Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 2.djvu/58

 into anger, but the errors to which passion might have goaded him were generally averted by noble yielding to impulses of generosity and fair play. Capable of profound and lasting attachments, he inspired in his followers sentiments of love and devotion, and while he shrank from no means to attain an end, it was his delight to repair ultimately with generous hand any temporary injuries he inflicted on others in his pursuit of fortune. Born in an epoch where the idea of nation or empire had little significance in the ears of military chiefs each fighting for his own hand, he set the welfare of the country and the dignity of the Empire above all other considerations, and thought rather of the greatness of Japan than of the aggrandisement of a fief. It has been truly said that the Muromachi era was in many respects the darkest period of Japanese history, yet it produced Oda Nobunaga, Hashiba Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Iyeyasu, and many others who, though less illustrious, deserved in many respects almost equal honour.

Hideyoshi's campaigns need not occupy attention. It is enough to say that he brought the whole Empire within one circle of administrative sway, of which he himself was the centre. The office of regent he caused to be conferred on himself, though it had never previously been held by any man lacking the qualification of imperial descent, and he would fain have been