Takeda Shingen

Introduction

Takeda Shingen is regarded as the strongest feudal lord in the Sengoku (Warring States) period in Japan. “Takeda Calvary Corps” led by him at that time was overwhelmingly strong, and even Oda Nobunaga, who is known as the Great Unifier of Japan, feared them. His “Furinkazan” military flag is also widely known by people.

It is believed that history must have gone differently, had he not died from the illness before accomplishing his goal. In this article, we are going to introduce the life of such an impactful man, Takeda Shingen.

From being born until banishing his own father

Takeda Shingen was born in Kai Province, currently Yamanashi Prefecture, as a son of Takeda Nobutora and the 18th head of the Takeda Clan. Takeda Clan was the head clan of all the clans from Kai Province, and it was a prestigious clan that started in the Heian period (794-1185). His mother was from the Oi family, an impactful family in the Nishigori region, so it can be said that he is thoroughbred in the Sengoku period. It is believed that his childhood name was either Taro or Katsuchiyo. For your information, he started using the name “Shingen” after he became a monk. In 1523, his older brother, Takematsu, died at the age of 7. This resulted in Shingen becoming the oldest son in the clan.

He was talented both in martial arts and in studying, so people regarded him as a gifted child. Even in his early childhood, he read Chinese military strategy books, such as Teikin-Ourai, Sun Tzu, and Three Strategies of Huang Shigong, over and over. His talent was remarkable. However, his outstanding intelligence caused his father to have unpleasant feelings toward him. His younger brother, Nobushige, was born in 1525 when he was four years old. Their father gradually begins to love Nobushige more and to have negative feelings toward Shingen. In 1536, Shingen has Genpuku (a coming-of-age ceremony back then in Japan) and changes his name to “Harunobu”.

After the Genpuku, he remarries Lady Sanjo, the daughter of the minister of the left. In 1533, he has a diplomatic marriage with Lady Uesugi, the daughter of the lord of Kawagoe castle in Musashi Province. However, in 1534, she dies from dystocia, which results in the death of the child, as well.It is believed that Imagawa Clan, which had relationships with the aristocratic class in Kyoto, mediated the marriage with Lady Sanjo. At that time, Takeda Clan had a peace treaty with Imagawa Clan, and Shingen’s older sister married Imagawa Yoshimoto as an official wife.

In 1541, Shingen, at the age of 21, makes a big decision. He banished his own father from Kai Province for commanding misgovernment, such as high taxation on residents and executions of vassals. When Nobutora went to Suruga Province, where his son-in-law lived, Shingen ordered chief vassals to help close the border of Kai Province. As a result, Nobutora was forced to lose his title and stay there.

There are several theories as to why Shingen decided to banish his father. For example, he was suspecting his father was trying to disinherit him and let Nobushige inherit. Another theory is that he was suspecting his father, some vassals in Takeda Clan, and Yoshimoto were working in collusion. No matter what the actual reason was, Nobutora’s leadership in Takeda Clan was about to collapse anyway.

This is how Shingen inherited Takeda Clan’s property and his position as a governor and became a daimyo (feudal lord). The way he obtained his position was like a coup, so people in the modern world might feel that banishing one’s father to obtain a clan’s property is not the right way. However, during the Sengoku period, this kind of situation was not uncommon, and some obtained their clan’s property by murdering their father or brothers. So, we might be able to say that Shingen managed to peacefully inherit property without murdering his father and younger brother.

As additional information, Shingen sent a large amount of money to his father every year, and he ended up living longer than Shingen. His younger brother, Nobushige, supported Shingen as the second-highest title for a long time. Their relationships seem to have been good, as well.

The Invasion of Shinano Province and the Triple Alliance

Takeda Shingen became a daimyo of Kai Province when he was young, but wars continued after he took over the position. Since Kai Province was surrounded by steep mountains and did not have enough agricultural areas, it had to win wars and expand its territories to develop the province.Takeda Shingen believed that it was most important to award vassals that successfully occupied enemy territory, make the province wealthier, and gain support from the residents. For this reason, he aimed at neighboring provinces and ended up having a war against those feudal lords in Shinano Province. The first area he chose to invade was Suwa.

Suwa was the area whose feudal lord had married Shingen’s younger sister and that had an alliance with Nobutora. The close relationship with the previous government of Kai Province could suggest that there is a risk that they might invade the new Kai Province. That is why he kept invading and successfully occupied Suwa, Saku, and Ina. In the meantime, while Imagawa Clan, which had an alliance with Kai Province, was invading neighboring Mikawa Province, Hojo Clan from Sagami Province started invading the Imagawa Clan’s territory. Shingen immediately sent help to Imagawa Clan and repelled their invasion.However, Imagawa Clan and Hojo Clan had a relationship through diplomatic marriage. On top of that, Imagawa Clan, Hojo Clan, and Takeda Clan were invading the west, the east, and the north respectively, so their target areas were not overlapping.

