one was able to judge.
Characters and Places
The Snows of Echizen
Day and night, the snow fell on wintry Echizen, leaving no opening through which a man could free his heart. But within the castle walls of Kitanosho, it was warmer than usual that year. That uncommon state of affairs was due to the presence of Lady Oichi and her three daughters. The lady herself was rarely seen, but her daughters could not bear to be confined to their apartments. The eldest, Chacha, was fifteen, the middle sister eleven, and the youngest only nine. To these girls, even falling leaves were a cause for wonder, and their laughter rang through the corridors of the citadel.
Katsuie was drawn by their voices to the women's quarters, where he hoped to forget his many cares amid their gay laughter, but whenever he appeared, the expressions on the faces of the girls darkened, and they neither laughed nor smiled. Even Lady Oichi was solemn and quiet, beautiful and cold.
'Please come in, my lord,' she would say, inviting him to sit by the small silver fretwork brazier.
Even after their marriage, they spoke to each other with the formality of a retainer addressing a member of his lord's family.
'Your loneliness must be all the greater when you see the snow and feel the cold of this place for the first time, my lady,' Katsuie said sympathetically.
'Not so much, my lord,' Oichi replied, but it was clear that she longed for a warmer land. 'When do the snows of Echizen begin to melt?' she asked.
'This is not Gifu or Kiyosu. When the rape flowers are blooming and the cherry blossoms are beginning to fall there, these mountains are still patched with melting snow.'
'And until then?'
'It's like this every day.'
“You mean it never melts?'
“Just snow a thousand feet deep!' Katsuie replied sharply. Upon being reminded of the length of time the snow would cover Echizen, his heart was filled with bitter resentment. Thus he was unable to spend even a moment's leisure with his family. Katsuie returned to the citadel as quickly as he had left. Accompanied by his pages, he walked off in great strides along the roofed corridor through which the snowy wind was blowing. As soon as he had gone, the three girls went out to the veranda to sing songs, not of Echizen but of their native Owari.
Katsuie did not look back. Before entering the main citadel, he ordered one of his pages, 'Tell Gozaemon and Gohei to come to my room at once.'
Both men were important retainers of the Shibata clan, and elders upon whom Katsuie relied.
'Did you send a messenger to Maeda Inuchiyo?' Katsuie asked Gozaemon.
“Yes, my lord. He left a little while ago,' the man replied. 'Did you want to add something to it, my lord?'
Katsuie nodded silently; he seemed to be lost in thought. The previous evening a council of the entire clan had discussed a weighty matter: Hideyoshi. And their decision not been a passive one. They had the whole winter to carry out a plan: Takigawa Kazumasu was to rally Ise; Nobutaka was to persuade Gamo Ujisato to join them, and to request assistance from Niwa Nagahide; Katsuie himself would write to Tokugawa Ieyasu to sound out his intentions; and a messenger had already been sent to the scheming old shogun, Yoshiaki. Finally, it was hoped that when the moment came, the Mori would attack Hideyoshi from the rear.
That was the plan, but Ieyasu's attitude was totally unclear. And although it was easy to tempt Yoshiaki's inconstancy, there seemed to be little hope of persuading the Mori to unite with their cause. Not only that, but Gamo Ujisato, the man to be drawn in by Nobutaka, was already allied to Hideyoshi, while Niwa stood tactfully in the center, declaring that he could not take sides with any of his former lord's retainers, and that he would only stand in the defense of the rightful heir, Lord Samboshi.
During this time, Hideyoshi was holding in Kyoto the magnificent memorial service for Nobunaga that had attracted the attention of the entire nation. Hideyoshi's increasing fame was making the proud Katsuie think about whether he should act and how fast. But nountains of Echizen responded to Katsuie's scheming with snow. He planned great campaigns, but he could not move his army to fight them.
During the conference, a letter had arrived from Kazumasu, advising Katsuie that the best strategy was to wait until spring and complete their great undertaking in one campaign. Until then, Kazumasu said, Katsuie was to make peace with Hideyoshi. Katsuie had considered his advice and decided it was the correct way to handle the situation. 'If there is something else you would like to say to Lord Inuchiyo, I will send another messenger,' Gozaemon repeated, observing Katsuie's worried expression. Katsuie confided his doubts to these men. 'At the conference I agreed to send two trusted retainers along with Inuchiyo to negotiate peace with Hideyoshi, but now I don't know.'
What do you mean, my lord?' one of the retainers asked.
'I don't know about Inuchiyo.'
'Are you worried about his abilities as an envoy?'
'I'm well acquainted with his abilities. But when Hideyoshi was still a foot soldier, they were close friends.'
'I don't think you have anything to worry about.'
'You don't?'
'Not in the least,' Gozaemon declared. 'Both Inuchiyo's province in Noto and his son's in Fuchu are surrounded by your own estates and the castles of your retainers. So not only is he geographically isolated from Hideyoshi, but he will have to leave his wife and children as hostages.'
Gohei was of the same opinion. 'There has never been any discord between the two of you, my lord, and Lord Inuchiyo has served you faithfully throughout the long northern campaign. Many years ago, when he was a young samurai in Kiyosu, Lord Inuchiyo had a reputation for being wild. But he has changed. These days his name is associated with integrity and honesty, and people are quick to acknowledge their faith in him. So, rather than worry, I wonder if he isn't the most suitable man we could send.'
Katsuie began to believe that they were right. Now he could laugh, knowing that his own suspicions was nothing more than that. But if the plan did somehow go wrong, the entire situation could quickly turn against
