CHAPTER VIII.

The war in which Sennoske now took part forms one of the most glorious epochs in Japanese history. On one side was the imperial family, who in an unbroken line had ruled the land for two thousand years; and yet this period represented but a small part of the time during which their authority had been recognized, for they were directly descended from the gods who had been venerated and adored from time immemorial. Opposed to the imperial cause was a horde of usurpers, whose only claim to recognition was the power which they wielded temporarily, and, as they themselves knew, unjustly. It was a struggle of the inherited and invested majesty of right, religion, patriotism, and justice, against usurpation, cunning, and intrigue; and the result could not be in doubt. Yet it is a subject of just pride to the imperial family and to the people whom they govern that victory was achieved in so short a time, a few months being sufficient for the complete overthrow of the hitherto all-powerful usurpers. The latter and their adherents fought bravely, and their natural courage was doubtless stimulated to its utmost by the knowledge that defeat with them meant utter annihilation, accompanied with eternal shame and disgrace. Yet their desperate valor availed them nothing. They fought like burglars caught in the act; but the cool, steady, and determined loyalty of the imperial partisans mowed them down as the sharp knife of the husbandman cuts down noxious weeds.

Although the Kuwana contingent was one of the first to join the forces of the popular general, Nitta, they found him already greatly strengthened by numerous volunteers and deserters. Several encounters which soon took place with detachments of Hōjō forces sent against them resulted in an easy victory, as large numbers of the vanquished troops deserted their colors and enlisted for the righteous cause. In one of these engagements, Nitta, who always fought in the van of his troops, noticed near him a knight whose alertness and elasticity of movement, in spite of his complete coat of mail, could belong only to a young man, while the blows which he dealt were such as few even among veterans could give,—his sword at every stroke cleaving a Hōjō armor and going deep into the body beneath it. It was no other than Sennoske, whom, immediately after the fray and on the field of battle, Nitta made one of his aids. Others besides the general had noticed the prowess of the new-comer, and admiration changed to wonder when he took off his helmet and showed his fair, boyish face, as yet with scarcely a vestige of beard, and with a complexion that a girl might have envied.

SENNOSKE IN BATTLE.

Within a few weeks the army in and around the castle had, in the opinion of its leader, become strong enough to try issues with the enemy in the latter’s stronghold. Marching orders were therefore given, and the troops were told openly that their destination was Kamakura, which was to be taken by storm. Meeting no opposition worthy of the name, they reached the sea-shore at Enoshima, only three miles from their destination. Here an unexpected difficulty presented itself. Although it was ebb-tide the sea ran extremely high, so that the road along the shore was submerged beneath angry waves, which washed eventhe steep mountain spurs from whose base they were generally separated by several hundred feet of hard, sandy soil. The only way to reach Kamakura seemed to be for them to retrace their steps by a longdétourround the other side of the mountain. This course would entail loss of time and labor; but the commander-in-chief was less disturbed on that account than by the fear that this accident might be misconstrued into an evil omen, and consequently dampen the enthusiasm of his followers. For at the last moment the Hōjō had changed their tactics. They all at once showed unbounded honor and veneration for the Emperor whom they had placed upon the throne three years before, and took care to have their new-born loyalty proclaimed far and wide. They knew, as they said, that the gods from whom the Mikados sprang would never allow sacrilegious hands to be laid on their descendants, and in the changes which had been made the Hōjō had merely been instruments ordained to work out the divine will by placing the sceptre in the hands of him who could wield it to the best advantage of the country. Numbers of Hōjō spies had found their way into Nitta’s camp, where only the evening before some of them had been discovered and executed; and those undetected would certainly make the most of this unexpected impediment, causing it to be regarded as a sign of the displeasure of the gods and an augury of evil.

SEIZING A DISGUISED HŌJŌ SPY IN NITTA’S CAMP.

Going down to where the waves washed his feet and frequently covered him with their spray, Nitta looked out over the sea long and earnestly. The white-crested billows came and went, but the last-comer showed no sign of lagging behind those that had preceded it. Sennoske, seeing the anxiety depicted on his chief’s face, ventured to step up to him and give his opinion.He had been brought up in a seaport town, with a harbor which was none of the best, where he had been out at all times, and had learned to know the tides and the signs of the weather. Therefore he felt that he could now take it upon himself to assert that in a few hours, or a day at most, the flood must subside. Nitta, although he appeared absorbed in thought, and scarcely to listen to his lieutenant, eagerly drank in every word the lattersaid; and, placing confidence in it, performed one of those acts which, trifling as they may appear, are yet emanations of genius. Exerting a purely moral force, such actions are often all-powerful in shaping the destinies of men and nations, by giving decision to the vacillating, courage to the timid, a feeling of strength which is equivalent to real force to the weak, and making heroes of those who possess manly qualities in any degree.

Taking his sword, of matchless workmanship and ornamentation, glittering in the sunlight which reflected itself in the burnished gold, Nitta cast it out into the waters as far as a warrior’s arm could throw it, asking the gods to accept it as a peace-offering, and calling upon them to give their divine aid to the army which now marched to uphold the vested and inherited rights of their descendants, the Emperors of the country. In the name of the Mikado, driven from the throne into a lonely exile, he prayed them to bid the angry waves subside and give free passage to those who came to avenge his despoilers and punish the sacrilege. It was a powerful invocation, and its effect was thorough and instantaneous, creating general and unbounded enthusiasm. If any man there had misgivings, it would have been dangerous for him to express them; and when next morning the waters had subsided, leaving the road free and open, all lingering doubts as well as the hopes of the Hōjō sympathizers vanished as the dew of the night that disappeared in the morning sun.

