Shingen Museum Audio Guide: Recent Episodes
David Ellis
This podcast series accompanies the exhibits on display at the Takeda Castle Ruins Museum in Kofu-City, Yamanashi, Japan.
Takeda Shingen’s military and political skills, which enabled him to rule over Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture) and much of the central part of the Japanese archipelago, struck fear into the hearts of other feudal lords of his time. However, his powers were not the result of his abilities alone. The Takeda clan was able to expand its influence because of the support of many capable vassals who understood Shingen’s military and political strategies and were able to put them into action.
Before the Takeda clan rose to become a formidable force beyond Kai Province, it was constantly embroiled in disputes between family members over succession and power and many relatives perished in the process of the unification of the province under Shingen’s father, Nobutora. As a result, by the time Shingen became the feudal lord of Kai, there were few reliable relatives left, except for Shingen’s brothers and their close relatives. Furthermore, some long-standing vassals refused to follow Shingen’s directives. Yet, Shingen was successful in selecting capable vassals who in turn supported the Takeda clan’s rapid rise.
During Japan’s Warring States period, the inheritance of clan leadership was usually the right of the first-born son. Therefore, many families chose their heirs regardless of their abilities. Shingen, however, promoted his second and third sons who would normally not be eligible. He gave the most talented the chance to inherit his family’s title and to play active roles. Furthermore, Shingen promoted non-samurai such as farmers, without regard to their rank or status, and trained them from an early age by keeping them close to him as his lieutenants. Yamagata Masakage and Naitō Masahide, who supported the Takeda army and are known as two of the Four Heavenly Guardians of Takeda, were second sons of their own families, while the other two guardians, Baba Nobuharu was from a small powerful family guarding the border, and Kasuga Toratsuna was from a farmer’s family. Others, such as Yamamoto Kansuke, were actively promoted as long as they were excellent, even if they came from other provinces.
The organization of Shingen’s vassals is unclear due to the lack of historical records from the time, but according to the Kōyō Gunkan, a record of the military exploits of the Takeda clan, it was composed of three groups: the Goichimonshū, who were related to Shingen by blood; the Fudai Karōshū, who had served the Takeda clan for several generations; and the Senpōshū, who followed the Takeda clan along with its territorial expansion.
The forces led by Shingen were feared by the rest of the country and won a great victory at the Battle of Mikatagahara against Tokugawa Ieyasu, which was Shingen’s last major battle. After Shingen’s death, Ieyasu, who ultimately destroyed the Takeda clan, inherited the vassals and military system bequeathed by Shingen and eventually established the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo (modern-day Tōkyō) to rule the entire country for more than 260 years. During this period, known as the Edo period (1603-1868), Shingen and his vassals were revered for their victory over Ieyasu and the vassals became known as the “Twenty-three Generals of Takeda Shingen.” Thus, paintings of Takeda’s generals were very popular and many survive to this day.
The Shingen Museum opened in 2019 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the founding of Kōfu-City. The site where Takeda Shrine now stands was once the stronghold of the Takeda clan, the warlords who ruled over Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture) and much of central Japan. With the exception of the Takeda Shrine precincts, the surrounding area is still being excavated, and the actual image of the Takeda residence from the Warring States period is gradually being revealed. The Shingen Museum introduces the history of the Takeda clan by incorporating findings from these excavations.
The museum, located to the south of the ruins of the Takeda clan residence, was once part of the castle town and is believed to have been the site of the residence of Anayama Nobutada, the husband of Shingen’s second daughter, and is constructed using methods that minimize any disturbance to the ruins. The building is also constructed with consideration to the surrounding landscape, providing views of Mt. Fuji.
The museum is divided into two areas: a newly constructed wooden building with an exhibition room and a former high-end restaurant/inn known as the Hotta Kojyoen, built in the early twentieth century, which now has a café and souvenir shop housed in separate buildings. Opening hours start at 9:00 am and last admission is at 4:30 pm. The museum is closed on Tuesdays, but if Tuesday is a national holiday, it is closed on the following Wednesday. Please also note that the museum is closed from December 29 to 31.
