was
hopelessly surrounded and cut off from help. He retired to an inner room
of the temple, set it on fire, and then calmly committed _hara-kiri_. His
body was buried in the burning and falling ruins. His death occurred in
A.D. 1582.

Thus ended the career of one of Japan's great men. He had shown the
possibility of uniting the provinces of Japan under one strong government.
He had given to Kyoto and the provinces lying east and north of it a
period of peace and quiet under which great progress had been made in
agriculture, the arts and in literature. He was a warrior and not a
statesman, and for this reason less was done than might have been in
confirming and solidifying the reforms which his conquest had made
possible. Personally he was quick-tempered and overbearing, and often gave
offence to those who were not able to see through his rough exterior to
the true and generous heart which lay beneath. The cause of the plot
against him was probably the consequence of a familiarity with which he
sometimes treated his military subordinates. It is said that on one
occasion in his palace when he had grown somewhat over-festive he took the
head of his general Akechi(159) under his arm and with his fan played a
tune upon it, using it like a drum. Akechi was mortally offended and never
forgave the humiliating joke. His treason, which resulted in Nobunaga's
death, was the final outcome of this bit of thoughtless horse-play.

CHAPTER IX. TOYOTOMI HIDEYOSHI.

The death of Nobunaga in the forty-ninth year of his age left the country
in a critical condition. Sakuma and Shibata had been his active retainers
and generals for many years, and they had the most bitter and envious
hatred toward Hideyoshi, whom they had seen advance steadily up to and
past them in the march of military preferment. It was to Hideyoshi that
the country looked to take up the work which Nobunaga's death had
interrupted. Akechi began to realize when too late that he must reckon
with him for his terrible crime. He appointed two of his lieutenants to
assassinate Hideyoshi on his way back to the capital. He sent word to Mori
Terumoto, who was trying to raise the siege of the castle of Takamatsu,
concerning Nobunaga's death, hoping that this tragedy would encourage
Terumoto to complete his designs.

In the meantime the news had reached Hideyoshi. Terumoto had heard of the
starting of Nobunaga with additional troops, and had determined to make
peace w