June, 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto crossed the border into
Owari at the head of a force stated by the annals to have been
forty-six thousand strong. Just two years had elapsed since
Hideyoshi's admission to the service of the Owari baron in the office
of sandal-bearer. Nevertheless, some generally credible records do
not hesitate to represent Hideyoshi as taking a prominent part in the
great battle against the Imagawa, and as openly advising Nobunaga
with regard to the strategy best adapted to the situation. It is
incredible that a private soldier, and a mere youth of twenty-two at
that, should have risen in such a short time to occupy a place of
equality with the great generals of Nobunaga's army. But that
Hideyoshi contributed more or less to the result of the fight may be
confidently asserted.

The battle itself, though the forces engaged were not large, must be
counted one of the great combats of the world, for had not Nobunaga
emerged victorious the whole course of Japanese history might have
been changed. At the outset, no definite programme seems to have been
conceived on Nobunaga's side. He had no allies, and the numerical
inferiority of his troops was overwhelming. The latter defect was
remedied in a very partial degree by the resourcefulness of
Hideyoshi. In his boyhood he had served for some time under a
celebrated chief of freebooters, by name Hachisuka Koroku,* and he
persuaded that chieftain with his fifteen hundred followers to march
to the aid of the Owari army, armour and weapons having been
furnished by Sasaki Shotei, of Omi province. Sasaki regarded
Nobunaga's plight as too hopeless to warrant direct aid, but he was
willing to equip Hachisuka's men for the purpose, although the
addition of fifteen hundred soldiers could make very little
difference in the face of such a disparity as existed between the
combatants.

*Ancestor of the present Marquis Hachisuka.

Shortly before these events, Owari had been invaded from the west by
the Kitabatake baron, whose domain lay in Ise, and the invaders had
been beaten back by a bold offensive movement on Nobunaga's part. The
ultimate result had not been conclusive, as Nobunaga advisedly
refrained from carrying the war into Ise and thus leaving his own
territory unguarded. But the affair had taught the superiority of
offensive tactics, and thus Nobunaga's impulse was to attack the army
of Imagawa, instead of waiting to be crushed by preponderate force.
His most trus