ed (?), followed,
two years later, by two horses, two ships, fifty bows with arrows,
and--a promise. Kudara was then ruled by a very enterprising prince
(Yo-chang). Resolving to strike separately at his enemies, Koma and
Shiragi, he threw himself with all his forces against Koma and gained
a signal victory (553). Then, at length, Japan was induced to assist.
An omi was despatched (554) to the peninsula with a thousand
soldiers, as many horses and forty ships. Shiragi became at once the
objective of the united forces of Kudara and Japan. A disastrous
defeat resulted for the assailants. The Kudara army suffered almost
complete extermination, losing nearly thirty thousand men, and
history is silent as to the fate of the omi's contingent.
Nevertheless the fear of Japanese vengeance induced Shiragi to hold
its hand, and, in the year 561, an attempt was made twice to renew
friendly relations with the Yamato Court by means of tribute-bearing
envoys. Japan did not repel these overtures, but she treated the
envoy of the victorious Shiragi with less respect than that extended
to the envoy of the vanquished Kudara.

In the spring of the following year (562), Shiragi invaded Mimana,
destroyed the Japanese station there and overran the whole region
(ten provinces). No warning had reached Japan. She was taken entirely
unawares, and she regarded it as an act of treachery on Shiragi's
part to have transformed itself suddenly from a tribute-bearing
friend into an active enemy. Strangely enough, the King of Shiragi
does not appear to have considered that his act precluded a
continuance of friendly relations with the Yamato Court. Six months
after his invasion of Mimana he renewed the despatch of envoys to
Japan, and it was not until their arrival in Yamato that they learned
Japan's mood. Much to the credit of the Yamato Court, it did not
wreak vengeance on these untimely envoys, but immediately afterwards
an armed expedition was despatched to call Shiragi to account. The
forces were divided into two corps, one being ordered to march under
Ki no Omaro northwest from Mimana and effect a junction with Kudara;
the other, under Kawabe no Nie, was to move eastward against Shiragi.
This scheme became known to the Shiragi generals owing to the seizure
of a despatch intended for Kudara. They attempted to intercept
Omaro's corps, but were signally defeated.

The movement under Kawabe no Nie fared differently. Japanese annals
attempt to palliate