The castle at Ozaka now stood in the main finished, and with Yodogimas occupancy and the kwambakus favor at once sprang into prominence; not only as a strategic point of first importance, but as the very seat of empire socially, possibly politically, rivaling in all respects, if not eclipsing, Kyoto, the capital and ruling post since the days of Kwammu, some eight hundred years before.
This tendency on the part of the barons, to centralize all things at the new seat of power, did not meet with Hideyoshis broader views; he was democratic at heart, and beside a better judgment may have preferred toadyism, if such there must be, at long range. He had fought his way into the foremost rank, not to tear down existing institutions or to substitute one man for another in authority or to profit personally at the expense of others: he would rise, no doubt to a heavenly sphere, but in that should not disturb earthly conditions—it were the individual, refractory and crude, who must be thrashed into peaceful, tolerant attitudes—would carve out a new place or adapt himself to an old one, enabling direction and enforcement in a manner at once effective and for the betterment of all mankind. A laudable thought, perhaps, and with an organization in keeping with his power to subjugate Hideyoshi might have become intruth a god—self-made, self-standing, and self-perpetuating: as he no doubt planned and fairly believed within the doing of man.
Purposing to distribute and maintain separately these greater divisions of human interest and essential development, the kwambaku had as wisely or unwisely sent Ieyasu into the newer regions at Tokyo, hoping to transfer as far as possible from their capital, not only a possible rival, but the larger business activities of the empire; he had left the mikado, his court and the kuge (royalty) at Kyoto, best fitted as he believed by environment and tradition to perpetuate authority on the one hand and engender respect on the other; with religion or society in the narrower sense he had little to do and much less concern: both seemed essential or vital to priest or layman, nobleman or peasant alike, hence the better adapted without seat or prestige to encourage, less deny; his own fortress he believed well established at Ozaka.
Here he could look out, at close range, upon the best that a nation had evolved or the worst suffered; wealth and poverty were alike interesting and incumbent questions. Strength within and weakness without those walls afforded a contrast deep in purport. To the southward, not far distant, lay Nara, treasured home of the beautiful in art as well as the profound of learning. Kyoto, the capital, no farther away, sheltered the revered and the dignified in statesmanship and authority. The traders mart and the producersseat, least tasteful to him, had been transported and established farthest off: intrusted to hands that he believed best fitted for that and no other, Hideyoshi sought to set himself down to the realization of a larger desire, that other faith, the reincarnation, an inter-perpetuation and glorification of self and self alone.
You are my only hope, Yodogima. Let faithfulness adjust itself not to the exigencies of mean occasion, but give me a son; the golden thread must be stranded unbroken. Ishida shall serve, and the captains honor; the wealth and the fashion and the culture of all men henceforth bows at your bidding.
Do not tempt me, my lord; I should rather trust Kami; the glitter but disheartens me: in prayer I have faith.
I would deny you nothing: only bear me a son.
Then grant me fair. Remove these fawning, cringing courtiers, and bide you here; I am only human.
Perhaps more. Yet Ill vow you safe in hands I know—Ishida never yet played me false. Come; out with it; who is there, that you prefer? Hideyoshi may wax blind, when occasion requires, but he need not for that be treated as dumb—to the workings of conscience or fancy. My wife loves: is her husband but a scapegoat?
It may be true, and she none the less abused thus accused. Take this man Ishida from the castle, and keep him without. Perhaps then you shall know that a woman may love and yet discern, if not command.I am your wife, and shall serve you as decreed; a chance is all that I shall ask or that you may require.
Ashamed of his conduct and mortified over anxiety, Hideyoshi did not as bid, but left the castle with his suit, including the reluctant Ishida; who by long years of faithful attendance had so ingratiated himself—designing accordingly—that the kwambaku had already been put to straits upon more than one occasion to find a real or plausible excuse for keeping the fellow longer in his service. Nor was Yodogima altogether alone in her estimation of him; many of the kwambakus oldest and most trusted friends had suspicioned the wily body-servants good faith, in fact, at this early day mistrusted ulterior motives and cross purposes should the master accidentally or otherwise happen to die.
The sudden departure, therefore, of Hideyoshi, seemingly miffed and more than ever under the influence of Ishida, who grew thereby less in favor among the captains, roused some of them to greater concern, if not about somebodys sanity, then as to their own welfare.
Among these grizzled or enthusiastic warriors and supporters none took to heart more than Kuroda the matter of Hideyoshis seeming change; the two had grown up together, from early days, the one as retainer, the other his aid, and they loved each other as only men similarly situated and suited can love. Ishida, however, had poisoned the elder, and with his establishment at Fushima—selected on account ofits isolation yet accessibility—the veteran fighter, Kuroda, was at last turned from the door.
It is a terrible blow, Yodogima, to be torn from a lifelong friendship, said he, to her, shortly afterward, while sitting in the fall of evening, at the Ozaka castle, overlooking the vast throngs around, who came and went with less attending joy or sorrow, and Ishida is to blame. Yet I cannot criticise your resolve; you have fought a noble battle, my dear child: you did right, and there isnt a man worth his while in Hideyoshis service but would stand by you to the last—I wonder; has the kwambaku lost his mind?
No. He has, though, lost confidence in me, replied Yodogima, suppressing with difficulty the tears fast rising in her downcast eyes.
Impossible!
It is true.
Then Ishida has done more than play the traitor; he has vilified a good woman: more, he has sought to ruin a worthy wife. I swear it, he shall rue the day.
In all these years Yodogima had done everything in her power to live the life of a faithful, dutiful, and appreciative wife—such as the law and the pleasure of man had enforced. No longer might she question the act, or consult morals; she had chosen to abide the sterner edicts of a social organism utterly beyond the revision or prevision of any one individual, much less a woman: who had neither voice nor hand in the making, nor could suggest its undoing. Yet the closer the reality the more transcendant became her oneinspiration. The star that had guided her from infancy shone the brighter for the gloom; that enshrouded a heart, in which there lived a conscience: the dictates of which had long ago flung her upon the mercies of a less grinding, more tolerant fate.
I will be true to my Kami, though declared false by all the creeds of all the gods, promised she, to herself, long after the grey-haired Kuroda had gone: when the stars had inspired that larger comprehension than of things we think we know.
The night brought, too, its peace of rest, and on the morrow Yodogima awakened to a juster realization of affairs close at hand; swift couriers brought tidings of a great change at the seat of authority, Fushima—lately established by Hideyoshi as his own official residence, but just now turned over to Hidetsugu, his nephew, whom he had adopted and made kwambaku, he himself assuming the title of Taiko.
