In the late 16th century, three men forged the various warring clans of Japan into a (mostly) unified society: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hidiyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.
The fruition of this struggle was loosely depicted in James Clavell’s Shogun which is, if not entirely historically accurate, one ripping great yarn. Clavell named the eventual victor in these struggles “Toronaga”; in reality, the man that would become Shogun had a veritable succession of names (as was common in that time), though he is know traditionally as Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu, having originated in a tiny, impoverished clan and having spent all of his youth as a hostage to a much larger, more prestigious clan, could likely never have pulled off the coup by himself. Indeed, in his typical style, he rolled in on the coat tails of others and, using his characteristic patience, struck when opportunity presented itself.
Which brings me at last to the subject on which I’d like your input:
Oda Nobunaga rose from obscurity from his place as a teenaged ruler of a piece of the province of Odwara to become ruler of perhaps 2/3rds of the country. In the year 1576, Toyotomi Hidiyoshi appears in the record, a peasant who had rapidly climbed to prominence in Nobunaga’s regime. Hidiyoshi, like Nobunaga, is remembered as a brilliant tactician and an excellent general. When Nobunga was assassinated by one of his vassals, after a brief struggle, Toyotomi Hidiyoshi completed the unification though he never took the title Shogun.
All three men mentioned above are remembered in a common poem known to Japanese school children, a poem that shows the different style each man displayed throughout his life:
What if a bird won’t sing?
- Nobunaga says “Kill it.”
Hidiyoshi says “Make it want to sing.”
Ieyasu says “Wait.”
My question (finally!) is:
Did Nobunaga succeed because he made excellent use of Hidiyoshi’s talent or did Hidiyoshi succeed because he had a really great mentor in Nobunaga?
DLF
Excellent question!