They were all brave men, resolved to fight to the death. But among such a variously composed host it was difficult to secure unanimity of opinion or concert in action. Moreover, the moats of the castle having been filled on the conclusion of peace the year before, it had lost its old impregnability and become useless as a defensive stronghold. Hence, the vast army marshaled under the Tokugawa banners had little difficulty in taking it by assault.[1] Hideyori and his mother, Yodogimi, threw themselves into the flames of the burning castle, and Ōno Harunaga, together with the principal of those who had counseled war, killed themselves out of respect to their lord. The Toyotomi family was thus finally overthrown, and the power of the Tokugawa completely established. Thenceforth the country entered upon a long era of peace. In the following year, 1616, Iyeyasu fell ill and died at the age of seventy-five. He was interred at Kunōzan in Suruga, but his remains were subsequently transferred to Nikkō in Shimotsuke, where, amid natural scenery of the greatest beauty, a mausoleum of unexampled magnificence was erected in his honor. Hidetada, the second Tokugawa shōgun, devoted his energies to enforcing and observing the laws and precepts of his father. Under him the influence and prestige of the Tokugawa family increased greatly. Further, the third shōgun, Iyemitsu, was a man of high courage and magnanimous generosity. In his hands the organization of the government was brought to a state of perfection. This system we shall now describe, as it shows the feudalism of Japan at the height of its development.