Scorn, therefore, began, presently, to take the place of due consideration; rumor travelled fast, and the masters change of title, and the adoption of an heir, soon raised the question of failure: Yodogima was now charged with vilest remission, and had not resignation sooner prepared the way she, too, must have fallen before the rank avalanche of duller ingratitude than follows in the wake of blind assumption.
The nation had been wronged, and the man who had placed his trust in her, abused: it devolved upon her and none other to right the grievous evil that had apparently been accepted as final.
What in His name can I do? begged and plead the princess, in the only way that she knew.
Then Oyea stealthily came to Ozaka, advising and befriending.
The older of the two wives did not threaten; she had learned by experience and conversion that the more effective course lay in subtler means, perhaps in truth.
Why dont you visit Hiyeisan? There is a temple there—
I thought you had turned Christian? interceded Yodogima, thoughtlessly.
So I have; but you may need not some forgiveness; circumstance no sooner governs than fulfilment predicates—the act, if not our meed. What matter how or where we pray and do, when wrought in heavens likening span? It is the consequence, and not its revelation, that makes duty paramount. Therefore, seek you, who have only to choose; it is for such as I to fashion, and when this particular god shall have served you as he never did me, why, then, you, too, may have occasion to flit and none to reason. I tell you there are as many ways as creeds, or less, and Id try them out, all of them, though not so beautiful.
Yodogima laughed outright in spite of conditions:
What in heavens name has beauty to do with religion?
My dear Yodogima; it has everything to do with it; as it has to do with all things and everybody, the gods, their churches, and our bounties included. Doyou suppose, for a minute, that I should be here, to-day, were it not for you? And its a part of my religion to serve and trust that trust may serve.
How kind!
You wont fail me, will you, Yodogima?
Ill think about it; I do not wish to be narrow, or—outwitted.
An unlooked-for restlessness appeared to have swept into the land; and all the barons and captains grew uneasy with inaction or impatient of conditions. To Yodogima it seemed that in some way she alone were responsible for the cause, if not the effect, of such unheard-of conditions. Hideyoshi knew better; and smarting with shame or repenting of foolhardiness turned again toward Ozaka.
No such joy had come to Yodogima since the day Ieyasu promised his love and protection. While Oyea had never broken faith, and still professed friendship, the younger wife had long ago amply discovered the reason, and knew fairly in her own heart that once a wife in fact no husband might share his love or respect or favor without breaking the tenderer thread, no matter what the demands or the edicts of society and of law, or both. Whether for good or for ill there could be no compromise where an affinity had laid its hand upon that and that alone vital, if not sacred, unto itself. The older wifes interest had resolved only the shielding of an inner vanity, as Hideyoshis accusations laid bare the outward appearance of that same inborn, unmanageable tendency: call itby what name one might, govern as the world should see fit, it were yet a force no less determinate of man than absolute in the revelation of God.
I did you a very great wrong, began Hideyoshi, by way of remission, as Yodogima and he strolled away, through the bramble, at the hillside, toward the lower castle wall; and, as you see, in recognition of your superior trust and my acknowledged duty, I have willingly left Ishida behind. What more would you have me do, lady patience?
Love me, truly love me, my lord; then, also, you might, sometimes, address me, as Yodogima—only Yodogima, if no more.
And, will you, too, call me Hideyoshi?
Yodogima bowed low, and the scarlet rushed to her face. The soft, warm air of early spring fanned the flame, and Hideyoshi felt as never before the glow and the warmth of rising confidence. An image carved in stone of the good and the great stood near at their side and returning the cherished salutation of that one higher held our taiko for the first time in his life approached this in some way fashioned god who had for many thousand or more years held and swayed the hearts of a nation so deep-grounded and far-seeing that no truth revealed or possibility conjectured had escaped their discerning, eager quest for that we wish were what we would it were. And approaching, he did the one thing that really distinguishes man and establishes for him a world apart.
Hideyoshi prayed; and Yodogima marvelled the force of an environment.
All her prayers had arisen within the solicitude of tried-out conviction, a consciousness fraught with distrust in everything not wholly proven or self-satisfying, were invoked of a Being that she knew, One standing revealed in the light of His beneficence, not some unknown but hoped-for God, conjured as the result of a longing on her part to escape the heartless dark of earths vain, momentary alternations. Follow that beacon—above the need or beneath the power of faith—she would; there could be no doubt in her mind as to His supremacy, Its ultimatum; but might she not for that, without overstepping the borders of a bidden track, nor any the less losing sight of her own true inspiration, might she not, in her flight toward an unalterably preconceived and self-attainable end so govern her steps that no conflict ensue with others bent on no less holy, yet more uncertain, grounds?
The stars seemed whirling in space measured and adjusted to the balance of a perfect equilibrium; all the elements, no matter whether it be the rushing of the winds, or the rumblings of an avalanche, or the belching forth of fire and the downpourings of waters from heaven upon earth, each found in due time and with perfect accord its own properly allotted place or plan; the soul and the body lived their destined duality with no more positive dissolution than death itself scarce renders; the negative forces of earth and eternity, heaven or oblivion, were but the positives ownpostulate, working out its never-ending, all-propelling grind toward an essential individuality, supreme and overreaching, whether wrought in the fiery evolutions of fate or suffered of an humbler, more easily gotten, commonly adapted belief, its godhead a trinity or as we please, and its doctrine but a faith or something less: why deny anything, anybody, or their pleasure?
Jokoin had fully demonstrated the larger possibilities of any ordinary sort of real susceptibility, Oyea had suggested the temple as a more fitting place, and a particular one as the most likely of transmission if not remission, and Hideyoshi really made no outward protest against its individual use or secular purposes: there must be some strange potency hidden underneath the force of prayer wafted within the portals of a place guarded so sacredly and approached in faith. The church too, then, either temple or edifice, held its secret, perchance worked an instrumentality, no doubt brought compensations that she, in her lone environment, had failed to realize: the world demanded of her that she leave no thing undone, make every effort to resolve its higher blessing, and through that and that alone she must and could attain her own true ideality.
Hideyoshi had, for all she knew or could surmise, done his part and faithfully.
You have now my very soul, Yodogima, and are proffered as well its beggarly hull. All these trappings, with which I have fairly endowed you—a castle not made with common hands, the finest silksevolved of Uenas grace, food that no god might disdain, and service from no lesser educator than time itself—are nothing as compared with the spirit I would invoke. Hear me, O Benten, O Yodogima, O Eternity; I must have life, shall survive the grave. Grant me this, mother of time, goddess on earth, and love to men; I can do no more; the blood of man is final; it is supreme, an only offering. Let me survive, begged Hideyoshi, utterly oblivious of anything and everything, except the one woman who stood over with anxious, motionless face.
