celling in military discipline, he was
esteemed the fittest to command an army, manage a siege, fortify a town,
or mark out a camp of any general in Japan, never using any head but his
own. If he asked advice, it was more to know their hearts than to profit
by their advice. He sought to see into others and to conceal his own
counsel, being very secret in his designs. He laughed at the worship of
the gods, being convinced that the bonzes were impostors abusing the
simplicity of the people and screening their own debauches under the
name of religion."

Such was the man who by genius and strength of will now rose to the head
of affairs. Not being of the Minamoto family, he did not seek to make
himself shogun, and for forty years this office ceased to exist. He
ruled in the name of the mikado, but held all the power of the realm.

The good fortune of Nobunaga lay largely in his wise choice of men.
Under him were four generals, so admirable yet so diverse in military
ability that the people gave them the distinctive nicknames of "Cotton,"
"Rice," "Attack," and "Retreat." Cotton, which can be put to a multitude
of uses, indicated the fertility in resources of the first; while the
second made himself as necessary as rice, which people cannot live a day
without. The strength of the third lay in the boldness of his attacks;
of the fourth, in the skill of his retreats. Of these four, the first,
named Hideyoshi, rose to great fame. A fifth was afterwards added,
Tokugawa Iyeyasu, also a famous name in Japan.

It was through his dealings with the Buddhists that Nobunaga made
himself best known in history. He had lived among them in his early
years, and had learned to hate and despise them. Having been educated in
the Shinto faith, the ancient religion of Japan, he looked on the
priests of Buddhism as enemies to the true faith. The destruction of
these powerful sectaries was, therefore, one of the great purposes of
his life.

Nobunaga had other reasons than these for destroying the power of the
bonzes. During the long period of the Ashikagas these cunning
ecclesiastics had risen to great power. Their monasteries had become
fortresses, with moats and strong stone walls. Internally these were
like arsenals, and an army could readily be equipped from them with
weapons, while many of the priests were daring leaders. During the civil
wars they served the side that promised them the most spoil or power.
Rivals among them often fought b