details. The
salient facts are that Hideyoshi left Osaka with the main army of one
hundred and thirty thousand men on the 22d of January, 1587, and,
travelling by land, reached the Strait of Akamagasaki--now called
Shimonoseki--on the 17th of February. He marched through Chikuzen,
making friends of the local chieftains by forbearance and diplomacy,
and fighting the first great battle of the campaign at Oguchi on the
Sendai-gawa. The Satsuma baron's younger brother, Iehisa, after a
gallant resistance, surrendered to Hideyoshi, and was employed by the
latter to communicate direct with his chief, Yoshihisa. It was
generally supposed that Iehisa would never return from this mission,
but would remain in the camp of Shimazu. He did return, however, his
word of honour being of more importance in his estimation than the
opportunity of recovering his liberty.

History states that Hideyoshi thereafter treated this noble man with
the greatest consideration, but it is difficult to reconcile that
account with the fact that Hideyoshi subsequently pressed Iehisa to
guide the Osaka army through the mountains and rivers which
constituted natural defences for the fief of Satsuma. Iehisa, of
course, refused, and to Hideyoshi's credit it stands on record that
he did not press the matter with any violence. This difficulty of
invading an unknown country without any maps or any guides, a country
celebrated for its topographical perplexities, was ultimately
overcome by sending Buddhist priests to act as spies in the dominions
of Shimazu. These spies were led by the abbot, Kennyo, with whose
name the reader is already familiar, and as the Shimazu family were
sincere believers in Buddhism, no obstacles were placed in the way of
the treacherous monks. They were able ultimately to guide the Osaka
army through the forests and mountains on the north of Kagoshima, and
Hideyoshi adopted the same strategy as that pursued in a similar case
three hundred years later, namely, sending a force of fifty thousand
men by sea with orders to advance against Kagoshima from the south.
The Satsuma troops were completely defeated, and only the castle of
Kagoshima remained in their hands.

At this stage of the campaign Hideyoshi behaved with remarkable
magnanimity and foresight. Contrary to the advice of some of his
principal retainers, he refused to proceed to extremities against the
Shimazu clan, and agreed to make peace, on the basis that the clan
should be lef