TAIKO: AN EPIC NOVEL OF WAR AND GLORY IN FEUDAL JAPAN

At the beginning of the Ninth Month, however, the command was given to depart for the front, and the gates of Yokoyama Castle were opened. From the time they left the castle until they arrived at the shore of Lake Biwa, the soldiers had no idea where they were going to fight.

There were three large ships berthed by the lake. Built over the New Year, they smelled of newly sawed timber. It was not until after the horses and men had clattered aboard that the soldiers were told that their destination would be either the Honganji or Mount Hiei.

Having crossed the autumnal face of the great lake and arriving at Sakamoto on the opposite shore, Hideyoshi's men were amazed to see that the army under Nobunaga and his generals had arrived ahead of them. In the foothills of Mount Hiei, the banners of the Oda stood as far as the eye could see.

After Nobunaga had lifted the siege of Mount Hiei and withdrawn to Gifu the previous winter, he had ordered the building of large troop ships capable of crossing the lake at a moment's notice. Now the soldiers finally understood his forethought, and the words he had spoken when he abandoned the attack on Nagashima and returned to Gifu.

The flames of rebellion that burned all over the country were merely reflections of the real fire—the root of the evil—whose source was Mount Hiei. Nobunaga was again laying siege to the mountain with a great army. His face showed new resolve, and he spoke loudly enough to be heard from the curtained enclosure of his headquarters all the way to the barracks, almost as if he were addressing the enemy.

'What! You're saying that you won't use fire because the flames might spread to the monasteries? What is war, anyway? Every one of you is a general, and you don't under­stand even that? How did you ever get this far?'

This much could be heard from the outside. Inside the enclosure, Nobunaga was sit­ting on his camp stool, surrounded by his veteran generals, all of whom were hanging their heads. Nobunaga was exactly like a father lecturing his children. Even if he was their lord, this sort of criticism was going too far. At least this was what the bitter expression on the faces of the generals indicated as they looked up, daring to look Nobunaga directly in the eye.

What were they fighting for, indeed? If they thought or worried about it, they risked their reputations by rebuking Nobunaga.

'You're being heartless, my lord. It's not that we don't understand, but when you've given us an outrageous order—to burn down Mount Hiei, a place respected for hundreds of years as holy ground dedicated to the peace and preservation of the country—as your retainers—and precisely because we are your retainers—there is all the more reason why we should not obey you,' Sakuma Nobumori said.

A do-or-die expression showed clearly on Nobumori's face. If he had not been pre­pared to die on the spot, he could not have said this to Nobunaga. Especially the way No­bunaga was looking now. Although it was always rather difficult to speak frankly to their lord, today Nobunaga resembled a demon wielding a fiery sword.

'Silence! Silence!' Nobunaga roared, quieting Takei Sekian and Akechi Mitsuhide, who were about to back up Nobumori. 'Have you not felt indignation when you watched the insurrections and this disgraceful state of affairs? Monks transgress the Laws of the Buddha, stir up the common people, store wealth and weapons, and spread rumors; under the guise of religion, they are nothing more than self-serving agitators.'

'We do not object to punishing these excesses. But it is impossible, in a single day, to reform a religion in which all men fervently believe and which has been granted special authority,' Nobumori argued.

'What good is that kind of common sense?' Nobunaga exploded. 'It's because we've had eight hundred years of common sense that no one has been able to change the situa­tion, despite people's lamenting over the church's corruption and degeneracy. Even His Majesty the Emperor Shirakawa said that there were three things over which he had no control: dice, the waters of the Kamo River, and the warrior-monks of Mount Hiei. What role in the peace and preservation of the country did this mountain play during the years of civil war? Has it given peace of mind or strength to the common people?' Nobunaga suddenly waved his right hand to the side. 'For hundreds of years, when disasters have occurred, the monks have done nothing more than protect their own privileges. With the money donated by the credulous masses, they build stone walls and gates that would befit a fortress and inside they hoard guns and spears. Worse, the monks flaunt their vows openly by eating meat and indulging in sexual intercourse. Let's not even speak of the decadence of Buddhist scholarship. Where is the sin in burning down something like that?'