Thus, they concluded that all three provinces should help each other, so Takeda Clan, Imagawa Clan, and Hojo Clan concluded an agreement and strengthened their relationships. After then, Imagawa Ujizane and Hojo Ujiyasu’s daughter, Hojo Ujiyasu’s son and Takeda Shingen’s daughter, and Takeda Shingen’s son and Imagawa Yoshimoto’s daughter got diplomatically married. This is known as the “Kai-Sagami-Suruga Triple Alliance” today. Thanks to this alliance, Shingen could focus on his wars and the momentum continued to increase with the support from the two feudal lords.

The conflict with his rival, Uesugi Kenshin

However, his invasion of Shinano Province did not go as well as he planned. The reason was that there were quite a few strong clans, such as Ogasawara Clan, there. Therefore, he decided to go with psychological warfare, trying to win without fighting. He used a psychological strategy where he hung the killed soldiers’ necks in front of the enemy castle to demoralize the enemies when he was attacking the castle. He did whatever it took, even something cruel, to win. This was the first step to winning without fighting by terrifying the neighboring lords. However, this cruel strategy ended up backfiring. This provoked Murakami Yoshikiyo, who was expanding his territory mainly in the northern part of Shinano Province.

Later, in 1548, the Battle of Uedahara, where the Murakami army and Shingen’s army fought, occurs. However, Shingen gets the first loss ever in this battle, and he loses quite a lot of great vassals. The battle with Murakami Clan occurs many times after then, and it finally ends in 1553. The Takeda army chased them until they got to their castle, Katsurao Castle, and Murakami Clan ended up being demoralized and fled from the Shinano area. Shingen gained experience on battlefields to become a strong and courageous leader, which led him to be called “The Tiger of Kai Province”.

Meanwhile, Uesugi Kenshin, the feudal lord of Echigo Province, saved Murakami Yoshikiyo, who fled from Shinano. He was considered a good rival against Shingen, one of the strongest warlords back then. Kenshin was called “The god of an army” or “The dragon of Echigo Province” for his exceptional skills in wars. He was a very strong warlord. It is widely known that Shingen and Kenshin were destined rivals. They had a total of 5 battles trying to occupy Shinano Province, the land in between each of their territories, during the 11 years from 1553 to 1564 (aka the Battles of Kawanakajima). However, apparently, they had small battles over and over and never had an actual intense battle. When big damage to Takeda Army was inflicted were the first battle of Kawanakajima, where the Uesugi army joined to help the Murakami clan, and the fourth battle of Kawanakajima, where Shingen invaded Echigo Province.

In the fifth battle of Kawanakajima, they only contained each other and did not actually fight. The reason was that they had different goals: Shingen was trying to get Shinano and Kenshin was trying to protect Echigo. The Uesugi army intensely attacked back when Shingen tried to invade Echigo. Although the Battles of Kawanakajima occurred 5 times, they never completely settled.

However, as a result of these battles, Shingen managed to exert control over most of Shinano Province. For additional information, there are two theories regarding their relationships, where one is that they had a friendship and the other one is that Kenshin disliked Shingen.The theory, where Shingen at least admitted Kenshin’s righteousness, is widely supported. Also, there is a record that Shingen said “Ask Shingen in Echigo for help when you are in trouble” before he died.

Sudden death from illness after the Battle of Mikatagahara

In 1571, the conflict between the 15th general in the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, and Oda Nobunaga becomes very serious in Kyoto. Yoshiaki obtained the position of general with Nobunaga’s support. This conflict made him ask strong warlords, such as Shingen, for help. Yoshiaki requests Shingen for help, so he begins to move his army to Kyoto with the goal to defeat Nobunaga. On his way to Kyoto, he tries to invade Totomi Province, which Nobunaga’s friend Tokugawa Ieyasu occupies. In 1572, he defeats the Tokugawa army at the Battle of Mikatagahara. This loss inflicted huge damage on Ieyasu.

Next year, in 1573, Shingen occupies the Noda castle, an important area in Higashi-Mikawa. At this point, he was very close to Owari Province, Nobunaga’s main territory. Also, he had a huge amount of property then. However, his momentum was at its peak at that time. After he occupied the Noda castle, his situation of illness drastically worsened. He started coughing up blood sometimes, and the Takeda army had to retreat to Kai Province. In April 1573, his symptom did not get better, and he died at the age of 53 on his way back to Kai Province. He leaves a message asking to hide his death for at least 3 years. It was because he was afraid that neighboring lords might start invading Kai Province if his death gets known. However, there were spies, such as ninjas, in the Sengoku period, so such information spread very quickly.

Meanwhile, the one being saved by his death was Nobunaga since the danger coming right in front is now gone. In July 1573, Nobunaga banishes Yoshiaki, who lost strong warlords backing him up, and destroys the Muromachi shogunate. This is how the new period, the Sengoku period, started.

Summary of Takeda Shingen

Although Shingen was regarded as one of the strongest warlords, he did not build a castle and was called “Oyakata-Sama (Master of the mansion)” in a friendly way. He almost cornered Nobunaga, but he died before achieving his goal.

Also, he was not only a great commander in wars but also a great political governor. He put an effort to make the residents’ life better, for example, by building “Shingen-tsuzumi” (embankments) in areas that people could not use for agricultural purposes due to the flood of a river and working on the development of new agricultural fields. Although he could not take over the whole country, he was adored for loving his vassals and citizens. Today, he is still loved by the people of Kai Province and shines brightly as a star of his hometown.