ABSTRACT
The ten months between June 1582 and April 1583 witnessed the most extraordinary display of samurai energy ever seen in as few months in Japanese history. In June 1582 Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a subordinate general fighting his master's wars. Ten months later he had avenged Nobunaga's death and controlled thirty provinces, a domain which it had taken Nobunaga twenty years to subdue. All this was achieved in a manner which reflected the next twenty years in microcosm, as Hideyoshi showed the world how he intended to win an Empire.
