This was back when I was campaigning against Mino.
I had pushed my troops to the very edge of enemy territory, with just one river between us. The Saito castle was right there in plain view. In a place like that, I wanted to build a fort. As a foothold for the attack, I absolutely needed one.
But it was hard. The moment you start building, the enemy comes right away to interfere. Halfway through, it's always destroyed.
Everyone in the house shrank from it.
"How could anyone raise a fort right under the enemy's nose like that?"
But I had another reason, a desperate one. Out there on the front line, I hadn't slept a wink, night after night.
A field camp with no enclosure. At night, there was no telling when the enemy might come creeping out of the darkness. Every time the wind rustled the grass, I'd jump up. My nightclothes were soaked with cold sweat.
I wanted walls. I wanted to sleep inside an enclosure. That was the only reason.
One day, at dusk,
I was standing by the river, with only Tokichiro along. The two of us stood side by side, watching the river darken. At times like this, Tokichiro never said a word more than he needed to. He just stayed beside me.
Listening to the sound of the flowing water, I let my true feelings slip out.
"...Monkey. I want a fort. Over there."
"Yes, my lord."
"Not as a foothold for the attack or any of that... I'm scared of the nights. Nights with no walls. I want to sleep inside an enclosure. That's all."
Even I thought it was pathetic. A man who bore the great house of Oda on his shoulders. Saying he couldn't sleep because he was scared of the dark.
Tokichiro was silent for a while.
Then, with a sudden "My lord, if you'll pardon me a moment," he went down to the water's edge. Without thinking, I went and stood beside him, too... I just felt too uneasy being left there by myself.
The two of us, side by side, facing the river, relieving ourselves. The man who bore the great house of Oda on his shoulders and his most trusted right hand. At dusk, on the riverbank, doing this together. Even I had to admit it was not a dignified sight.
But. Beside me, Tokichiro kept staring at the surface of the water, intently. At what I had let fall upstream, carried off on the current, borne downstream in no time, and gone.
"...Monkey, don't stare so much. It's embarrassing."
Before long, having set his sash straight, Tokichiro spoke quietly.
"...My lord. The materials needn't be carried at all."
"What?"
"Build it upstream, then simply let it float down. —Just the way you sent yours down just now, my lord."
I still had no idea what he meant.
Tokichiro's quick wit was a marvel.
Carry the materials in head-on, and the enemy would notice and crush the work. So, Tokichiro reasoned, upstream, somewhere the enemy couldn't see, he would fully assemble the materials for the palisades and walls ahead of time. Load them onto a number of rafts, put them on the river's current, and send them all down to the site at once. Exactly the way, that evening at dusk, I had shown him on the surface of the river.
After that, all that was left was to put it together. By the time the enemy noticed and came running, there already stood a fine fort, complete with enclosure and walls. It was astonishingly fast.
I went inside those walls. And at last I let out a breath.
Ah. Now I can sleep. Inside walls, inside an enclosure, I can sleep without being scared of the dark.
The thought filled me with such relief I could have cried.
Tokichiro had understood. That I didn't want the fort merely as a foothold. That I was trembling in fear through nights with no enclosure. And so he wanted to get me inside safe walls as soon as he possibly could.
This story of the fort at Sunomata, too, later became quite the legend.
It is said—that the man raised an entire castle in a single night.
The household said in amazement:
"That little man is no ordinary fellow after all."
"No wonder our lord raises him up. A man of rare gifts, discovered by the Demon King."
The world says a castle went up in one night. Whether it really was one night, even I don't know.
But this much is certain. That monkey just wanted to get me inside safe walls as soon as he possibly could—that was all. And that the spark for that great achievement was the two of us, at dusk on the riverbank, standing side by side, briefly relieving ourselves—just that, and nothing more. The only ones who knew it were me and that monkey.