In the general information area that also serves as the entrance, visitors can see a diorama of Yamanashi Prefecture, including the Takeda clan residence, as well as photos of the residence site. It may be interesting to imagine why this location was chosen by the Takedas.
In the permanent exhibition room, panels introduce the three generations of the Takeda clan (Nobutora, Shingen, and Katsuyori), the people involved in the residence, the structure of the residence, the results of excavations, and the ruins of the castle town.
The special exhibition room is the only facility in the museum that charges a fee. Please be sure to view the 10-minute video that connects the excavated artifacts with the site of the Takeda clan’s residence, as well as the special exhibits on display. In addition to kawarake, unglazed ceramics that were essential for ceremonial feasts, porcelain used for decoration, tea ceremony utensils, and a gun barrel are on display. One of the highlights of the exhibit is an entire skeleton of a horse from the Warring States period, the only one of its kind to be excavated in Japan. The care with which this horse, presumed to be a war horse, was treated in life and death can be determined by the condition of its bones and the fact that it was buried wrapped in a straw mat, with its head lying in a northerly direction and its face pointing west, just like Buddhist devotees of the time.
In the Treasures Exhibit in the Special Exhibition Hall, special exhibitions of Shingen and his vassals are held from time to time, displaying valuable historical artifacts owned by temples and shrines. Tickets for the special exhibition room are 300 yen per person, 240 yen per person for groups of 20 or more, and free for high school students and younger.
Hotta Kojyoen, a former high-end restaurant/inn established in 1933, was opened to the public at the same time as the opening of the museum in 2019 and is now open for tours. In 2021, the main building, detached house, tea ceremony room, and wooden gate were registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property. Although the Hotta family who opened the restaurant/inn and the Takedas are not related, the buildings are decorated with motifs of the Takeda clan’s crests because of its close proximity to the old castle. One of the most playful examples of this is a detached tea ceremony room built in the shape of the Takeda crest.
Castle Town Life
Various items including tableware, weapons, and children’s toys were excavated during the survey around the Takeda residence. In an unusual case, ceramics and old coins that had been purposely placed into a waterway were found. The presence of such items is a testament to the lives of the vassals, artisans and common people who gravitated to the feudal lords of Kai.
Excavations of Temples and Shrines from the Age of the Warring States
During three generations of Takeda rule, many temples and shrines were either built or relocated to establish Kōfu as the capital of Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture). After the fall of the Takeda clan, a new castle was built as the center of Kōfu on Ichijyō Koyama (a small hill southeast of JR Kōfu Station). Excavations based on contemporary pictorial maps and historic records confirm that many temples and shrines were once again relocated to this new area of Kōfu after the fall of the Takeda clan.
The Takeda Clan and Gold
The production of high-quality gold in Kurokawa, and Yunooku, Kai Province, reached its peak during the Warring States period. The Takeda clan gave gifts of gold to court nobles, shrines, and temples. Gold was also given as a reward to the Takeda’s vassals. Scientific analysis reveals that the gold produced at the Kurokawa gold mine in Kōshū-City was carried to Kōfu for processing.
Many earthenware dishes containing small particles of gold leftover from its processing have been found in various places in Kōfu. Excavation surveys carried out near the Takeda clan’s residence in Yakata, 3-chōme, have revealed gold-plated furniture, decorative gold-plated fittings, metal processing tools, and earthenware dishes containing small particles of leftover gold.
Allow us to introduce the historic Takeda clan headquarters, built during the age of the Warring States, through historic records and the latest archaeological discoveries.
The original Takeda clan residence, Tsutsujigasaki, was built by Takeda Nobutora in 1519. It was the seat of three generations of the Takeda clan, Nobutora, Shingen, and Shingen’s son Katsuyori, who ruled over the central part of the Japanese archipelago. The Tsutsujigasaki residence was used by the Takeda clan until 1581 (for a total of 62 years) until Katsuyori built Shinpu Castle in Nirasaki, northwest of Kōfu, as his new headquarters.
Excavations have revealed five significant renovations to the Tsutsujigasaki residence that are important to its historic transition.