It shall be done, replied she, not any less driven or conscious of the broad seas of uncertainty raising and lowering their frail bark upon its never ceasing, always mysterious trend or disregarding travail.
Long into the night Yodogima struggled hard with the problem which now crowded closer round, hemming her in and forcing her down till there seemed no other means of escape. Their own religion promised no relief short of the phenomenal, and her husband had made a last appeal: would again tear himself away, going this time into foreign lands, thus to retrieve his fallen prestige with further deadly conflict.
Something must be done; and that quickly, as circumstances indicated; the recently subdued daimyos, though loyal, were veterans, and out of employment, became unmanageable; using, no doubt, the matter of the taikos failure of a natural son as an excuse themselves to break the peace. Korea, therefore, offered a likely outlet, and thither her husband should go, yet it must take many months to equip and move such an army as he had threatened upon so hazardous an undertaking. Yodogima reasoned that she still had time to save him and reestablish confidence at home.
I shall in truth try the temple, concluded she, to herself, as this meddlesome Oyea—I fear with more of knowledge than faith—has so earnestly and Christianly-like advised. Perhaps creed, after all, is verily some real man-made, opportunely-devised openingunto the Way. I must, however, accept faith, as a guide, more upon the strength of Jokoins fain attitude; she seems to have gotten for the trouble all she asked or could manage. This Christian device, though new and undemonstrable, if it does no more, may be the means of revealing to me a bit of the benefaction that some of our fathers profess these six hundred years or more to have found hidden behind the benignity of Buddha. Yes, I shall just this once, if not again, set aside staid reason to test dame truth, deny self at the bidding and for the love of others—the effect can be no more trying than the cause is just. My prayer must be answered.
Thus convinced and resigned, sleep, peaceful and converting, brought in its round at waking a hope that held hitherto only in the making. Now she could look out upon the world with a freedom that brooked no questioning: the very clouds themselves seemed fraught with a charity that she had believed the part and the due of man alone. No longer need she concern herself about sin; the blood of a savior had atoned that: Buddha made it plain that knowledge is the way, and men, inspired no doubt, had built a temple, sacredly ruled at the door.
She had, only, to proceed thither, and pray.
Yodogima really held fast at heart a true conversion; the same ideal shone as brightly as before; only the means had shifted; let them smite; she should turn the other cheek.
And they did strike. Long before Hideyoshi hadtried out or finished his advantage, Oyea clandestinely entered the temple and there counselled the keeper—she had known him for a long time, and designed better than he knew or Yodogima anticipated.
The morning wended brightly, and the confiding princess, departing tenderly the vain, mute welcomings of an ardently-inclined, hard-accepted husband, trod expectantly toward the selfsame edifice, devised and made in the name of One who consoles, be it man or his cold-striven image.
Two lions carved in stone stood sentinel at either side the entrance. These Yodogima contemplated in the light of a new understanding, born not of tradition, but of faith proclaimed and knowledge derived. She stood there in the footprints of an enforced progression, and must no longer question dogma, though God be greater. Then she turned toward the gate, frosted with antiquity and jealous of its passage—a receptacle midway standing glaringly reminded her of a duty that fortunately she had remembered: Yodogima, too, cast her bread upon the waters, and passed on, that others might feast as she did penance.
Intercepted now by grated screens, warning her that she must ask and it shall be given, Yodogima looked and there beheld an image, a true likeness of what she all her life had painted sublime. Neither male nor female, but of wood, carved in lines more symmetrical than reality had effected, lacquered of gold finer than the wants of ordinary man had ever acclaimed, these surrounded with safeguards seeminglybeyond human invasion, guarded on either side by emblems without either beginning or ending, all surmounted in a halo that two burning pots of incense ceaselessly wafted thither, this Yodogima, a penitent, believed with the spirit of one who would suffer no transgression to stay or hinder any fulfilment that her God might elect, and clapping her hands as inwardly decreed and outwardly expressed through time hoary invoked a passage no less distant or angelic than others perhaps as discerning or more plastic, of ages recurring and lands apart, had sought or denied in the lesser stranding of a course no more divinely conceived.
No further or greater low proving and encouraging of an inspiration born within, and the spit-ball propitiously thrown—not with vulgar meaning—the gates on either side the lofty emblem swung ajar—Yodogima had gained the promise of an inner sanctuary, where moods and morals are the more finely, if not subtly, wrought and there dwells no other god or goddess than communion withal.
Yodogima chose the right approach and her prognosticator the left. As an affinity draws, so it resolves only the transverse of an attending unity. The positive and the negative harmonize upon grounds no more irreducible, and that bonze followed his prey as the quadrant confronts a Cardan.
Lying there, at one side, behind closed doors, his own view unobstructed, this godly man, with the aid of Oyea, a Christian accomplices assurances, hadpenetrated deeper than the veil donned in faith gained and worn as a security provisioned, and discerning the motive augured a fulfilment that Yodogima alone had striven for in vain.
Once inside the four walls of this more than sacred, an over-beautiful, a divinely wrought, and suggestively potent place, our vainly beguiled and no less hard-pressed princess dropped hopelessly to her knees and gazing round saw no other thing than one bewilderingly done round and covering of modestly drawn yet bewitchingly significant prisms or reflections that led apparently to or from nowhere, yet emanating in or symbolizing afar the one ideal that had lured her thither.
At last! whispered she, as the sun above gathered and mellowed, merging and intertwining the fanciful and the real, till comprehension ceased and ideality carried her aloft the world she knew.
Only the soft matting underneath served her now prostrate form; the spirit ceased its aching quest: a reality bordering the extremes of ethereal generation possessed her. The great sun seemed marshaling its hosts. Glad bugles sounded. A myriad cupids, winged as doves and armed with bows and arrows, balanced and made ready for the flight. The great father of fathers reached into his mighty knapsack, and Yodogima breathed sparingly lest he withdraw empty the hand she longed to realize filled. The good benefactor smiled, and that she sorrow no more revealed to her the jewel—it was a son. And as the troopers chargedearthward, their purpose revealing itself in every fiber, the glad tidings of a fulfilment worthy and complete filling her to overflowing, Yodogima opened wide her eyes, and—Katsutoya stood over her.
Her dream, then, was in truth an unthinkable reality: faith, as designed, a pregnant hoax.
Words were worse than useless now, and the body as helpless; thus Yodogima only stared, the harder: with one furtive glance Katsutoya read her innermost thoughts, and flushing to the full bent his knee with partings still baser:
Trust me, Yodogima: henceforth I am Harunaga.
