action when he happened to observe the wrinkles which time had
written on the suppliant's face. He recovered his sang-froid and
contented himself with sending the officer from his presence and
subsequently causing to be handed to him a couplet setting forth the
evils of bribery and corruption. He forgave the guilty man in
consideration of his advanced age, and the incident is said to have
closed with the suicide of the old officer. Frugality was another
trait of Nobunaga's character. But he did not save money for money's
sake. He spent with lavish hand when the occasion called for
munificence; as when he contributed a great sum for the rebuilding of
the Ise shrines. Perhaps nothing constitutes a better clue to his
disposition than the verses he habitually quoted:

Life is short; the world is a mere dream to the idle.
Only the fool fears death, for what is there of life that does
Not die once, sooner or later?
Man has to die once and once only;
He should make his death glorious.

It is recorded that Nobunaga's demeanour in battle truly reflected
the spirit of these verses.

ENGRAVING: TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI

HIDEYOSHI

Nobunaga certainly deserved the success he achieved, but that he
achieved it must be attributed in part to accident. That accident was
his association with Hideyoshi.* It has been sometimes said that
circumstances beget the men to deal with them. Fallacious as such a
doctrine is, it almost compels belief when we observe that the second
half of the sixteenth century in Japan produced three of the greatest
men the world has ever seen, and that they joined hands to accomplish
the stupendous task of restoring peace and order to an empire which
had been almost continuously torn by war throughout five consecutive
centuries. These three men were born within an interval of eight
years: Nobunaga, in 1534; Hideyoshi, in 1536, and Ieyasu, in 1542.

*To avoid needless difficulty the name "Hideyoshi" is used solely
throughout this history. But, as a matter of fact, the great
statesman and general was called in his childhood Nakamura Hiyoshi;
his adult name was Tokichi; afterwards he changed this to Hashiba and
ultimately, he was known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

There are many stories about Hideyoshi's early days, but the details
are obscured by a record called the Taikoki, which undoubtedly makes
many excursions into the region of romance. The plain facts appear to
be that Hideyoshi was the son of a