The bridge and stairs at the southern approach were built when Takeda Shrine was founded in 1919. There is no evidence that any structures, other than the original earthworks, existed at this specific location during the Warring States period. In addition to finding evidence of the original earthworks while repairing the stone walls of the shrine, it was also discovered that at least five renovations had been carried out during the 74 years the residence was in use.
In the beginning, the original residence was a simple structure that had a small moat and earthwork wall surrounding it. During Shingen’s reign, the main residence grew to 218 m2, twice the size of the Western Quarter which was built on the opposite side of the moat in 1551. In keeping with the expansion of the Takeda clan’s power, the moat and foundations were expanded, and assumed their current scale by the time Katsuyori became lord in 1573. After the fall of the Takeda clan, ishigaki (traditional dry stone walls) were built in key sections of the residence.
Using an Edo-era pictorial map of the main Takeda residence, we could identify foundation stones of a former gate. In addition, from the location referred to on the map as sensui (pond), traces of a garden were discovered including large standing stones and blue and white decorative pebbles that were spread over the bottom of the pond. It is said that Shingen even named some of his favorite trees in the garden.
Takeda Shingen appears to have constructed a residence that imitated the Imperial Palace of the Ashikaga shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1336 to 1573. Excellent ceramics similar to those that would have been found in the shogun’s palace, such as celadon pots and vases from Song Dynasty China (960-1279), have been excavated from the site. Displaying such decorative formal items in his tokonoma (a slightly raised alcove found in formal reception rooms) would have reinforced Takeda Shingen’s power and authority.
When excavating opposite the moat on the southern side of the Western Quarter, the remains of a war horse were found facing west, the direction of the Buddhist Pure Land. The remains were those of a male horse of about 14 years of age which would have stood about 126 cm tall, the size of a modern-day pony. Japanese horses of the Warring States period were significantly smaller than modern-day horses. The condition of the bones of this particular horse confirm that it was very well-cared for.
Using an Edo-era architectural drawing kept by a head carpenter of the time, we identified “stables” with dimensions similar to buildings excavated outside the main gate of the residence site. From the design of these buildings and the remains of the wooden floors, you can see that the horses had been well-cared for. Furthermore, at the northern gate of the Western Quarter, a single piece of golden-edged, lacquered-wooden horse armor was excavated. It is clear that horses were highly prized by the Takedas.
Takeda Shrine was built upon the ruins of Takeda Castle in the early twentieth century to mark the 400th anniversary of the founding of Kōfu-City, however, you can still see many vestiges of the Takeda household’s glorious past.
The main residence, completed by Takeda Nobutora in 1519, occupied the center of what is now the shrine precincts. Both the site of the former main residence and the Western Quarter, a section added for Takeda Yoshinobu and his new wife in 1551, are surrounded by earthwork walls that are 12 meters high and 20 meters deep. In addition, there is a moat surrounding the walled-off residence which is about 16 meters wide. Because the residence was built on the slope of an alluvial fan, it sits quite high on its northern side, while the lower southern part of the residence is surrounded by a water-filled moat. Who knows, the carp in this moat may be the descendants of the carp that filled the moat in the sixteenth century.
The main gate to the shrine, which took its current shape in the latter half of the sixteenth century, is about 6.9 meters wide and about 15.5 meters deep. During the Takeda era, the entrance was crescent-shaped in order to provide optimal protection from intruders, but after the fall of the Takeda clan, it was given sharp corners. The current wall is made of stone.
In order to prevent direct entry to the residence by intruders, an earthwork wall was built in the shape of a square to surround the passage through the northern gateway of the Western Quarter. Because the earthwork wall’s shape resembles a traditional wooden measuring cup, the gate is known as a Masugata Koguchi. After the fall of the Takeda clan, stone walls were built on both the inside and outside of the original gateway.
The southern gate of the Western Quarter is the same as the northern gate, but larger. The current stone gate sits upon an original Takeda-era structure, and its orientation seems to have been altered on the eastern side. The ishigaki (traditional dry stone walls) are characterized by the stacking of stones so that the visible section of each stone appears to be flush with the surrounding stones.