Yodogima did not attempt to answer her traducer, who departed as he had entered, professing the bestowal, only, of mercies latent underneath the sackcloth and of the beadroll. She lay submerged now; overweighted with a fantasy as far beneath the earth she abode as fancy had heretofore carried her above it. Darkness came on, tremors marked some hard internal disturbance, while yawning caverns fumed and spat fiery bursts and sulphurous clouds from the mountain away. The infernal possessed her. A huge dragon, half within, half without, at the summit, coiling and straightening, lifting and lowering, seeking and searching, here and there, all around, to the horizon, at last found her out, and mounting its slender neck, with no hold to retain her balance, the monster, rising with her, curved easily round and, retracing its slimy part, disappeared into the uttermost depths of hades itself.
And there Ono Harunaga sweat and forked at building the fires. Great heaps of humans replenished the fuel bins. These Yodogima scanned with eagerness: many faces seemed familiar, but always before she could come close enough to determine certainly who the victim was, Harunaga had snatched away and pitched him into the flames beyond her reach or discernment. Which eager haste seemed quite unreasonable to her, but upon questioning him he answered resolutely as of old:
Have faith in—
Yodogima did not exactly catch the last word in his reply, but she could not believe it Christ or Buddha or Confucius, or any like name that she knew, because the furnace fender were himself a reverend man. No Shinto patron had been named; these were gods: the antithesis of Saviors, hence in fact and not on trust.
Once she thought she saw her father, but upon closer scrutiny discerned this victims plight to be in consequence of the vain ambitions of three unfaithful daughters, hence knew that she must have mistaken him. This almost inexcusable blunder shocked her severely, and to avoid any further unpleasantness of that sort Yodogima determined, as she were there, to do as others did; disguise her own true self, and rely wholly upon deception to carry her forward thence in the quest of all things hellish. Therefore she began ignoring the individual, and continued considering altogether the classes; and as there appeared to beonly one such there, she hit upon the plan of segregating Harunagas vast unrealized mass of strident humans by considering more their color. And here, too, distinguishment proved difficult, though there appeared to be, distinctly, some awful difference in the flame if white fuel were added, or the reverse. The former flared more fiercely, burned the less willingly, and their screams—
Rising to her feet and looking round at the barren walls yet enclosing her, Yodogima realized for the first time that what we think we see is but the shadow of an energy stupidly awaiting over there the magic wand here to unfold.
Intelligence had wrought a true womanhood.
But invoke it, and the world itself were a fairyland—let gods be gods and the rest each his allotted part endure. She would live down the sin of beguiling, and bring to earth with ambitions might the heaven she had fancied above.
With her eyes thus opened, Yodogima had resolved, perhaps too quickly, most likely altogether out of proportion to existing capacities, for Japan withal Hideyoshis democratic tendencies had not then come to recognize woman as a factor in the determining of codes or the framing of morals. True, women had progressed, side by side with their gallants, down through all the chivalrous Ashikaga centuries, but only in a passive way. She yet carried the shackles inherited of Jingos daring audacity, and none had risen to do more than suffer the penalties exacted of a confiding and repentant, if jealous, half in kind. Yodogima, though convinced of its susceptibility on the one hand and pother on the other, would not concede that sex were or could be made a lasting turnstile, through which to thresh or encourage humans.
They have tricked and robbed, now coerce me, reasoned she, to herself, the while groping her way and pondering the consequences, upon that dark, quiet night, toward the home she had earlier left unstained and in faith. Man, no less his better half, is a brute; born of lust and scarce started on the Way. His heart—ah! there lies the secret, herein uncoils a thread, and Ill begin it all over again by attempting to rewind the broken strands of my little life—in themanner of their own eternally begotten process. Deception only may be sinful, while failure we know to be hailed not as a virtue. Success, oh, so divine! I think I know you now, whereas before Ive only dreamed.
Upon reaching the castle, much excitement prevailed. Though the morning was yet early, troops were on the move, and where hitherto peace had held all at last seemed making ready for some big, uncertain undertaking. Kuroda had been relieved of duty there and sent to the front. All the faithful were withdrawn and Christians placed in stead to guard the gates in front: Kitagira left in charge, Hideyoshi had gone elsewhere, thus relieving Yodogima of the probability of any immediate contact.
Shut up alone at the castle, relieved of the embarrassment auguring in Kurodas presence, or others of the old school, whom she could scarce resist, and surrounded with a guard more in keeping with her necessities, if not motive, Yodogima planned afresh, as hitherto she had only hoped.
In time, as well, her face brightened, for Jokoin had come to remain with her during Hideyoshis absence, and sooner married to Kyogoku, of course, between the two of them there should be little doubt about rendering the taiko a son. Only time hung heavily upon her hands; no such preparations had been made within the memory of man as that waged against innocent Korea. Hideyoshi had demanded of them that they join him in no less an undertakingthan the conquest of mighty China, and refusing had thrown his forces against them, first to compel their aid, and secondly to open the doors to that larger ambition of his, looked upon by all alike as hardly more than mad.
A formidable army it was, too, that he had gotten together, in three divisions, dispatching one under the command each of Kato Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga—with Ukita Hidaye in higher authority—holding the other in reserve at Nagoya, on the western coast of Kyushu; where Hideyoshi himself had established headquarters, the better to direct supreme control.
Thirst for gain, now, had won the support of every daimyo in the land; the loyal and the disgruntled alike; of which he had advised Yodogima, fully, at their last meeting—the possible consequence startling her into the making of any sacrifice to save him.
My power over others has been gained by the sword, argued he, because of selecting well and bestowing better: to the victor belongs the spoils, and greed once the encouragement there is no end; I must seek further resources elsewhere than at home; this field is exhausted; the cry for an heir is but the prelude to gold—and why fret my life away mourning the failure of a son? China is worth while and Hideyoshi its greater.
The fire flashed as of old in his eyes, but Yodogima knew better the heart—nor had Esyo misjudged the elder sisters influence or the position promising.Hideyoshi had quelled the mob, but failed at organization: should any such vital realization be let to stand Yodogima in hand? Ought her sister, though older and more handsome, be permitted to indulge undying fame, while she, if younger, yet her superior, remain just an unthanked adviser to a daimyo like Ieyasu? Not if she could prevent it.
Accept of this invitation, from Hideyoshi, to join them, in the plundering of others—though you have no need or desire for booty, urged Esyo, advising Ieyasu, her guardian. It may be the means of proving what I have contended these many years, and Ieyasu—greater than Hideyoshi—may yet see his way clear, or father somehow the conscience, to make Esyo—worthier than Yodogima—his wife.
Ieyasu pondered, possibly frowned: still waited.
Get as close as you can, to this monkey-faced tyrant, continued she, and some unlooked-for riddance may discreetly arise. On the way, I shall, with your permission, pay Yodogima a visit: I think I can unearth the likelihood: her scheme we already know. You are rich and powerful now; Yedo has thrived beyond their knowledge, though Hideyoshi is said once upon a time to have seen without eyes. I tell you, the Tokugawa (Ieyasus family: its name) is a possibility. Trust me, Ieyasu; will you not, just this once?
