ce the main fief with the seat at Kita no Sho[u] (Fukui) was given to
the uncle. Fukui to-day is a dull provincial town, and excellent
stopping place for those who would have eyes opened as to the great
wealth and wide flat expanse of these three provinces of Kaga, Etchu[u],
and Echizen. Their lord was a mighty chieftain, entrenched behind
mountain barriers; and the great campaigns, which figure in pre-Tokugawa
history, were fought for a great object. The Maeda House, however, had
had their wings clipped, and were confined to Kaga. The Matsudaira were
established in Echizen. Etchu[u] was much divided up. The reduction of
the fief of Echizen Ke to 500,000 _koku_ brought him within reasonable
bounds, and he could well be left to ride with his hawks along the
pretty Ashibagawa, or to take his pleasure outing on the crest of
Asuwayama, the holy place of the city suburbs, and where Hideyoshi
nearly lost life and an umbrella by a stray shot. Then would follow the
return, the ride across the wide moat, its waters dotted with the fowl
he went elsewhere to shoot, but safe within these precincts. Whether he
returned to any better entertainment than that of the present day
Tsuki-mi-ro or Moon viewing inn, one can doubt. He certainly did not
have the pretty outlook from its river bordered garden front.

Sen-chiyo-maru, later Mitsunaga, was relegated to Takata castle in
Echigo, with the minor income of 250,000 _koku_. Perhaps this fact,
together with his youth, and the more entertaining expenditure of the
income at an Edo _yashiki_, rather than in a mountain castle town,
brought the Takata no Kata to the capital. Takata Dono, or the Takata no
Kata, so named from the fief, is not known to fame or history under
other appellation. She is said to have possessed all the beauty of her
elder sister, the Senhimegimi, wife of Hideyori Ko[u], son of the
Taiko[u], he who fell at Osaka castle. Furthermore, with the training of
the _samurai_ woman, the greatness of her position and personal
attraction, she possessed all the obstinacy and energy of the male
members of her family, with few of the restraints imposed on them by
public service. Takata Dono frankly threw herself into all the pleasures
she could find at the capital. Established in the Yoshida Goten, the
younger _samurai_ of the _hatamoto_ quickly came under her influence.
There was a taint of license in her blood, perhaps inherited from the
father who was most unbridled in his passions.