Takeda Katsuyori (1546–1582) was a Japanese daimyō (feudal lord) of the Sengoku period (Japan’s Warring States period), who is famed as the successor to the legendary warlord Takeda Shingen and the last head of the Takeda clan.
Takeda Katsuyori had many victories in battle, including his participation in The Battle of Mikatagahara, fought in the western part of modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture in what is now Hamamatsu-City. The Battle, which took place on 25 January 1573, was one of his father’s most famous battles, and one of the most notable defeats of the Takeda’s greatest rivals, Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga.
In 1574, a year after his father’s death, Katsuyori captured Takatenjin Castle, located in the western part of modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture, which even his father had not managed to do. This solidified his support from the Takeda clan, and its retainers.
Despite early successes, Katsuyori suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575 (in what is now Shinshiro-City in modern-day Aichi Prefecture). In the battle, Katsuyori lost many of his most capable generals to the allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Katsuyori's defeat is said to have been caused by an ill-considered attack on a position established by the Oda and Tokugawa forces, which exposed him to the fire of the reported 3,000 firearms that Nobunaga had prepared. This use of firearms to defeat Takeda’s cavalry tactics is often cited as a turning point in Japanese warfare. Katsuyori and his forces would never fully recover from this defeat and it was only a matter of time before the rule of the Takedas came to an end.
On March 3, 1582, while being pursued by the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Katsuyori set fire to his newly built Shinpu Castle and attempted to escape with about 500-600 samurai and more than 200 women and children from his family and kin. They fled east through the mountains of Kai (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture) to a mountain fortress located in modern-day Otsuki-City, where they hoped to find refuge with the Takeda retainer, Oyamada. However, they were denied access to the fortress as the road leading there was blocked. With no fortress to hold and no additional allies, the remaining Takeda servants and warriors lost hope and dispersed in panic: all along the way men had dropped out until only 41 warriors and some 50 women were left, close kinsmen of Katsuyori who could not run away.
On March 11, 1582, the last 41 men of Takeda Katsuyori’s forces died with honor after being overtaken by Oda Nobunaga’s forces at the Battle of Tenmokuzan. Among them, Tsuchiya Masatsune showed such bravery that he came to be known as “the warrior who single-handedly cut down one thousand men.” Their valiant sacrifice bought time for Katsuyori and his retinue, including his wife and their children, to commit ritual suicide. The Takeda family of the prestigious Kai Genji clan had perished. Later, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who assumed the rule of Kai Province, built Keitokuin Temple on the site where Katsuyori and the others are said to have committed suicide, to mourn the souls of those who died in the battle.
From an early age, Takeda Shingen was educated by a highly respected Zen Buddhist priest. As a result, he studied classical Chinese literature and became well-versed in Chinese poetry. Shingen respected the military tactics of Sun Tzu (544-496 BCE), the renowned ancient Chinese military strategist who is credited as the author of The Art of War. As a code of conduct for his army, Shingen used a passage from The Art of War on a banner and displayed it on the battlefield. It is said that he started using this banner from the time of the Battle of Kawanakajima against Uesugi Kenshin.
The banner quoted four phrases from The Art of War: “as swift as wind, as gentle as a forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as a mountain.”
In addition to being a military commander who excelled in the martial arts, Shingen had a deep knowledge of culture and the arts, and was highly respected by court nobles and the emperor’s envoys in Kyōto. Shingen was also an outstanding cultural figure, composing waka (Japanese poetry) as well as painting.
Shingen built a mansion and gardens modelled after those of the Ashikaga shoguns in Kyōto, to which he invited court nobles and their retainers, and often entertained them lavishly by holding poetry festivals. The extensive gardens of the Takeda residence were used to demonstrate his social status and power when welcoming distinguished guests. Such gardens were an essential part of a daimyō’s diplomacy. Furthermore, excavations at the site of Lord Shingen’s former residence have led to the discovery of high-quality ceramics and porcelain dating from Song-Dynasty China (960-1279 CE). These items would have been given pride of place in the slightly raised alcove of the room where emissaries and guests from throughout Japan were received. Displaying such fine ceramics would have attested to Shingen’s power.
