Yasushi Inoue - The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan

Harunobu thought for a while and then said, “All right, call Nobukata. He may be getting ready for war right now.”

As Harunobu predicted, Itagaki Nobukata came to see him fully armed and ready for battle.

“Why are you prepared for battle?”

“Since you have killed the Lord of Suwa, we have no other choice but to attack.”

“Why don’t we wait until they attack us?”

Itagaki thought about Harunobu’s idea briefly, displaying a slight frown, and then glanced at Kansuke. Itagaki said coldly,

“We should have attacked Suwa at Mount Misa last time. We are prolonging things for nothing.” Itagaki had always favored Kansuke, but now he looked at Kansuke accusingly.

Kansuke’s small frame stiffened slightly and he sat up straighter under the reproachful glare of his superior general, but as usual, nobody knew where his cold and hard eyes were gazing.

He was secluding himself in his mind and already drawing up the formation of Uehara Castle, which he had recently visited to negotiate with the Lord of Suwa. Completely ignoring Itagaki’s accusation, he was thinking of the best way to capture Uehara Castle. He thought it could be taken within three days. Once Uehara Castle fell, Takashima Castle, which was about two miles away from there, would be very easily captured within a day. No matter what, the attack ought to be in winter when Lake Suwa was frozen.

“The battle should be held in winter,” Kansuke blurted out to no one in particular. His surprisingly loud voice seemed to echo around the gardens.

In the fourteenth year of Tenbun, on the nineteenth day of the new year, Harunobu sent his army out for the second time to conquer Suwa.

His brother Nobushige directed the entire army as commander-in-chief, Itagaki led the first line, and Hyuga Masaharu was responsible for the rear. It was an army comprised of 37,000 warriors. The Suwa army did not stay at Uehara Castle, but instead placed their camp at Fumonji Temple.

The Takeda army was so overwhelmingly dominant that they broke through the line of Fumonji Temple in only one day’s battle and captured Uehara Castle as well. Soon after, they quickly besieged the residence of the Lord of Suwa, Takashima Castle, beside Lake Suwa. The warriors led by Itagaki captured over 300 warriors under the Suwa rule. Thus the great family of Suwa fell under the Takeda.

In this, his first battle, Kansuke was the strategist behind Itagaki.

On the night they entered the enemy’s castle, Kansuke was the first one to break into the castle, using a huge spear which looked unusually large beside his small body. All the guards had already fled in fear, and not a single enemy remained in the castle. Kansuke climbed up onto a castle turret and stared down at the lake below. It was a very quaint scene, dreamlike even, since so many bonfires were set along the lake and their light was reflecting everywhere on the surface of the water. All the warriors were still excited over the victory of the day, and their continuous shouts of joy pierced the cold night air.

Kansuke descended from the turret, passed through the spacious rooms in the castle tower, and stepped into the waiting room next to it. Kansuke stopped suddenly in shock. In one corner of the room a properly dressed young woman was sitting with two ladies in waiting. One was old and wrinkled, and the other was young.

When Kansuke approached, the young maid said, “Do not come near her.” Kansuke, strangely overwhelmed by her voice, could not go any closer. The young maid yelled again, “Please leave.” It sounded to him as if his existence offended them.

“Is this Lord Suwa’s daughter?” Kansuke asked with a rather hoarse voice.

“Yes, so don’t come any closer.”

“If you tell me not to come any closer, I will not, but what is the problem?”

This time the old maid answered him, “Please don’t let anybody come in until we commit seppuku . 29”

Kansuke focused his eyes on Yorishige’s daughter, the same one he had seen last year. When he had seen her at the gates of Uehara Castle upon his first departure, her eyes were burning with hostility, but this time she was a very different and quiet person.

“If you were going to commit seppuku, why did you not do it before. You must have had enough time to do so.”

One of the maids answered, “We were trying to stop her from killing herself, because we pitied her so much. But now…”

Then, Yorishige’s daughter staggered to her feet, laughed bitterly, which startled Kansuke, and said just as coldly, “The truth was that I was running away because I did not want to end my life here. I don’t want to commit seppuku!”

“Princess, please control yourself.” The two maids followed the princess as she started to walk out the door.

“No, no, I don’t want to commit seppuku!” The princess staggered around aimlessly.

Then, they heard a loud noise; many samurai were entering the large room. Kansuke who was staring at the princess in admiration, suddenly stood up and grabbed her in his arms and asked,

“Why don’t you want to commit seppuku?” Trying to shake him off, Yorishige’s daughter looked up at Kansuke’s face, once again with her eyes full of hostility.

“Everybody is dying here. And yet I am the only one who would like to live,” she said. These honest words had a strange beauty in them, which Kansuke had never heard before. Any samurai’s daughter would never utter such blasphemous words, 30but her honesty touched Kansuke’s heart.

“What happens if I die? I would rather live and see with my own eyes what happens to this castle and the lake. I don’t want to die. No matter how hard it will be, I would rather live. No, I don’t want to kill myself!” She talked as if she were possessed.

“Let me go!” She struggled to free herself from Kansuke’s arms. Kansuke let go of the princess, and she fell to the floor with a thud. An image of a broken and scattered string of crystal beads appeared in his mind as the princess cried out in pain. The beautiful girl suddenly lost consciousness.

“Bring her!” Kansuke ordered her waiting maids. The two women, who seemed as if they too had lost interest in committing seppuku, carried her from the room following Kansuke’s orders.

Kansuke started to walk ahead of them. The large room was filled with samurai whose facial expressions were all frenzied like the King of Asura . 31They were all looking for something valuable that they could plunder. Kansuke guided the women through the growing mass of lustful warriors. There was something about his small monstrous appearance and the long spear in his hand that created a certain kind of fear in the samurai. Even the most violent and crazed samurai walked carefully around Kansuke’s party.

Yorishige’s daughter, Princess Yuu, was taken at once to Kofuchu, but she was returned to Suwa not long after and was temporarily kept in the Suwa Shrine.

One month after the battle of Suwa, Kansuke was invited to Itagaki’s residence. He was consulting with Kansuke on something rather unexpected.

“Our lord would like to have Princess Yuu as a concubine. Is it possible for you to prevent this?” said Itagaki. It was not surprising for Itagaki to have asked Kansuke. Kansuke had a lot of influence with many people, most importantly Harunobu. Major and senior vassals were against Harunobu’s wish on this matter, but he would not listen to any of them. Kansuke was called upon to persuade Harunobu, since Harunobu trusted Kansuke, and if Kansuke talked to Harunobu, he might just listen to him.

“If the lord is so enthusiastic about her, I don’t see any reason why he should not have her as his concubine.” Kansuke replied quickly. Kansuke suddenly had a strange feeling that he needed to tie these two high-ranking personages together. He thought of the words of Princess Yuu about how everyone was dying but she simply wanted to live.