Ieyasu hesitated, yet waited. True he had risen to the topmost rank as a daimyo, outstripping any other in wealth and strength, but this he believed duemore to his own patient plodding and dogged persistence than to what with Esyos brilliant scheming and multitudinous plans. Still he respected her; perhaps because Yodogima, however set aside, had constantly borne deeper into his affections; Saji proved a bore, from the start, as expected, and Esyos mentality, always agreeable, failed of heart. A deeper interest gripped him, would not let go, but wait he must.
Those cold, hard-studied assurances, not flattery, of Esyos, did not, however, displease Ieyasu. Yet they failed to move him; and when he did, at last, start on that journey, which was forever to open his eyes to larger contemplation, it had been on other grounds; Ieyasu feared Hideyoshi; he dared not disregard the command, and went as others did: to save their necks, and reap the beggarly bounty gratuitously suffered.
Once at Nagoya, however, Hideyoshis temporary headquarters, Ieyasu again rapidly rose in favor; he apparently had no axe of his own to grind, and the taiko believed him capable.
I shall leave you in charge, at home, and myself cross the channel, into Korea, threatened Hideyoshi, upon receipt of bad news from the field; this Hidaye is making a mess of it, and what is left of the advance shall have more need of my presence, before the river Ta-dong is crossed and Chinese soil has inspired them to renewed effort. Do you accept this responsibility of a free will?
Possibly Hideyoshi had sooner surmised, hence inquired the truth, for Ieyasu again hesitated; he had previously counselled with Oyea, and now possessed fresh intelligence at Esyos hands.
Let him go, proposed she; and, if he had gone, Yodogimas further troubles were saved—not, it is true, as Esyo planned.
Upon visiting Yodogima, as permitted, Esyo had found not only the one but the other of her sisters there—portending, to her way of thinking, somewhat, if not dreadfully, suspicious circumstances.
How you look, Yodogima; and Jokoin, too. I am awfully surprised. Is it really true—and how? Oyea just said that Hideyoshi—and I promised not to tell. How stupid I am! Of course Jokoin might be expected—but Yodogima! How dare you trust yourself to the wiles of these Christians? Why, they are even, at the gate. I hope you have not the courage to permit their coming closer? And my gown; perhaps they have already soiled this very mat? I think I must be going—you have, Im sure, observed the make and the fineness of it? Ieyasu gave it to me, in anticipation of our marriage—and we had thought of inviting you, just to see our home, but—these Christians! I never could bear the thought—good-bye—I must be going—you have my best wishes—good-bye.
Yodogima and Jokoin only stared at each other; Esyo had come upon them with no more ceremony than at departing, and they were puzzled to know themeaning of her unexpected visit: the younger of the two may have marvelled the audacity of her bearing; it is certain that the eldest had good reason to question the truthfulness of her statement, and did.
At Azuchi, Esyo had fared or demeaned herself differently. Both she and Ieyasu had called there, by invitation—contemplated, no doubt, on both sides—and Oyea, alone and undisturbed, took great pains to advise the latter, to the formers entire satisfaction, of some things that were, if to be seen, only too patent; also, of many that were perhaps in truth the creatures of her imagination or purpose. She had said nothing of Yodogimas venturing to the temple, though she knew, to say the least, that she had been there—a circumstance, in itself, to be jealously guarded; particularly as indited of discretion or necessity, possibly both; Ieyasu, at all events, would brook no tampering with the Buddha as adapted, for all his research, into the religions of the world, especially Confucianism, had only grounded him the firmer.
It is this Christian influence that plays havoc at Ozaka, promised she, to Ieyasu, who had risen to depart for the West. They are in evidence, if not of authority—I wont accuse Yodogima; she is too discreet—at the castle, and as sure as I live they are in command at the front! I do believe Hideyoshi has fairly gone mad.
Are you not a convert? I was informed that you were, ventured Ieyasu.
True, I was; therefore might be given credit forknowing whereof I speak. And more, let Hideyoshi substitute my nephew, Kobayakawa Hideki, one of our kind, for that outcast convert, Hidaye, his Korean field marshal, and Ieyasu shall not suffer, I promise you, therefor.
Going his way, without further parley or consultation about propriety, fully confirmed in and satisfied with his own views, concerning the priesthood, and Christianity in general, Ieyasu cogitated alarm; the new religions hold upon the government, slight as it was, as yet, or its influence over the taiko, if any—a thing he very much doubted—could be, easily enough, as he thought, stayed or disposed, but Yodogima! How, then, could he save her?
But why bother about it? She is nothing to me, and, come to think, it might be best, as urged, to marry Esyo, and make an end of it. Ill test Hideyoshi, however, before committing myself, threatened he, hastening toward the end of his journey, there to spy rather than serve, while Esyo schemed, no more discreetly, at the capital.
As it turned out, there proved no need of his waiting, this time, as concerned, however, only the witnessing of results; the test had been, to his surprise, occasioned fairly beforehand: from an unexpected source, as well, hence doubly instructive. Jokoin had before this, as might have been anticipated, connived the assistance of Yodogima in exacting from Hideyoshi permission for the return to Japan, and their settlement at Nagasaki, near Hideyoshis presentheadquarters, of the priests; who had been, sometime before, expelled for acts of intolerance and violence—such as the burning of temples and the killing of bonzes, and others whom they could not convert and dared molest—that had unquestionably settled for once and for all, in the mind of every loyal subject, the temper of these godly men and as well the drift of their converted allies.
This sudden turnover of Hideyoshis startled Ieyasu; he could not account for it, not knowing the source, and Yodogima held her counsel as well as Jokoins. She had a part of her own to play now, and may have served some deeper purpose than a sisters sympathetic whim by temporizing for the moment with an ousted sect more at variance from her own views than any other hitherto attempted importation by upstart or trader. At all events they came, and their apparent entireness of reinvestiture at once paralyzed further conjecture.
So this is the kind of keep the taiko would assign me? queried Ieyasu, of Asano Nagamasa, a friendly co-supporter. Most likely, between two such fires, a Christian propaganda and an infidel ruler, Ieyasu, his professed friend, might well be rid. I shall not remain: we must devise some means.
Hideyoshi is mad, replied Nagamasa, in a high voice and nervous manner.
An attendant, within hearing, forthwith reported this last speech to his master, Hideyoshi: a hubbub ensued, and no further occasion became necessary towarrant their remaining at home; Nagamasa was sent to his fief in disgrace, and Ieyasu questioned.
