usurpation of Gongin, who dethroned Fide-yori. Upon the whole, that work is a tissue of falsehoods, and unworthy of confidence.
It appears certain, however, that after the death of Taïko, Yodo-dono became the mistress of an officer of Fide-yori's household, named Ono-souri-farou-naga. This man, devoid of feeling, and of licentious manners, had no other merit than his external accomplishments. Yodo-dono, on the contrary, possessed a courage worthy of her high fortune: her fortitude and the wisdom of her counsels were of great benefit to her son in his wars with Gongin. The latter, therefore, hated her with implacable animosity; and after the capture of the castle of Osaka, he carried her with him to Yedo, where she is said to have put an end to her life.
I shall not enter into a detail of the events that established Gongin on the throne, for which the reader may consult the work of Father Crasset, who has omitted no important fact. The following brief account will be sufficient for my purpose:
Fide-yosi, before he had any child of his own, adopted one, as I have already observed. This was his nephew, Fide-tsougou, the son of his younger brother, Fide-naga. This young prince, of a cruel and ferocious disposition, caused the old, the blind, and the infirm, who fell in his way, to be put to death, saying that they were fit for nothing in this world. He committed other atrocities recorded by Father Grasset[1]. Taïko, indignant at his cruelty, confined him in the temple of Koyosan, where he killed himself, together with his attendants.
Taïko perceiving his end approaching, thought it right to take measures for securing the throne to his son Fide-yori, then but six years old. He could devise no better expedient than to connect himself closely with Yeye-yasou, the most powerful of the princes of the empire. With this view, during the illness which terminated his life, he affianced his son to Yeye-yasou's granddaughter, an infant only two years of age. He appointed Yeye-yasou guardian to Fide-yori, after exacting from him a solemn oath, signed with his blood, that as soon as the prince should attain his fifteenth year, he would recognise and cause him to be acknowledged as Djogoun. Satisfied with these precau-
- ↑ Hist. de l'Eglise de Japon, tom. II. p. 48.
