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The four councillors could not possibly be expected to work in harmony, and it was certain that Katsuiye, Sakuma Morimasa, and Takigawa Kazumasu would lose no opportunity of quarrelling with Hideyoshi. But Hideyoshi's astuteness and patience led him successfully through this maze of intrigues and complications.

In January, 1583, he took the field at the head of seventy-five thousand men, and marched into Ise to attack Kazumasu, whom he besieged in his castle at Kuwana. The castle fell, but Kazumasu managed to effect his escape, and in the mean while Katsuiye entered Omi in command of a great body of troops, said to number sixty-five thousand.

Nobunaga then gave the province of Suruga to Ieyasu, and divided Shinano and Kotsuke into manors, which were distributed among the Owari generals as rewards. Takigawa Kazumasu was nominated kwanryo of the Kwanto, chiefly in order to watch and restrain the movements of the Hojo family, now the only formidable enemy of Nobunaga in the east.

It has been already stated that Nobunaga's sons, Nobutaka and Nobukatsu, were bitter enemies and that Nobutaka had the support of Takigawa Kazumasu as well as of Shibata Katsuiye. Thus, Hideyoshi was virtually compelled to espouse the cause of Nobukatsu.

Thus, in spite of the fact that both were illegitimate and had already been adopted into other families, Nobunaga's two sons, Nobukatsu and Nobutaka, were put forward as proper candidates, the former supported by Ikeda Nobuteru and Gamo Katahide; the latter, by Shibata Katsuiye and Takigawa Kazumasu.