Nobumori replied, 'Everything you say is true, but we must stop you, my lord.  We are not going to leave this place until we do, even if it costs us our lives.' The three men simultaneously prostrated themselves and remained motionless before Nobunaga.

Mount Hiei was the headquarters of the Tendai sect; the Honganji was the principle stronghold of the Ikko sect. Each called the other 'the other sect' in matters of doctrine, and it was only in their opposition to Nobunaga that they were united. If Nobunaga had not had a moment's rest, it was because of the schemes of the men dressed in monks' robes, living on Mount Hiei. They had plotted with the Asai and Asakura clans and the shogun, helped enemies defeated by Nobunaga, sent secret calls for assistance as far as Echigo and Kai, and even incited peasant revolts in Owari.

The three generals knew that without the destruction of this reputedly impregnable Buddhist fortress, the Oda army would be stymied at every turn, and Nobunaga would be unable to realize his dreams.

As soon as Nobunaga had set up his camp, he had given an incredible order: 'Attack the mountain and burn everything to the ground, starting with the shrines, the Great Hall, the monasteries, and all the sutras and the holy relics.' This was extreme enough, but he went on, 'Let no one escape if they're wearing monkish robes. Make no distinc­tion between the wise and the foolish, aristocratic or common monks. Show no mercy to women and children. Even if someone is dressed as a layman, if he's been hiding on the mountain and runs away because of the fire, you may look upon him as part of the pres­ent plague as well. Massacre the entire lot, and burn the mountain until there's not a sign of human life left in the ruins!'

Even the Rakasa, the bloodthirsty cannibal demons of the Buddhist hells, could not have done such a thing. The generals who heard his order were unnerved.

'Has he gone mad?' Takei Sekian muttered under his breath, but well within earshot of the other generals. However, only Sakuma Nobumori, Takei Sekian, and Akechi Mitsuhide dared to express their opinions in front of Nobunaga.

Before going to confront their lord, they had pledged, 'We may be forced to commit seppuku one after another for going against His Lordship's orders, but we cannot let him carry out this reckless fire attack.'

Nobunaga could simply besiege and take Mount Hiei. But where was the need for such slaughter with an attack by fire? If they dared to commit this outrage, they feared that popular sentiment would turn against the Oda. Nobunaga's enemies would rejoice, and they would use the attack as propaganda to blacken his name at every opportunity. He would only be bringing upon himself the kind of evil reputation that men had feared and avoided for hundreds of years.

'We are not going to fight a battle that will bring you to ruin,' the three generals said, speaking for all the men present. Their voices quaked with their tearful devotion.

Nobunaga, however, was determined, and he gave no indication that he would even hink twice about the three men's words. On the contrary, he became even more determined. 'You may retire. Don't say anything more,' he told them. 'If you refuse to obey the order, I'll give it to someone else. And if the other generals and soldiers won't follow ne, then I'll do it myself, alone!'

'Why is it necessary to commit such an atrocity? I would think that a true general could bring about the fall of Mount Hiei without shedding a single drop of blood,' Nobumori asked again.

'No more 'common sense'! There speaks eight hundred years of 'common sense.' If we don't burn out the roots of the old, the buds of the new will never sprout. You keep talking about this one mountain, but I'm not concerned only with Mount Hiei; burning it down is going to save the church everywhere else. If by slaughtering all the men, women, and children on Mount Hiei, I can open the eyes of the imprudent in other provinces, then I will have done some good. The hottest and deepest hells are nothing to my eyes and ears. Who else can do this but me? I have heaven's mandate to do it.'

The three men, who believed that they, more than anyone else, knew Nobunaga's genius and methods,