In some Edo-period texts, Shingen is described as “a general who was a master of Japanese archery,” a model warrior who never lost a battle from the age of 16 to 53. In 1541, when he became the head of the Takeda clan, he began a full-scale invasion of Shinano Province (modern-day Nagano Prefecture), starting with the invasion of Suwa the following year. However, the Takeda forces, which had won successive victories, were defeated twice by the powerful Murakami Yoshikiyo. In the Battle of Uedahara in 1548, Shingen suffered a particularly serious defeat, losing some of his chief vassals, as well as being wounded himself. Shingen was later portrayed as a victorious general because of his many significant victories in battle, his conquest of extensive territories, and the publicity his warlike prowess received through such historic chronicles as the Kōyō Gunkan.
The Kōyō Gunkan describes each of Takeda Shingen’s major battles, chronicling not only the strategies and tactics but the outcomes as well. It also tells of the famous one-on-one skirmish between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin at the fourth battle of Kawanakajima in 1561. Having broken through Takeda’s forces, Uesugi Kenshin found his way to Shingen’s command tent, where he engaged Shingen directly, slashing at him with his sword. Shingen deflected the attack with his iron war fan, and reached for his own sword. A Takeda retainer then speared Kenshin’s horse, forcing him to retreat.
The chronicle also gives a detailed breakdown of the entire Takeda army, when Takeda Shingen was at the height of his power, counting everything from pages and banner bearers to kitchen staff, horse doctors, and finance commissioners. According to the chronicle, the 33,736 members of Takeda’s army included 9,121 horsemen, 18,242 followers for the horsemen, 884 foot-soldiers (personal attendants to the lord), and 5,489 other foot-soldiers. The detailed breakdown of the army also provides an interesting look into the hierarchy of retainers or allies within such a force.
The battle with Uesugi Kenshin in Echigo (modern-day Niigata Prefecture) over control of northern Shinano was the longest and most severe of Shingen’s life, but the battle with Tokugawa Ieyasu in his later years was both his last battle and largest military operation. The massive military operation known as Seijō-Sakusen, literally Operation Westward, in which Shingen moved an army of some 27,000 men, is said to have been initiated to assist the Ashikaga shogun in Kyōto to overthrow Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga so that Shingen could issue a decree to the whole of Japan. However, after a series of successive victories and a great victory over the combined forces of Oda and Tokugawa at the Battle of Mikatagahara, Shingen’s health deteriorated, making it difficult for him to continue further, and he was forced to withdraw his forces. On his way back to Kōfu, Shingen died in Shinano at the age of 53. The memory of this great victory, coupled with its lasting aftermath, may have heightened awareness of the legend of Shingen’s invincible spirit.
Although Takeda Shingen is most often thought of as a military commander who led his troops into battle, in his everyday life he resided at the Takeda residence in Tsutsujigasaki, where he administered the affairs of government in his domain. In addition to being the leader of a large number of vassals, Shingen’s major role was to protect the livelihoods of his subjects as the feudal lord of the land.
Surrounded by high mountains, the Kōfu Basin had only a limited amount of arable land suitable for rice cultivation, and even this land was often inundated by flood waters. Therefore, a flood control project was undertaken by Shingen to prevent rivers from overflowing by building a levee near the confluence of the Kamanashi River, which flows southward through the western part of the Kōfu Basin, and its tributary, the Midai River. This is the dike on the Kamanashi River that remains to this day, and is known as the “Shingenzutsumi” (Shingen Dike).
Despite the relative success of these flood controls, the fact still remained that there was limited agricultural land available for rice cultivation. Thus, it would appear that the province’s strategic resources were inferior to that of other provinces. However, the mountains and forests produced high-quality timber, and the province was also blessed with gold mines. Gold is said to have underpinned Shingen’s military power, and there were two large, high-quality gold mines in Kai: Yunooku and Kurokawa. There is no doubt that gold from the Kurokawa mine was brought to Kōfu for processing as the presence of gold from the Kurokawa mine has been detected in earthenware smelting trays called “kawarake,” which were excavated in the castle town of Kōfu. The gold in Kai was of high purity, and it appears that it could be refined relatively easily, so it was intensively produced by people known as “Kinzanshu” who lived off mountain resources during Shingen’s reign.
