ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the history of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the second unifier, who remains one of the most celebrated figures in Japanese history. Legends about the heroic deeds of Hideyoshi and Henry IV have been told for centuries in Japan and France. He persuaded the Japanese to think of higher goals and envision a united Japan, and Ieyasu decided not to fight against these two, but to simply wait until their death to take control of the state. In his case, which was completely unprecedented, a peasant rose to command members of the old samurai nobility. He had a talent for inspiring people to see their own work as part of a larger, more important, effort. His rebuilding efforts gave hope to people who had suffered long years of war and destruction. His skills as a warrior complemented his feats of engineering.
