The Taikō was buried close to the Daibutsu temple, which he himself had built to shelter the colossal figure of Buddha, constructed in imitation of the Daibutsu which Yoritomo had built at Kamakura. The figure was to be one hundred and sixty feet in height, and the workmen had it nearly finished when a terrible earthquake in A.D. 1596 shook down the building. In the following year the temple was rebuilt, and the image was completed up to the neck. The workmen were preparing to cast the head, when a fire broke out in the scaffolding and again destroyed the temple, and also the image. It was one of the schemes of Ieyasu, so it is said, to induce the young Hideyori to exhaust his resources upon such expensive projects, and thus render him incapable of resisting any serious movement against himself. He therefore suggested to the boy and his mother that this temple and image, which Hideyoshi had begun, should not fail of erection. They therefore resumed the construction, and carried it on with great lavishness. It took until A.D. 1614 to complete the work, and when it was about to be consecrated with imposing ceremonies, Ieyasu, who by this time was supreme in the empire, suddenly forbade the progress of the ceremony. He affected to be offended by the inscription which had been put on the bell,(189) but the real reason was probably his desire to find some pretext by which he could put a quarrel upon the adherents of Hideyori. CHAPTER X. THE FOUNDING OF THE TOKUGAWA SHŌGUNATE.