教養としての太閤記 (The Story of Taikoki) — 多読＆精読リーダー（全9章・全38段落）

In the 1500s, Japan was in a long period of war. Many local lords (daimyo) fought each other for land and power. During this time, a boy named Tokichiro was born in a poor farming village in Owari (now Aichi Prefecture). Later in his life, the whole country would know him as Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

When Tokichiro was very young, his father died. His mother married a new man named Chikuami to keep the family safe. However, Tokichiro did not get along with his stepfather. To solve the problem, his parents sent him to a Buddhist temple. They hoped he would become a monk and live a quiet life.

At the temple, the older monks told him to read difficult books every day. Because Tokichiro was full of energy, sitting quietly for hours was painful for him. One day, he shouted, "Reading books inside a room cannot save people in this troubled world! I want to go out and see what I can do with my own hands!"

That night, he packed a small bag and ran away from the temple. He had no money and no place to go, but his heart was full of hope. To buy food, he bought small needles (hari) and sold them from town to town. Walking through many villages taught the young boy how people lived and what they needed. His great adventure had just begun.

While Tokichiro was traveling in Mikawa, he got very tired and fell asleep on Yahagi Bridge. Suddenly, a big, strong man kicked his head gently. "Hey, boy! You are blocking the way," the man said. He was Hachisuka Koroku, the leader of a famous group of bandits (nobushi).

Most boys would cry and run away, but Tokichiro was not afraid at all. He looked straight into Koroku's eyes and smiled. Koroku liked the boy's courage. They talked all night and became good friends. Koroku promised to help Tokichiro if he ever needed support in the future.

After leaving Mikawa, Tokichiro met a kind samurai named Matsushita Kahei. Kahei saw that Tokichiro was very clever, so he hired the boy as a servant. Tokichiro worked harder than anyone else. When Kahei asked him to do one job, Tokichiro quickly finished three. Because of his bright ideas and honesty, Kahei trusted him deeply and gave him important jobs.

However, the older servants became jealous of Tokichiro. "He is just a poor boy from another town! Why does our master like him so much?" they whispered angrily. They began to hide Tokichiro's shoes and say bad things about him.

Kahei noticed this problem and felt sorry for Tokichiro. One evening, Kahei called Tokichiro to his room quietly. "Tokichiro, you are too talented to stay in a small house like mine," Kahei said warmly. "If you stay here, the other servants may hurt you. Take this money and find a greater master who can use your true power." Tokichiro cried with gratitude. He promised himself that he would never forget Kahei's kindness.

Tokichiro returned to his hometown, Owari, and decided to serve Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga was a young lord who had new, surprising ideas. Everyone was afraid of Nobunaga's strict rules, but Tokichiro thought, "Only a man like him can change Japan!"

At first, Tokichiro's job was carrying Nobunaga's sandals (zori). It was the lowest job among the servants, and nobody wanted to do it. Still, Tokichiro did his best with a big smile. Every morning, he woke up earlier than anyone else and cleaned the yard around the castle.

One freezing winter morning, Nobunaga came out of a house and put on his sandals. He stopped in surprise. The sandals were warm! Nobunaga looked at Tokichiro angrily and shouted, "Did you sit on my sandals to keep your bottom warm?!"

Tokichiro bowed deeply and answered, "No, my lord! It is very cold today, so I kept your sandals inside my jacket against my chest. I wanted to keep them warm for your feet." Nobunaga looked at the thin boy shivering in the snow. He realized that Tokichiro was not a normal servant, and he promoted him to a higher rank.

Soon after that, a big storm broke a long stone wall of Kiyosu Castle. Although many workers tried to fix it for weeks, the work did not go well. Leaving a broken wall was very dangerous because enemies could walk into the castle easily.

Nobunaga was very angry at the slow progress, but none of his senior officers knew what to do. Then, Tokichiro stepped forward bravely and said, "My lord, please give me a chance! I can fix the wall in three days." The other samurai laughed at him, saying that it was impossible, but Nobunaga agreed to let him try.

First, Tokichiro carefully watched the site to understand why the work was so slow. He saw that too many workers were crowded in one place without clear roles, and they were cold and hungry. Tokichiro did not shout at the tired workers. Instead, he divided the long wall into ten sections and assigned a small team to each section.

Next, he gave the workers plenty of hot food and warm drinks. "The fastest team to build a strong wall will get a special prize!" he announced with a bright smile. The workers smiled and began to work together with great energy. In just three days, the strong wall was completed. Nobunaga was amazed by Tokichiro's wisdom and gave him a much higher position.

In 1566, Nobunaga wanted to conquer the neighboring province of Mino, which was ruled by the Saito clan. To attack Mino, the Oda army needed a base at Sunomata, across the wide Nagara River. Two famous generals had already tried to build a fort there, but the enemy attacked them during the construction and both failed.

When Nobunaga asked who would build the fort next, Tokichiro raised his hand. "If we build the fort in the usual way, the enemy will burn it down again," Tokichiro thought. Remembering the promise on Yahagi Bridge, he visited his old friend Hachisuka Koroku, whose group knew every river and forest in the area.

Koroku gladly gathered hundreds of brave river men to help Tokichiro. Far upstream in the mountains, where the enemy could not see them, they cut down trees and secretly made all the walls, towers, and gates in advance. Then, they took the parts apart and tied them into large wooden rafts.

On a dark, rainy night, Koroku's men floated the rafts down the river to Sunomata. Working in complete silence, they pulled the parts onto the riverbank and put the whole fort together before dawn. When the morning mist cleared, the Mino soldiers were shocked to see a white castle standing by the river. Thanks to this "One-Night Castle," the Oda army secured a strong foothold in Mino.

