JAPAN
as his military discipline. Order and peace were soon restored in Kyōtō under his sway, and when the Shōgun attempted to resort to the wonted device of levying forced contributions on the citizens for his own luxurious purposes, Nobunaga presented to him a sternly worded document of arraignment, in which seventeen charges of misconduct were categorically set forth. Only one general could make head against Nobunaga in the field. This was Takeda Shingen, and fortunately for the peace of the realm he died before his rivalry could effectually change the current of events, then at length setting towards administrative unity. Takeda's exploits need not be considered here further than to say that they contributed materially to regenerate the era and to restore the nation's ideal of soldierly qualities.
Oda Nobunaga met a fate not uncommon in that age: he fell a victim to the treachery of a lieutenant. But swift and signal vengeance was wreaked upon the traitor by Hashiba Hideyoshi, who after Oda's death became the most prominent figure in the realm.
Hideyoshi's career was in one sense typical of the ere; in another, strangely inconsistent with it. Had not the time-honoured lines of social distinction and hereditary prestige been entirely obscured, such a man could never have risen to the highest place attainable by a subject. Born in the family of a poor soldier, the best future anticipated for
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