Furthermore, Shingen passed 57 laws for governing his domain in 1547, consisting of 55 articles to which two were added later, and these laws are known as the “Kōshū Hatto no Shidai” (The Laws of Kōshū).
The content of the laws was wide-ranging, but most of them related to land ownership and taxes, while others stipulated matters related to the master-servant relationship of warriors, the settlement of violent disputes, restrictions on exchanging documents with other provinces, and even the prohibition of religious disputes. It was very unusual at the time that any violation of the law could be litigated without regard to a person’s status, thus, even Shingen was subject to these laws.
Notable Members of the Takeda Clan
Ōi no kata (Wife of Takeda Nobutora and Mother of Takeda Shingen)
Ōi no kata, Lady Ōi, (1497-1552) was born the daughter of Ōi Nobusato who lived in the western part of Kōfu Basin and was a local rival of Takeda Nobutora. She was very dedicated to the education of her children, including inviting outstanding monks to Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture) as teachers. It is said that she had a relationship of trust with her son, Shingen. Lady Ōi continued to stay at the Takeda residence (established in 1519) after her husband, Nobutora, was expelled to Suruga Province (modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture) in 1541. Because she lived in the northern section of the residence, she was known as “The Lady of the North”. Her painting, created by her son, is held at Chōzen-ji Temple.
Lady Sanjyō (Wife of Takeda Shingen)
Lady Sanjyō (1521-1570) was born the daughter of Sanjyō Kinyori, a court noble of Kyōto. Imagawa Yoshimoto introduced Lady Sanjyō to Takeda Shingen and she became Shingen’s wife. She gave birth to three boys and two girls. Lady Sanjyō had a sister who married a Buddhist priest who was known to be hostile to Oda Nobunaga, a powerful feudal lord. Lady Sanjyō allegedly introduced this brother-in-law to her husband, Shingen. Death records at Bodai-ji Temple describe Lady Sanjyō as one of the most beautiful women in western Japan (the southwestern part of Japan’s main island, Honshu).
Takeda Yoshinobu (Son of Takeda Shingen)
Takeda Yoshinobu (1538-1567) was born the eldest son of Shingen. In 1552, he took the daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto as his wife. Upon their marriage, the western part of the Takeda residence was built in the expectation that Yoshinobu would succeed his father as lord of Kai Province. However, he rebelled against his father’s rule and was forced to commit ritual suicide in 1567.
Takeda Ryūho, AKA Unno Nobuchika (Son of Takeda Shingen)
Unno Nobuchika (1541-1582) was the second son of Shingen. In 1556, Nobuchika became ill and a letter exists showing that Takeda Shingen requested prayers for the recovery of Nobuchika’s sight. Despite Nobuchika’s blindness, Shingen named Nobuchika heir to the Unno clan of Shinano Province (modern-day Nagano Prefecture) in order to further expand his influence.
Lady Hōjyō (Wife of Takeda Katsuyori)
Lady Hōjyō (1564-1582) was born the daughter of Hōjyō Ujiyasu of Sagami Province (modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture), she married to secure an alliance between the Takeda clan of Kai Province and the Hōjyō clan in 1577. Although she had sent prayers for the safety of the Takeda clan to Takeda Hachiman Shrine, she ultimately committed ritual suicide with her husband, Takeda Katsuyori, as the Oda-Tokugawa allied army was invading in 1582.
Takeda Nobukatsu (Son of Takeda Katsuyori)
Takeda Nobukatsu (1567-1582) was born the eldest son of Takeda Katsuyori and Lady Tōyama, the adopted daughter of Oda Nobunaga. Due to the swift advance of the Oda-Tokugawa forces into Kai and Shinano Provinces, and the defection of influential vassals from the Takeda army, his father, Katsuyori, decided to abandon the unfinished Shinpu Castle. In the “Kōyō Gunkan”, The Military History of the Takeda Clan, it is said that Nobukatsu insisted that they should commit ritual suicide gracefully at the castle, but Nobukatsu ultimately retreated into the mountains with his father who had decided to burn the castle, and the 16-year-old, his father, his father’s second wife and about 60 members of their retinue committed suicide.