As they approached Kamakura, they found a large portion of the enemy’s army posted before the walls; so fierce, however, was the onslaught of Nitta’s troops that the ranks of the besieged were at once broken, and they fled for protection into the city. But the assailants were close upon them, and followed in suchnumbers that the gates could not be shut against them. From ward to ward, from street to street, from house to house, the Hōjō were driven, in spite of their persistent and desperate struggles, and before nightfall the city was taken.

This battle decided the war and the fate of the Hōjō. The honest portion of their adherents consisted merely of those who had been dazzled and won over by the spell of absolute power exercised for a considerable time; and this spell once broken, they fully recognized their folly as well as their guilt, and were ready to sue for and accept pardon on any terms. It was expected that the principal men of the defeated clan, together with such of their partisans and abetters as were too deeply implicated to hope for forgiveness, would form into roving bands and flee to distant inaccessible parts of the empire; but as they were now without physical or moral support, a general engagement was no longer to be feared. In view of this it was decided by Nitta to dismiss at once a part of the army, so that divisions of the retiring troops might be employed in protecting their several provinces from the marauders who should flee thither, and in hunting them down and bringing them to punishment.

NITTA PRAYING TO THE GODS BEFORE THROWING HIS SWORD INTO THE SEA.

One of the provinces to which it was believed that the defeated would be certain to resort in large numbers was Idzu, lying to the west of the Tokaido, beyond the Hakone Mountain-range, on the road to Kuwana. Here the great Yoritomo had in his youth found an asylum from his Taira foes. It required coolness and courage, a steady eye and a firm foot to track foes into these Idzu fastnesses, over these rugged, pathless mountains, where Nature alone offered almost insurmountable obstacles. Nitta gave a proof to the country of his confidence inSennoske by intrusting to him the military command of that region, as well as of the country along the Tokaido from the Hakone Mountains to the province of Kuwana. The contingent from the latter province, which was to return for the purpose, was to be under his orders, together with such other troops as he might think it advisable to raise in the districts assigned. Nominally, it was necessary to have this appointment acknowledged by the daimios in whose dominions the new commander was to act; but this was merely a matter of form entailing a short delay. No one would have been willing to displease the victorious Nitta, or to incur the suspicion of being a Hōjō sympathizer, by in any way impeding the measures deemed necessary to bring the insurgents to justice.

SCENE AT THE STORMING OF KAMAKURA.

The delay which would ensue before he could take active command, Sennoske determined to take advantage of by returning home; and leaving the Kuwana soldiers to follow to the place which he was to make the base of his operations, he started early in the morning on the day succeeding his appointment, accompanied by Yamagawa, both mounted on good horses and attended only by two running footmen. He was in good spirits. The honors he had gained; the charm of the important command intrusted to him; the thought of meeting his father and the Duke, with the great expectations that they entertained of him more than fulfilled in so short a time; and last, but not least, however he might try to disguise it to himself, the joy of again seeing O Tetsu,—all these were certainly good and sufficient reasons for his elation.

SENNOSKE ON HIS RETURN.

Pushing on as fast as possible, on the evening of the same day he reached Odawara, a strong castle town at the northern foot of the Hakone Mountain-range. The fame of his exploits had preceded him, and the lord of the castle received him in a way which could not but be flattering to the young man, pressing him to remain at least a day or two longer. No inducement, however, could detain Sennoske; and leaving their horses, which would only have impeded their way over the mountain-passes, he started on foot the next day at dawn with his faithful henchman.

PILGRIMS TO FUJIYAMA.

The road, as it was at that time laid out, wound between the Hakone and the Ashigara Mountain-ranges; and here the young man made perhaps less haste than might have been expected. It was late in autumn, the weather was fine, the air bracing; and in spite of his anxiety to reach his home he could not but loiter a little to view the beautiful scenery that presented itself. The mountains and hill-sides were clothed in their rich autumnal garb of gold and red and purple and brown of every shade and depth of coloring; while as if to supply the need of a stronger contrast, clusters of evergreen trees here and there reared their crowns of unchanging hue high into the air.

ROADSIDE TEA-HOUSE.

FUJIYAMA, WITH ANGEL HOVERING OVER IT.

The whole effect was greatly heightened by occasional glimpses of Fuji, which presented itself under the most varying forms and expressions. Sometimes just a glimpse of its top was visible over an intervening mountain-range, while again a portion of the huge mass would reveal itself through a narrow gorge; sometimes one of its bleak sides, within range of the eye, but up to this moment obscured by clouds which now suddenly parted, would astonish the traveller who had just gazed at what he thought empty space, while the shifting curtain, hiding the view the next moment, would make him doubt whether he had seen aright. Two or three times the whole mountain with its perfect outline stood in majesty like a giant sentry watching over the land. With the varying beauty of scenery which each successive step thus unclosed, it was impossible for a lover of Nature like Sennoskenot to stop for a moment now and then to admire it. Yet it was only for a moment, as the thought of the welcome awaiting him prevented him from lingering as he otherwise would have done. Many a good-looking young girl at the roadside tea-houses followed with strained eyes the figure of the dashing young cavalier, whose pleasant, gentle ways so well set off his unmistakably martial air. Old Yamagawa also came in for his share of attention; and now that they neared home, honored and successful, the old servitor indulged occasionally in what was probably his only fault,—a love of wine,—to a greater extent than was good for him; but his young master had not the heart to chide or even to restrain him.

COURT LADY’S HEAD-DRESS AND STATE FAN.

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