There is a lesson that we should heed in this accusation by Nagamasa; who loves you as he does his life; the barons have been, as you well know, subjected by force, and with the master gone out of the country they should be ill content to wear the yoke: Ieyasu is not the man to do Hideyoshis work, argued Ieyasu, to Hideyoshi, discreetly: with a purpose and an estimation not wholly made known.
What you say is true, but I shall go; I have better counsel, retorted Hideyoshi, not the least bit perturbed at heart or altered in purpose by his antagonists insinuations.
Yes; at Ozaka. As you have, also, the prospect of an heir, ventured Ieyasu, conserving well an only opportunity.
What?
It is as I say.
Then you are a better man than I; I did not know as much.
Thank you, replied Ieyasu, not any the more disconcerted by the masters thrust.
Hideyoshi for once looked Ieyasu squarely in the eyes.
Well? inquired the underling, boldly.
If you have spoken truly—your fortune is made; if not—I shall send you to Korea, replied Hideyoshi, composedly.
Then—I am a made man, retorted Ieyasu, seemingly settled upon some sort of true conviction.
Interpreting Ieyasus last remark in the most favorable light, as always done, when possible, Hideyoshis enthusiasm waxed significantly, if unexpectedly afresh. At last Ieyasu, by a ruse, had done something more than wait; the Chinese fantasy had been brought suddenly to a halt, and Japan saved probable humiliation, to say nothing of absolute defeat; Hidaye had already been all but crushed, and that, too, without getting beyond the confines of weak, unprepared, and unwarlike Korea. Had Hideyoshi himself left Japanese soil, with his contemplated reserve force, the trap laid by the wily Chin Ikei, Chinas over-matching envoy, might have defeated more potent, if less fantastic, ambitions even than Hideyoshis.
None, but one, knew better than Ieyasu the futility of the taikos foreign project, nor was he any the less positive whom that might be, or of her desperate struggle against almost certain disaster: yet he believed Hideyoshi the father of her child, and bided thence patiently the further exactions of an inner conscience.
She is both worthy and capable, reasoned he, to himself, contentedly, and I shall henceforth follow in the wake of an ambition higher than mine, more tolerable than Hideyoshis.
Maeda Toshiye left in charge, the taiko forthwith abandoned forever the camp at Nagoya, and hasteningto Ozaka found Yodogima ill prepared to receive him. He had come unbidden, and demanding entrance to her boudoir, was denied: Hideyoshi fumed and stormed. Ishida, however, calmed him; he, too, had found it convenient or desirable to court favor and spy out an advantage there, and Kyogoku alone had been the means of his coming; Jokoin had also denied him, her husband, any sort of entrance—thus Ishida had been privileged happily to win as well as serve the good will also of Yodogima.
Seven days had elapsed, and in that time Ishida proved himself not only a master of ceremonies but a diplomat to be reckoned with thereafter; both Hideyoshi and Yodogima, presumably from different standpoints, recognized the service, and though absent, Ieyasu no doubt had ample occasion to surmise the rapid rising of an influence hitherto not at all suspected.
The days, however, passed quietly, and presently the door to the taikos chamber slid back gently and unobserved. Hideyoshi sat with his elbows resting upon his knees and his face buried in his hands; restraint had proven burdensome, though Ishida, his old body-servants counsel had strangely come to wield over him an influence little short of Yodogimas itself. Between the two, Yodogimas wish and Ishidas advice, the taiko seemed at last utterly lost.
You are kind, Hideyoshi, to respect my denial: pray do not think me inconsiderate; I have news for you; it is a son.
The taiko bounded up. That voice had filled him as a chorus resounding tidings all but heard in vain. No footstep had broken his reverie; the sight of her seemed as impossible as the halo involving his desire; the air he breathed had lost its fragrance, the taste congealed, and the touch deadened, but another sense had called him to life; Yodogima confronted him.
There she stood, within reach, sublimer, if could be, than before. Words had vainly made her message better understood: not a moment would he lose, yet—
Oh, God, who am I to stand here like dumb? How is it, these limbs fail me now, oh, so bitterly? What devil stands between us? Or, is it lack of devil, and Kami that denies? Answer me, you who can!
Hideyoshi fell to the floor whence he had risen. The golden bowl was not broken, for the want of one. Charm had not entered, hence could not depart. No affinity proffered its good office. Love held forth elsewhere in the mighty circle, and these two searched their way under a solstice as blank as inevitable.
Yodogima, too, sank down, disappointed and fearful, upon the mat in front of her lawful lord. The child lay coddling in its lap, and her eyes beheld therein a joy that radiates only as ordained. The picture overcame him. He could not face the truth of her position,and her eyes riveting upon the sacred book unfolding before them denied him the only lie that man ever made in virtuous part. All the laws of heaven or man, cause and effect, could stay the hand nor deaden the heart to that loftier reach, that unquenchable thirst, that touchless affinity, which made man what he is, as compared with the pitiful sight we sometimes see, only to wish it an unreality, that hairy monster, perched upon his hinder part, his arms drooping in front and his face a blank, that living, suggestive, appealing, undriveable thing we are always wont but mostly loath to call baboon.
Oh! cried he, inwardly, am I so lost as to sit here as if mad? This woman is stronger than I, in the face of harsher trials. Be a man, Hideyoshi.
Thence he arose, and approaching, vainly seated himself directly in front of Yodogima. The child cooed on, but two strong hearts waxed high over it, with larger interest and harder conflict, as lions trample their brood or the bird-kind but empty a nest in its defense.
Pardon me, Yodogima, begged he, cowering before her, his very soul the price, it is so sudden—let me see your eyes, Yodogima—speak to me; I cannot bear longer the suspense.
Yodogima considerately raised her eyes to his: they reflected back only the likeness of a man who had never yet failed to penetrate deeper, but now the heart seemed obscured by that self-same image.
The child, Yodogima; let me look into its face.
Yodogima tenderly, perhaps proudly, tendered the little babe, robed and attended as if want to invite really the gods to worship at nativitys shrine. It was a pretty boy, bearing traces in every feature of its chivalrous ancestry: Hideyoshi had been proud, would have prostituted every virtue that he possessed to proffer it the crown he had wrought, but—
Ieyasu! conjured he, half in rage, half in fear.
Yodogima turned white, then livid; the childs doom induced the former, but duty quickly inspired thoughts restoring a healthier, heartier action of that one sense underlying the most vital of natures primal instincts.
Calm yourself, Yodogima; have no fear of man or devil; Hideyoshi would burn down there before the name or a hair of that childs mother should suffer the discredit of a moments reflection. More I cannot say now: grant me time; it shall not be long; I would go no farther than Azuchi.
Bowing low, the taiko withdrew, and not stopping longer than to call the norimonos (chair men) hurried on, each stride burning deeper into his heart the dread that gripped him more harshly than any death.