Did you know that Takeda Shingen, a renowned feudal lord of Japan’s Warring States period, has his roots in the Emperor’s family? The Takeda clan was the head family of the Kai Genji clan, a branch of the Seiwa Genji clan, whose ancestor was the 56th emperor of Japan during the 9th century. In the long history of the Genji, three generations of warlords, Takeda Nobutora, Shingen and Katsuyori, were active during the 16th century, mainly in Kai Province (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture).
Takeda Nobutora:
As early as the age of 9, Takeda Nobutora (1498-1574) succeeded his deceased father as the 18th generation head of the Takeda clan. Nobutora eventually became a preeminent daimyō (feudal lord) by uniting the competing lords of Kai Province during the Sengoku era (Japan’s civil war period). In 1541, while returning from a visit to his son-in-law who ruled Suruga Province (modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture), his eldest son, Shingen, supported by his vassals, sealed the border between Kai and Suruga, and forced Nobutora into hiding. Thus, Nobutora retired and became a monk. After the death of his son-in-law, he served the Ashikaga shogunate in Kyōto, never to return to Kōfu.
In 1574, he died at Takatō Castle in Shinano Province (modern-day Nagano Prefecture) where he was staying with his third son, Nobukado. Nobutora’s remains are interred at Daisenji Temple, Kōfu, where a portrait of him, created by his third son, is held in its collections.
Takeda Shingen:
Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) was able to acquire great power as a daimyō thanks in large part to the achievements of his father, Nobutora, who united Kai Province and established Kōfu as his power base in the year 1519. When he was 21 years old, Shingen replaced his father as daimyō of Kai Province and subsequently fought Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province (modern-day Niigata Prefecture) at the 5 battles of Kawanakajima in Shinano Province. In 1572, Shingen left Kōfu with a large army bound for Kyōto in order to gain recognition as the most powerful warlord in Japan. However, Shingen became very ill and died while returning to Kōfu from a military campaign in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture) in 1573. In life, Shingen devoted himself to domestic issues such as the construction of levees and the enactment of laws, and because Shingen protected Yamanashi Prefecture from invasion, he is revered to this day as a hero at Takeda Shrine, which was dedicated in his honor in 1919 and continues to attract many visitors.
Takeda Katsuyori:
After Shingen’s death, his fourth son, Takeda Katsuyori (1546-1582), became head of the Takeda clan. During Katsuyori’s tenure as lord of Kai Province, the Takeda clan’s power and the amount of territory under its control reached their zenith.
In 1581, he built Shinpu Castle in Nirasaki, northwest of Kōfu, and subsequently relocated his headquarters there before demolishing the former Takeda headquarters at Kōfu, which had been established by his grandfather, Nobutora and strengthened by his father, Shingen.
Outnumbered and outmatched by the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Katsuyori fled to the eastern reaches of the Kōfu Basin with his forces and was eventually defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan. Ultimately, 37-year-old Katsuyori, his 19-year-old wife, his 16-year-old son from his first marriage, and about 60 officers, soldiers and female servants committed ritual suicide on the 11th of March, 1582. This act marked the end of three generations of Takeda domination of the central part of Japan.
The Shingen Museum held “Takeda Shingen as a God” in 2022 as part of the special exhibition “Takeda Shingen and Yamamoto Kansuke,” exhibiting portraits of Takeda Shingen and the Kōyō Gunkan. The purpose of the exhibition was to explore why Takeda Shingen was worshipped as a god in the eras following his death.
First of all, what is the Kōyō Gunkan?
The Kōyō Gunkan is a record of the military exploits of the Takeda clan, based largely on the oral traditions of the Takeda vassal, Kōsaka Masanobu. In addition to containing anecdotes about Takeda Shingen, it provides some of the most detailed descriptions and statistics of warfare in Japan’s Warring States period. Furthermore, the term Bushidō, the name for the famous samurai code of chivalry, was first used in the Kōyō Gunkan. The Kōyō Gunkan became popular among samurai as a text on military science, which was also recognized by the shogunate during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868.
