Chapter X INTERNAL PEACE AND EXTERNAL WAR. 1573-1603 At the end of the last chapter we left feudal Japan wasted by internal anarchy. It is one of the most remarkable phenomena in history that within two decades after the fall of the Ashikaga the national life not only was restored to its normal peace, but also attained to such fullness of vigor as to embark in a warfare of unprecedented magnitude for foreign conquest. The period of thirty years between the fall of the last shōgun of Muromachi and the foundation of the Edo rule, 1573-1603, stands unparalleled in the annals of the Japanese nation for its wealth of stories of valor and heroism. The spirit of the time was such as brought to the surface only men of uncommon ability. The era was of itself rich in inspiring events, but the latter were in no small measure due to the brilliant achievements of three heroes--Oda Nobunaga (1573-1582), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1583-1598), and Tokugawa Iyeyasu (1600-1616)--who rose one after another to rule over feudal Japan. Deferring the story of the work of the last statesman, we shall now turn to the career of Oda and Toyotomi, who respectively unified the long dismembered nation, and organized the great Korean expedition. The tendency of the Ashikaga times was to encourage individual ambition. Military chieftains devoted themselves to organizing armies and equipping soldiers in the most efficient manner, in order to overcome rivals and establish their own independence. But none of them ever succeeded in introducing order into the provinces they overran or organizing their administration on a permanent basis. Probably the origin of this defect is to be sought, not in the administrative incompetence of these chieftains, but rather in the absence of any supreme head to issue general orders. The power of the imperial court, indeed, had greatly declined, but the nation nevertheless regarded the sovereign with the utmost respect, and whatever the prowess of military nobles or however great the number of their following, it was impossible for them to undertake any decisive campaign against Kyōto, because, in traversing the interval that separated their bases of operations from the capital, they would have found themselves environed by enemies ready to protect the court against violence, as well as by rivals whom the prospect of any one noble's supremacy would have moved to union against him. Nothing remained, therefore, but to establish local autonomy. Beyond that none of the great nobles succeeded in attaining until the Oda family appeared in Owari, and owing to their sagacity and valor, as well as to the strategical advantages of their position, accomplished more than any of their predecessors.