Osaka so far as the
laws of the Bakufu were concerned. Men who had broken those laws or
otherwise offended against the shogun took refuge in Osaka. Such was
the case with the son of Hosokawa Tadaoki; with Goto Matabei, chief
vassal of Kuroda Nagamasa, and with Nambu Saemon, principal retainer
of Nambu Nobunao. These three and many others repaired to the castle
of Osaka, and being there secure against any unarmed attempt of the
Tokugawa to arrest them, they virtually defied Ieyasu's control. By
degrees a constant stream of ronin, or free-lances, flowed into that
city, and a conspicuous element among its inhabitants consisted of
Christian feudatories, who, regardless of the edicts of the Bakufu,
openly preached their faith and were in no wise checked by the
Toyotomi rulers. Even the Buddhist and Shinto priests in Osaka and
its territories were independent of the Bakufu authority, and there
were cases of boundary disputes in which the Tokugawa officials
declined to give judgment since they were not in a position to
enforce it. It may well be supposed that this state of affairs grew
steadily more obnoxious to the Tokugawa. Ieyasu only awaited a
pretext to assert the supremacy of his authority.

INSCRIPTION ON THE BELL

It has already been stated that, in the year 1586, a colossal image
of Buddha was erected by Hideyoshi at the Hoko-ji in Kyoto. This idol
was made of wood, and the great earthquake of 1596 destroyed it.
Subsequently, Ieyasu advised Hideyori to replace the wooden idol with
a bronze one. Ono Harunaga stood opposed to this idea, but Katagiri
Katsumoto, constant to his policy of placating Ieyasu, threw his
influence into the other scale. It is impossible to tell whether, in
making this proposal, Ieyasu had already conceived the extraordinary
scheme which he ultimately carried out. It would appear more
probable, however, that his original policy was merely to impoverish
the Toyotomi family by imposing upon it the heavy outlay necessary
for constructing a huge bronze Buddha. Many thousands of ryo had to
be spent, and the money was obtained by converting into coin a number
of gold ingots in the form of horses, which Hideyoshi had stored in
the treasury of the Osaka castle as a war fund. Five years later,
that is to say, in 1614, the great image was completed and an
imposing ceremony of dedication was organized. A thousand priests
were to take part, and all the people in the capital, as well as many
from the surro