The Kōyō Gunkan contains many anecdotes about Takeda Shingen's military strategies, warfare, daily life, and relationships with his vassals that cannot be found elsewhere. Sections attributed to Kōsaka Masanobu express his views on the warrior code in relation to the connection between lord and vassal. He compares Shingen to the ideal lord, and contrasts him to his son, Takeda Katsuyori, whose poor leadership hastened the downfall of the clan. If the Kōyō Gunkan had not been officially recognized by the Tokugawa Shogunate and used as a model by many warriors, Takeda Shingen’s story might not have been vividly passed down to us through the centuries.
According to the Kōyō Gunkan, Shingen had a wooden statue of Fudo Myo-o made in his own image. Fudo Myo-o is one of the 5 lords of light in Buddhism, who is said to protect the nation from plague and foreign invaders. The image of Fudo Myo-o, who was revered by various Buddhist sects in Japan, holds a treasured sword in his right hand and a rope snare in his left, and has a terrifying, wrathful expression on his face, which attracted the worship of many warlords in the past. The Takeda clan’s temple, Erin-ji Temple, has a statue of Fudo Myo-o called “Takeda Fudo Myo-o”. The latest research has revealed that the statue was created in April 1572, one year before Shingen's death, by Kouju, a Buddhist priest from the Shichijo area of Kyoto.
Since his death, Takeda Shingen has been compared to Fudo Myo-o. Although there are no reliable historical records that indicate a relationship between Shingen and Fudo Myo-o, “Fudo Hall” is shown at the northeast corner of the Takeda residence in an illustrated map said to depict the Takeda residence during Shingen's reign. One can imagine that Shingen prayed there regularly. Furthermore, at Shingen's funeral, a renowned priest delivered a speech in which he explained that Shingen had created Fudo Myo-o to rule the country with the treasured sword of subjugation, suggesting that the people of the time identified Shingen with Fudo Myo-o, who protected the region and its inhabitants.
This is one of the reasons why many portraits of Takeda Shingen painted during the Edo period (1603-1868) were based on the form of Fudo Myo-o.
The Shingen Museum, with support from the Agency for Cultural Affairs, held a special countdown exhibition in 2022, “The Renowned Lord Takeda Shingen and his Legendary General Yamamoto Kansuke,” to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Shingen's death.
“The Legend and Truth of Yamamoto Kansuke,” introduced the real Yamamoto Kansuke, the most famous of the Takeda clan’s vassals, from the legendary military strategist mentioned in the Kōyō Gunkan, a record of the military exploits of the Takeda clan, to the real Yamamoto Kansuke as revealed in contemporaneous documents.
In 1541, Takeda Shingen, supported by his vassals and fiefdom, banished his tyrannical father Nobutora to Suruga Province, modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture, and became the head of the Takeda clan, stabilizing the region and launching a full-scale invasion of neighboring Shinano Province, modern-day Nagano Prefecture. It was near the beginning of this expansion of the Takeda clan’s power that Yamamoto Kansuke entered into the service of Shingen (1543 or 1544).
Yamamoto Kansuke was recommended to Shingen as a man with excellent castle-building skills, and was promptly taken into Shingen’s service. Yamamoto is said to have successfully employed the pincer movement during the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima, in which he fought a fierce battle with Uesugi Kenshin. However, other than the description of Yamamoto in the Kōyō Gunkan, there were no other historical documents that indicated the existence or activities of the legendary general until his name was confirmed in an ancient document discovered in 1969.
The document revealed that Yamamoto was dispatched as an important messenger to keep the Ichikawa clan, a powerful military clan in northern Shinano Province, in the Takeda army. Another ancient document discovered in Gunma Prefecture in 2008 contains evidence of Yamamoto’s true significance as one of Shingen’s most trusted generals. This document revealed that Shingen had requested Yamamoto to consider military operations in northern Shinano and even to visit Shingen’s chief vassal when the vassal was ill.
The exhibition included old documents and paintings depicting Yamamoto, who died in the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima in 1561. The exhibition revealed the real-life Yamamoto Kansuke, who worked tirelessly for Shingen, and brought to light the life of a legendary general from the Warring States period.