![](https://images.ecency.com/DQmSomaKXZQFaB351eSq7pdKe7vpcii9oduwK2pfjz4gVXD/kono_bairei_no_series_cuckoo_00043192_111001_f12.jpg)

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In Japan there is a children’s poem that everyone knows. It goes:

<center>鳴かぬなら、殺してしまえほととぎす
*If a bird doesn't sing, kill it.*</center>

<center>鳴かぬなら、鳴かして見せようほととぎす 
*If a bird doesn't sing, make it.*</center>

<center>鳴かぬなら、鳴くまで待とうほととぎす 
*If a bird doesn't sing, wait for it.*</center>

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This simple poem sums up the personalities of the three unifiers of Japan: Oda Nobunaga (織田信長), Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉), and Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康). 

![if_a_bird_doesn_t_sing_kill_it.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmUff1wYhwahs1F3YL3VKyKVGskqKYMJv7aHSbr6ToZgih/if_a_bird_doesn_t_sing_kill_it.png)

![if_a_bird_doesn_t_sing_make_it.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPUUkpcBppJrMjD7c9q9ZXT2rCEdjzPZdLC2qd5BUUhMY/if_a_bird_doesn_t_sing_make_it.png)

![if_a_bird_doesn_t_sing_wait.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPoP4veXPMArW1nzS53RN7F8aX9ab8QhpMd2PV2UqnR4t/if_a_bird_doesn_t_sing_wait.png)


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The poem refers to a parable that gives the story in more detail.

It is said that the three were asked “What do you do if a bird won’t sing?”

Nobunaga yelled quickly, “Kill it!”

Hideyoshi answered, “Make it want to sing.”

Ieyasu smiled and answered, “Wait.”


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![unifiers.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmf4P4L5kdRWKUrLRvJzyM4jyuUGTyGnZ81Xw8deviaxTE/unifiers.jpg)


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This perfectly sums up the three men. 

Nobunaga was ruthless and bloodthirsty and his first answer to any situation was violence. Cross him and die in a thousand different ways.

Hideyoshi was cunning. Let’s not fool ourself, he was also ruthless, and the poem refers to his penchant for cruelty, but his first impulse was to try to persuade his enemy to come around to his way of thinking (before killing them).

Ieyasu was patient, making alliances and biding his time. His first response to any situation was to step back and wait while seeing how other more rash people reacted. 

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***
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Civil War broke out in Japan in 1467 with the Ōnin War (応仁の乱, *Ōnin no ran*). This was a war of succession, with allies of both candidates for the next Ashikaga shogun tearing apart the capital taking arms against the other. The shogun quickly lost all control and soon the entire country was in chaos, with every warlord trying to gobble up every other.[^1]

[^1]: That’s the quick version, anyway. It’s a bit more complicated than that. Maybe I’ll write more about it sometime. Pronounced Oh-neen, by the way. 

The goal? Conquer enough land and raise a large enough army to march on Kyoto and force the Emperor to make them the next shogun.

Nobunaga, through luck, good fortune, and ruthlessness, emerged in the 1560s as the most powerful man in Japan. He did march on Kyoto, but he didn’t become shogun yet. Some historians say his ultimate goal was to kill the emperor himself and start a new dynasty. Whatever the case may be, he decided his first order of business was to complete conquest of Japan. He got most of the way there, but then one of his most trusted generals, a man named Akechi Mitsuhide, killed him.[^2]

These days Nobunaga is cheifly remembered as bloodthirsty and violent. Many media portrayals even show him as a demon or other horrible person. His nickname, the Demon King, is commonly used for the villian in anime and games.

![download.jpeg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVNmJPm8d9koV7qE6b1erqdB5RoSGYXsY2iro31Jp1p2A/download.jpeg)

[^2]: Actually Nobunaga committed seppuku, ritual suicide that involves slicing the belly from side to side to expose the intestines and being beheaded by a second. But in history books we often say he was assassinated because it’s not like he had a choice. It was kill himself or be killed. His men then set fire to the temple where he killed himself so that Akechi wouldn’t be able to get his head. 

Hideyoshi, who was another of Nobunaga’s most trusted generals, immediately made peace with the warlord he was fighting, chased Akechi and killed him. He then completed the conquest of Japan, as much through cleverness as through violence. He was not high-born, that is he was born a peasent and couldn’t trace his family to the Minamoto clan,[^3] the first shogun, so he was not allowed to take the title of Shogun, but he was given a similar title that more or less conferred the same power (*kampaku*, and later *taikō*). 

[^3]: It is debatable about how true this was, but the common thinking is that in order to become shogun, one had to prove their family had a connection to the Minamoto clan, which was the very first shoguns of Japan. Although technically Minamoto no Yoritomo, the first of the Minamoto, was not the first shogun, he was the first to create his own military government under the title and was the de facto ruler of Japan. Interestingly, Nobunaga proudly traced his family to the Taira, who were fierce opponents of the Minamoto. 

In his later years he went a little crazy and tried to conquer China by way of Korea. That went badly for him. He died in 1598, some historians say, of poison.[^4]

Despite his troubled end, Hideyoshi is generally looked upon today more positively than Nobunaga. He is often shown as more innocent, at least in his youth, with a purer heart.

![hideyoshi_toyotomi_nats_.png](https://images.ecency.com/DQmXd5JLt6jdmW9M9ftxNQsgwNNwzmN81nKFForBR3ecTW6/hideyoshi_toyotomi_nats_.png)

[^4]: Of note, while Nobunaga liked and was an allied with Ieyasu, Hideyoshi never trusted him and forced him to give up his domains in exchange for others, moving him as far away from Kyoto as possible.

Ieyasu, the patient one, who had been silently and slowly gathering his own power while standing aside for both Nobunaga and then Hideyoshi, saw his chance. He forced a final battle between himself and the supporters of Hideyoshi’s heir, the famous battle of Sekigahara in 1600, which he won. He became shogun in 1603. He retired shortly after and appointed his son the next shogun, but remained the real power as he set up the Tokugawa Shogunate which would give Japan a remarkable 250 years of peace. 

Today Ieyasu is looked upon positively by most people. His key trait—patience—is taught as something worth emulating. No doubt one of the reasons for his good image is the long peace he ushered in. 

![ieyasu_tokugawa_3_nas_.jpeg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPS2RN22AR6ty6h56WXyj7AqJoYhZY5MeJaagGWM8EkFq/ieyasu_tokugawa_3_nas_.jpeg)



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There is another saying that sums this history up. It says “Nobunaga made the pie, and Hideyoshi baked it, but it was Ieyasu who ate it.”

![aaaabwrvm0et672v8br0bcj1q53cnnmh9_f3qirhqazyg6sjqgjoo_yu9xhjydilsn2lmvw3alkeexnk2uhxxwzkkhuqudxw.jpeg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmPbZ1rSjrrCdySameniFNqU2gfFEGDBWxSBZZPf5HcQjB/aaaabwrvm0et672v8br0bcj1q53cnnmh9_f3qirhqazyg6sjqgjoo_yu9xhjydilsn2lmvw3alkeexnk2uhxxwzkkhuqudxw.jpeg)

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|![Hi there](http://68.media.tumblr.com/9ed59bcbc3d0c81b382b0df883f91773/tumblr_inline_ni2uuza1ku1qz4uph.jpg)|[David LaSpina](https://hive.blog/about/@dbooster/about-david-laspina-v1-2) is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.|

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