KANBEI

In the summer of 1582, news reached a camp beside a flooded castle in western Japan: Oda Nobunaga, the warlord who was about to rule the country, had been killed. His general Toyotomi Hideyoshi wept. Beside him, according to a famous story, his lame strategist leaned close and whispered: "My lord, your chance has come."

That strategist was Kuroda Kanbei.

He talked his nervous lord into choosing Nobunaga's side. He walked into a rebel's castle to talk him out of rebellion, and spent a year in a dark cell, while Nobunaga, believing him a traitor, ordered the death of his son. He came out lame and scarred to find that his friend Takenaka Hanbei had saved the boy — and had died. He helped Hideyoshi starve castles and flood them, planned the great race back to Kyoto after Nobunaga's death, became a Christian, and won a domain in Kyushu. And because his brilliance made Hideyoshi uneasy, he retired at forty-three and called himself Josui: "like water."

Then, in 1600, while his son fought for Ieyasu at Sekigahara, the old man opened his storehouses, hired an army, and conquered much of Kyushu.

Told as a narrative history from beginning to end, with a cast of characters, a map, and a travel guide to the places you can still visit today, this book says plainly what the records show, what historians still debate, and which famous stories are only legends.

Inside, you'll find:

The eye-medicine family, and the clever young keeper of Himeji
The argument for Nobunaga, and the sword he is said to have received
A year in the cell at Arioka, the order to kill his son, and the friend who saved him
Starvation at Tottori and the flooding of Takamatsu
"Your chance has come," and the great race back from the west
Dom Simeão: the Christian strategist and Hideyoshi's edict
The killing at Nakatsu, and the retirement called "like water"
Korea, a game of go, and the feud with Ishida Mitsunari
The army raised from his savings in 1600, and the question of what he really wanted
A guide to visiting the places in this story today, from Itami and Himeji to Takamatsu, Nakatsu, and Fukuoka
If you want a simple loyal genius, this is not your book. If you want the real story of the strategist who was too clever for his lord — and clever enough to survive him — turn the page and meet the real Kanbei.