What is it that makes you reticent? demanded he, of Oyea, who trembled at his presence. I thought your discretion, if not his tongue, of better promise.
Spare me, oh, spare me, honorable master; it is not I, but the temple that betrayed you.
Ah—and he was there?
No.
Then you have been—
No, no; yes, yes—
And know the truth, as I do now. Come, demean yourself; I must return; tongues are no doubt already wagging, whereas yours mutely convinces.
The taiko returned thence faster than he had come. A cloud had risen from his mind; there in the presence of the one who had stood at his right through all those tempestuous years the truth had at last dawned: success attended insofar as others profited: thirst might be inherited, but genius transmitted—never.
On the way it became necessary to pass directly the new castle at Fushima, built for Hidetsugu, and occupied as well, for the present, by Ieyasu as a guest while returning from Nagoya to Yedo. Hideyoshi, though anxious, could not resist the temptation to stop—assigning as an excuse some urgency that he and Ieyasu visit the mikado, since the opportunity presented itself.
But the child? its birth? why not proclaimed? urged Ieyasu, cautiously.
Hideyoshi attempted no immediate answer, but Harunaga did: pulling Ieyasu by the sleeve and suggesting it a good time to make way with the taiko.
Now this perfectly feasible undertaking—Hideyoshi was utterly unprepared and without sufficient escort—somehow impressed itself directly upon him, though he had neither seen the act performed nor heard the words spoken by Harunaga; whom he had recognized, no sooner than seen, only a few momentsbefore, and upon inquiry found to be a transient guest of Ieyasus, traveling in train toward the castle Ozaka.
Our taiko marvelled eagerly the circumstance, and bided patiently some opportunity.
News of the birth had in fact reached the bonze—in readiness—at Hiyeisan even before Hideyoshi himself had been at all informed. Also the gossip attending the taikos failure of recognition: stranger yet Oyeas enforced acknowledgment concerning the temple and Yodogima were known to Harunaga in time for him to discard his disguise as Katsutoya, a bonze, and calling to his aid some two hundred horsemen, held in hiding, make his way as far as Fushima before the taiko had arrived.
Ieyasu hesitated; true he had not suspicioned Harunagas motive, nor suspected his knowledge of or interest in Yodogimas affairs, not at all; but his interests dictated, as he believed and Hideyoshi surmised, an altogether less inhuman course.
I am an old man, began Hideyoshi, addressing Ieyasu, openly, and not without some pretty well remembered impressions vividly made by none other than Yodogimas long ago accurately aimed thrusts; I find my sword heavy; please carry it for me.
Ieyasu answered by saying:
I had a dream, last night: I dreamt that Tengu, the hobgoblin, confronted me; and, of enormous proportions, resolved himself into the size of an ant sitting upon my arm: I swallowed him.
Good, replied Hideyoshi; I see the point; I am rightly rebuked, for going about unattended.
Permit me to propose the good offices of Harunaga, as an escort thence to Ozaka: I need not vouch for him, a gentleman, and the taiko is—
A father, interposed Hideyoshi, looking Harunaga squarely in the face.
The latter winced, but proffered his services, as urged and designed by Ieyasu.
At Ozaka, notwithstanding Yodogimas assurances, strange preparations were making for defence. No word had escaped her lips as to the taikos reception, or purpose in leaving, or intentions about returning. An ugly silence cast its spell over them, yet Hidetsugu, the kwambaku, made his jealousy against the newborn the more apparent by finally withdrawing to reside permanently at Fushima, and Ishida not at all thereby deceived, began forthwith the organizing of a new force no less to protect the taiko than to enforce the rights of Yodogima and her recently-born claimant to his lordships intended succession.
Did you think me long gone, Yodogima? inquired Hideyoshi, approaching her, at ease, and alone, in the great chamber, just off her own boudoir. I was delayed no more against luck than strangely; Harunaga is here, now, in the castle: in fact, came with me.
His words were wasted, for Yodogima at once arose to greet him, and never before did she seem quite as graceful; her hair, loose and massive, hung in wavelets far below her slender neck; the eyes fairlyburned as before, softened only with a compassion new and compelling; a complexion yet bearing the undercast of an ordeal intensifying the more its naturally olive-like hue, that long flowing gown of silken white which Hideyoshi had longed to see, and a voice modulated with the sweetness of motherhood—the taiko believed her in truth a goddess, thence prostrated himself at the purport of her answer:
You alone are welcome, Hideyoshi.
But the child, Yodogima?
Shall I present it?
Yes; it is mine; I name him Hideyori; let lanterns be hung everywhere, proclaiming Hideyoshis successor; you are his rightful mother, and my sole support; believe me, Yodogima; I swear it.
With due promulgation, Hideyoris advent occasioned upon the surface great rejoicing everywhere throughout the land. Especially were the tidings well received at Ozaka and thereabout: still more earnestly by the older of Hideyoshis immediate supporters—those captains who had fought side by side with him from obscurity to mastery; none among them had so forgotten his duty as to think of independent action or listen to a suggestion in contravention of the taiko; he had been their guidance, and upon his regeneration depended their welfare; the father at once became a god, and the son his natural prognosticator.
Quite different, however, with those forced or tolerated into submission. Ieyasu had not tried out his capabilities, and Ishida served only for a purpose. Neither had sown that others might reap: each had awaited the harvest as best suited his particular need or environment; and now, at last, dissension foreboded their several necessities. Both, therefore, sought without delay to strengthen either one his own conjectured position, in view of the taikos possible retirement.
You have no need to make oath, Hideyoshi, promised Yodogima, in answer to his further protestations; my interests and your purpose within themselves make us but one. Command me.
Let some fitting entertainment be had; I have now an heir, peace is at home, and China, I am told, sends an envoy to crown me emperor; what greater joy could be?
To this proposal Yodogima made no protest, in fact encouraged its doing, yet knew full well the purport and surmised an eagerness on the part of every daimyo—invited or not—to seize any opportunity to test underhandedly his influence or lay discreetly some self-bettered plan. The taiko had whipped them into subjection and she herself borne him a recognized successor, but would the nation accept an authority incapable of enforcing itself? Could individual powers be transmitted in the absence of personal prowess? In fact, were they a nation as yet? If not, then what, required?
