These strongholds of the fighting Shin priests had become so powerful as
arsenals and military headquarters, that in 1570, Nobunaga, skilful
general as he was, and backed by sixty thousand men, was unsuccessful in
his attempt to reduce them. For ten years, the war between Nobunaga and
the Shin sectarians kept the country in disorder. It finally ended in
the conflagration of the great religious fortress at Osaka, and the
retreat of the monks to another part of the country. By their treachery
and incendiarism, the shavelings prevented the soldiers from enjoying
the prizes.
To detail the whole history of the fighting monks would be tedious. They
have had a foothold for many centuries and even to the present time, in
every province except that of Satsuma. There, because they treacherously
aided the great Hideyoshi to subdue the province, the fiery clansmen,
never during Tokugawa days, permitted a Buddhist priest to come.[40]
Literature, and Education.
In its literary and scholastic development, Japanese Buddhism on its
popular educational side deserves great praise. Although the Buddhist
canon[41] was never translated into the vernacular,[42] and while the
library of native Buddhism, in the way of commentary or general
literature, reflects no special credit upon the priests, yet the
historian must award them high honor, because of the part taken by them
as educators and schoolmasters.
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