the
Echizen baron was induced to take the fatal step of separating
himself from his Omi colleague, and at Tone-yama he sustained a
crushing defeat, leaving two thousand of his men and twenty-three of
his captains dead upon the field. He himself fled and for a time
remained concealed, but ultimately, being closely menaced with
capture, he committed suicide. Meanwhile, Nagamasa had withdrawn to
his stronghold of Otani, where he was besieged by Nobunaga. The
castle ultimately fell, Nagamasa and his son dying by their own
hands.

This year witnessed also the death of Takeda Shingen, and thus
Nobunaga not only established his sway over the whole of the
provinces of Omi and Echizen but also was relieved from the constant
menace of a formidable attack by a captain to whom public opinion
justly attributed the leading place among Japanese strategists. The
whole of Nagamasa's estates, yielding an annual return of 180,000
koku, was given to Hideyoshi, and he was ordered to assume the
command of Otani Castle, whence, however, he moved shortly afterwards
to Nagahama.

HIEI-ZAN

It was now possible for Nobunaga to devote his entire attention to
the soldier-priests who had allied themselves with his enemies. It
has been shown that the monastery of Hiei-zan had afforded shelter
and sustenance to the forces of Echizen and Omi during the winter of
1570-1571, and it has been shown also that Nobunaga, underrating the
strength of the priests in the province of Settsu, sustained defeat
at their hands. He now (1574) sent an army to hold the soldier-monks
of Settsu in check while he himself dealt with Hiei-zan. This great
monastery, as already shown, was erected in the ninth century in
obedience to the Buddhist superstition that the northeastern quarter
of the heavens is the "Demon's Gate," and that a temple must be
erected there to afford security against evil influences. The temple
on Hiei-zan had received the munificent patronage of monarch after
monarch, and had grown to be a huge monastery, containing some three
thousand priests. This miniature city completely commanded Kyoto, and
was guarded in front by a great lake. But, above all, it was
sanctified by the superstition of the people, and when Nobunaga
invested it, he found the greatest reluctance on the part of his
generals to proceed to extremities. Nevertheless, he overcame these
scruples, and drawing a cordon of troops round the great monastery,
he applied the torch to the buil