These were some of the questions vitally confronting Yodogima at the very outset of her enlarged career, and she had answered each satisfactorily to herself: the husbands declining whimsicalities, presumably more tolerable than impressive to others—in view of their several intentions and universal unpreparedness—should be made to promote not only a devoted lifes well earned vacation, but to attend as well the immediate requirements of those upon whose shoulders an unfinished work had certainly, if not rightfully, fallen. The taikos frivolities, therefore, had been, likely, not only permitted but undertaken, and the completion of the Fushima castle was made the occasion: no captain would refuse, nor could anydaimyo have been kept away except by force; the first longed to do the master any honor, and the others to avail themselves of what they designed making an occasion for the feathering of their own nests, no matter when or where the chance. Yodogima had not been thought of, only as a mother, by any, excepting possibly two—one a daimyo, the other a bakufu—had not been contemplated as inevitably standing over like the sun emerging behind a receding storm.
You must attend, as I direct, urged Ieyasu, to Esyo, who persisted in declining an invitation.
I shall not, replied she, deigning to proffer no excuse whatsoever.
Well, replied he, thoughtfully; this is a dilemma; I cannot make you go consistently, but I shall resolve at least a plausible stay at home—you can have Hidetada, my son; perhaps a growing husband would suit you better than a declining suitor. Take him and welcome.
Oh, I am not so particular; an infant might perchance serve me as well as an older man served my sister. Then, on the other hand, there is nothing like agreeableness; Esyo is an obedient body, whatever else you or others may contemplate. Lets have done with it.
They were married—she and the infant Hidetada—and Esyo, in consequence, excused attendance upon the taikos grand cha-no-yu (tea-drinking party)—conserving probably Ieyasus pleasure or safety no more than her own self-understood purpose.
Ishida, on the other hand, had brought all his persuasion to bear upon Oyea—the taiko had quite ignored or forgotten her, but Yodogima had not. Many of the older captains retained at heart a warm place for the elder wife, and truly sympathized with her for her many sacrifices and half-requited support. She had surrendered position and all that goes with it to marry Hideyoshi in his poverty-stricken beginning, and through all the trials and hardships of a relentless struggle had never once lost faith or asked a favor: Yodogima appreciated the influence her presence should have upon this the most vital occasion at which she had been privileged the prestige of hostess.
I regret very much Oyeas decision, said Yodogima, to Ishida, shortly before the time set for the entertainment. I wonder if some outside influence can deter her? I hardly think so, however; Oyea is above suspicion, and is the closest friend I have, aside my own good sisters. Please pay her my best compliments, and use your better judgment as to proper measures; I can easily enough overlook Esyos idiosyncracies, but Oyea is a practical woman.
Your ladyship is quite right, and far-seeing if, perhaps, most charitable, though not altogether inattentive. There is an ulterior purpose, I will not say reason—there could be no justice in any sort of breach toward our good princess—believe me, your ladyship—Ishida cannot speak otherwise, and my long service as master of ceremonies to our most excellenttaiko, his lordship—beginning, as your honorable ladyship well knows, these many years ago—as I say, such a round, so highly prized and as graciously bestowed, entitles one—I dare say, that your ladyship herself would extend to an humbler subject a consideration—arising only within the bosom of a traditional appreciation little in evidence these days, I tell you—emanating from a desire to do nothing contrary to the best ethics of the times—dominating the heart-interests especially of that one whom the master has permitted us each and all alike to serve and revere as jealously and considerately as the fleeting moments—
Time is precious. Pardon me, Ishida?
Yes; as I was about to say; Esyo out of the way, Ieyasu is fast becoming a favorite at Azuchi; and, though only a visitor at Fushima, may bode more than a kwambakus disseverance. These require drastic consideration.
Hush. You speak unbecomingly.
Excuse me. I have only your ladyships best interests at heart.
It were more like it, I trow, had you said in mind, my good Ishida.
No less at my fingers end, your ladyship.
Boaster—one might think you Sen-no-rikyu himself, to hear you talk.
Stranger mistakes have been made.
Not to-day, Ishida.
Yodogima—
Stop! You forget yourself; the taiko still lives: it is he that we serve.
The festal day coming on, and all in readiness, Sen-no-rikyu apparently took his place at the bowl. No man had greater fame than he. There had been brewers of a superior flavor, but none ever reached the excellence of Hideyoshis day and favor, save Sen-no-rikyu, and he alone. Famed as no man had been at cha-no-yu, trusted as only a Hideyoshi knew how to trust, truant or designer, patronized by an age famed above all others in the wealth and luxury and refinement and indulgence of a nobility unsurpassed in the annals of time, this, the supposed Sen-no-rikyu, but in fact substitute tea-server, a scion of all that had gone before and a deceiver among adepts, may have rightly thought himself, too, a master, undiscovered and immune.
Had not these lords and ladies, serving and served, the kuge and the bakufu, come or remained there to partake of a hospitality made possible only by the perfection of an art, a crafthood not comparable to the deftness of his hand, with the cunning of his brain, against the force of his will? What mattered if he traduced as others reviled?
The hand that rules is not the one who feeds, argued he, to himself, as the guests gathered in anticipation of all that Hideyoshi, the greatest of them, had thought to develop in life or fought to leave at death.
And they did patronize thus in gorgeous splendor. Silks soft to the touch and pleasing to behold coveredthese people, whose bodies bore no taint of coarse, close-fitting and ill-shaped garments. The great chamber in which they lounged comfortably or demeaned themselves gracefully bespoke cycles of rigid aesthetics; the crude walls and hard-made floors, cumbersome furniture and meaningless ornaments of earlier days had long ago succumbed to oblivions kindlier grace. The food they ate, and the tea they drank—only a god could brew and serve it as they wot.
Seated there as placed, no sense of man disturbed them—the animal had been subdued in times gone by—thought, too, lost all sway, and only the soul called down from ethereal realms a glory that made earth in truth a heaven.
A careful hand filled the fated cup. Nature-clad messengers bore it toward the taiko. The cha-no-yu had begun.
Two simply-robed humans, no different except in degree, sat at the head of this vast compulsorily punctilious assemblage—the one at the others side. The messengers came on, and no sound issued or lip as much as moved. Hideyoshi raised his hand to take the coveted draught, but Yodogima, instead, seized the cup and, raising it to her lips, a mighty confusion broke forth, from Ishida to her husband, over that beaten and mystified audience—Sen-no-rikyu was nowhere there; Ishida sat in his place!
What? Would you, even you, deny me first—Yodogima? tremblingly asked the taiko.
It is Hidetsugus fault, shouted Ishida, undisguising in the confusion and rushing forward. He has poisoned the princess—please strike him and pardon her, continued he, snatching the cup away and dashing its contents upon the floor.
No, replied Yodogima, composedly; Ishida speaks falsely; it is mine to answer.
Outside the rattle and purpose of troops made itself quickly apparent, and Ieyasu sprang up, commanding:
My sword. Then, Forward, guards!
The taiko only railed the harder; he could not look or feel beyond the insult sustained; Yodogima had committed an act no penalty other than direst torture could atone.