Even with the fort at Sunomata, conquering Mino was not easy. The main castle of Mino sat high on Mount Inaba, and it was known as a castle that no army could take by force. Tokichiro realized that he needed the wisdom of Takenaka Hanbei, the greatest strategist in Mino.

Previously, Hanbei had served the young lord of Mino, Saito Tatsuoki. However, Tatsuoki only cared about drinking and parties, and he ignored Hanbei's advice. To wake his foolish lord up, Hanbei once captured Inabayama Castle using only sixteen men! Even then, Hanbei did not want power for himself. He returned the castle to Tatsuoki and retired to live a quiet life in the mountains.

Remembering the famous Chinese story of "Three Visits" (Sanko no Rei), Tokichiro walked up the mountain trail to Hanbei's small house. On his first and second visits, Hanbei refused to see him because he wanted to test whether Tokichiro was truly sincere. Still, Tokichiro never got angry. He visited Hanbei a third time and bowed politely outside the gate.

When Hanbei finally opened the door, Tokichiro said earnestly, "I do not want your help just to make myself famous. Every long war hurts poor farmers and children the most. Please lend me your wisdom so that we can end these wars quickly and bring peace to Japan!" Deeply moved by Tokichiro's pure dream, the genius strategist smiled and agreed to become his partner.

In 1567, Nobunaga's main army surrounded Mount Inaba. With Hanbei's advice, three powerful Mino lords had already joined Nobunaga's side, but Inabayama Castle itself was still protected by steep cliffs. Attacking from the front would cost thousands of lives on both sides.

Hanbei and Tokichiro came up with a bold plan to save lives. While the main army drew the enemy's attention at the front gate, a small group of seven men—including Tokichiro, Koroku, and a local hunter named Horio Yoshiharu—secretly climbed the dangerous rock cliff at the back of the mountain.

Moving like monkeys in the dark, Tokichiro's team reached the castle walls safely. At dawn, they set fire to the storehouses inside the castle and tied gourds (hyotan) to the ends of their spears, waving them high in the air as a signal. Seeing the fire inside their own castle and the golden gourds shining in the morning sun, the defending soldiers lost their will to fight and opened the gates.

Thus, the "impregnable" castle fell in a single day with very little bloodshed. Nobunaga was overjoyed. He moved his headquarters to this castle and changed the name of the town from Inokuchi to "Gifu," after the legendary mountain in ancient China where a peaceful dynasty began. Nobunaga also allowed Tokichiro to use the golden gourd as his official battle standard (uma-jirushi).

In 1570, Nobunaga led his army north to Echizen to fight the Asakura clan, taking Kanegasaki Castle. Suddenly, terrible news arrived at night: Nobunaga's brother-in-law, Azai Nagamasa, had betrayed him! With the Asakura army in front and the Azai army approaching from behind, Nobunaga's forces were caught in a deadly trap.

To save the army, Nobunaga had to escape to Kyoto immediately with only a handful of guards. However, someone had to stay behind at Kanegasaki as the rearguard (shingari) to stop the huge enemy forces. Leading the rearguard was the most dangerous job in war, and everyone thought nobody could survive it.

Without hesitation, Tokichiro—now called Kinoshita Hideyoshi—stepped forward and said, "My lord, please leave this place to me! I will hold the enemy back until you reach Kyoto safely!" Deeply grateful, Nobunaga entrusted the rearguard to Hideyoshi and set off into the dark night, while Tokugawa Ieyasu also stayed nearby to support Hideyoshi's troops.

Hideyoshi did not just fight recklessly. He left many flags and burning torches on the castle walls so that the Asakura army would think Nobunaga's main force was still inside. When morning came, Hideyoshi divided his small force into rapid units that fired guns, retreated quickly, and waited at the next narrow pass. Through his brilliant tactics and courage, both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi returned to Kyoto alive. This "Retreat from Kanegasaki" made Hideyoshi famous throughout the country.

Years passed, and Hideyoshi became one of Nobunaga's top generals. In June 1582, while Hideyoshi was fighting the powerful Mori clan at Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu (now Okayama Prefecture), another general, Akechi Mitsuhide, suddenly attacked Nobunaga at Honno-ji Temple in Kyoto. Surrounded by flames, Nobunaga lost his life before his dream of uniting Japan was finished.

Hideyoshi secretly intercepted Mitsuhide's messenger and learned of Nobunaga's death before the Mori army did. Hiding his deep sorrow, Hideyoshi quickly made peace with the Mori clan. Then, in heavy summer rain and strong winds, he led his twenty thousand soldiers back toward Kyoto at an unbelievable speed—covering about two hundred kilometers in less than ten days!

Along the route, Hideyoshi had rice porridge cooked in advance so that his soldiers could eat while marching. Taken completely by surprise by this "Great Return from Chugoku" (Chugoku Ogaeshi), Mitsuhide was defeated by Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamazaki. Carrying on Nobunaga's dream, Hideyoshi finally united all of Japan in 1590, ending more than a century of civil war.

After uniting the country, Hideyoshi never forgot his old promise. He invited his first kind master, Matsushita Kahei, to his grand castle. "Because you protected me and gave me money when I was a poor boy, I am standing here today," Hideyoshi said with tears in his eyes. He made Kahei the lord of a castle, returning his kindness a thousand times over.

To make sure that wars would never break out again, Hideyoshi collected weapons from farmers across Japan in the "Sword Hunt" (Katanagari). At the same time, he held the Grand Kitano Tea Ceremony, where anyone—whether rich lord or humble farmer—could sit together and enjoy a bowl of tea in peace. The poor boy who once ran away from a temple had changed Japan from a world of swords into a world of tea bowls and smiles.