the supremacy of Nobunaga. The present prince was Mōri
Terumoto, the grandson of the Mōri Motonari who by conquest had made
himself master of a large part of the central provinces. Nobunaga
despatched Hideyoshi with the best equipped army that at that time had
ever been fitted out in Japan, to subdue the provinces lying to the west
of Kyōto. He did not overrate the ability of the general to whom he
entrusted this task. They set out in the early part of the year A.D. 1578.
Their first movement was against the strongholds of the province of
Harima, which he reduced. We for the first time find mention in this
campaign of Kuroda(158) Yoshitaka, who in the invasion of Korea was a
notable figure. His services to Hideyoshi at this time were most signal.
The campaign lasted about five years and added five provinces to
Nobunaga’s dominions. Then after a visit to Kyōto he continued his
conquests, never meeting with a defeat. The most remarkable achievement
was the capture of the castle of Takamatsu, in the province of Sanuki.
This castle was built with one side protected by the Kōbe-gawa and two
lakes lying on the other sides, so that it was impossible to approach it
by land with a large force. Hideyoshi, with the genius for strategy which
marked his character, saw that the only way to capture the fort was to
drown it out with water. He then set his troops to dam up the river below
the fortress. Gradually this was accomplished and as the water rose the
occupants of the castle became more uncomfortable. Hideyoshi understanding
his master’s character feared to accomplish this important and critical
exploit without Nobunaga’s knowledge. He therefore wrote asking him to
come without delay to his assistance. Nobunaga set out with a group of
generals, among whom was Akechi Mitsuhide, with the troops under their
command. They started from Azuchi on Lake Biwa, which was occupied as
Nobunaga’s headquarters. They were to proceed to the besieged fort by the
shortest route. Nobunaga with a small escort went by way of Kyōto,
expecting soon to follow them. He took up his temporary abode in the
temple of Honnōji. It was observed that Akechi with his troops took a
different route from the others and marched towards Kyōto. When spoken to
about his purpose he exclaimed, “My enemy is in the Honnōji.” He explained
to his captains his purpose and promised them unlimited plunder if they
assisted him. He led his troops to Kyōto and directly to the Honnōji.
Nobunaga hearing the noise looked out and at once saw who were the
traitors. He defended himself for a time, but soon saw that he was
hopelessly surrounded and cut off from help. He retired to an inner room
of the temple, set it on fire, and then calmly committed _hara-kiri_. His
body was buried in the burning and falling ruins. His death occurred in
A.D. 1582.
Thus ended the career of one of Japan’s great men. He had shown the
possibility of uniting the provinces of Japan under one strong government.
He had given to Kyōto and the provinces lying east and north of it a
period of peace and quiet under which great progress had been made in
agriculture, the arts and in literature. He was a warrior and not a
statesman, and for this reason less was done than might have been in
confirming and solidifying the reforms which his conquest had made
possible. Personally he was quick-tempered and overbearing, and often gave
offence to those who were not able to see through his rough exterior to
the true and generous heart which lay beneath. The cause of the plot
against him was probably the consequence of a familiarity with which he
sometimes treated his military subordinates. It is said that on one
occasion in his palace when he had grown somewhat over-festive he took the
head of his general Akechi(159) under his arm and with his fan played a
tune upon it, using it like a drum. Akechi was mortally offended and never
forgave the humiliating joke. His treason, which resulted in Nobunaga’s
death, was the final outcome of this bit of thoughtless horse-play.