d of the oversea armies. In fact, at a council
held to consider this matter, he proposed to cross the water at the
head of one hundred and fifty thousand men, handing over the
administration of affairs in Japan to Ieyasu. On that occasion, one
of his most trusted followers, Asano Nagamasa, provoked a violent
outburst of temper on Hideyoshi's part by declaring that such a
scheme would be an act of lunacy, since Hideyoshi's presence alone
secured the empire against recurrence of domestic strife. The annals
are not very clear at this point, but everything seems to indicate
that Hideyoshi's purpose of leading the armies in person would have
been carried into practice had it not become certain that the
invasion of China would have to be abandoned. The time and the manner
in which this failure became clear will be seen as we proceed.

CONDITIONS FROM THE INVADER'S POINT OF VIEW

The sea which separates Japan from the Korean peninsula narrows on
the south to a strait divided by the island of Tsushima into two
channels of nearly equal width. Tsushima had, for centuries, been the
Japanese outpost in this part of the empire. To reach the island from
the Japanese side was always an easy and safe task, but in the
fifty-six-mile channel that separates Tsushima from the peninsula of
Korea an invading flotilla had to run the risk of an attack by Korean
warships.* The army assembled at Nagoya totalled over three hundred
thousand men, whereof some seventy thousand constituted the first
fighting line and eighty-seven thousand the second, the remainder
forming a reserve to meet contingencies. The question of maritime
transport presented some difficulty, but was solved by the expedient
of ordering each maritime feudatory to furnish two large ships for
every hundred thousand koku of the fief's assessment, and their crews
were obtained by compelling each fishing village to furnish ten
sailors for every hundred houses it contained. These were not
fighting vessels but mere transports. Fighting men to the number of
ninety-two hundred were, however, distributed among the ships, and
were armed with match-locks, bows, and swords. The problem of
commissariat was very formidable. This part of the enterprise was
entrusted solely to Asano Nagamasa, minister of Justice, one of the
five bugyo,--that is to say, five officials called administrators, in
whose intelligence and competence Hideyoshi placed signal reliance.
In the records of the Asano family