One of the great daimyo of Sengoku Japan Takeda Shingen banished his father and took total control of the Takeda clan at just the age of twenty. From then on he expanded his territories and became one of Japan's leading lords.

At the age of thirty Takeda Harunobu became a monk and took the Buddhist name of 'Shingen'. By that time he had already been the leader of the Takeda clan for ten years after deposing his father Nobutora. At an early age Shingen was a competent warrior and commander and at just the age of fifteen he was part of his father's forces who laid siege to the fortress of Hiraga Genshin. Initially it was not a success and the Takeda samurai retreated in heavy snow, yet Shingen was determined it should not end there. In the morning he marched his men back to the castle of Umi no Kuchi where he led a successful assault leading to its capture. Despite his growing successes it seems that Shingen's father was not a little jealous of his son, which ultimately led to his deposition on 7 July 1541. Shingen assumed total control after defeating in battle a number of daimyo from neighbouring Shinano province who sought to benefit from the sudden coup.

The heartland of the Takeda clan was the landlocked mountainous province of Kai in central Honshu, west of Edo (Tokyo), and Shingen governed from his yashiki (mansion) called Tsutsujigasaki at Fuchu (now Kofu), the capital. As well as being a great warrior and general he was also a skilled administrator and politician. He treated his subjects well, at least compared to his contemporaries, which was why they were generally more loyal to him. Farmers, for example, could pay their taxes in the form of two-thirds rice and one-third money. Also the price for unruly behaviour, such as brawling, was the payment of a fine rather than corporal punishment. Shingen benefited hugely from the ready supply of gold found in the mountains and rivers of Kai and when Tokugawa Ieyasu finally conquered the Takeda territories he ordered the striking of three hundred thousand gold coins from the Takeda reserves. Furthermore Shingen's efficient fiscal system was in part copied by Ieyasu to form the basis of his shogunate.

According to various portraits and illustrations Takeda Shingen was a well built man and sometimes looked quite fierce with an appearance likened to the god Fudo the Immovable (a deity Shingen often identified himself with). He was determined and, in his quest to unify Japan, ruthless. Towns and villages were put to the sword and rival samurai were massacred with abandon. Shingen's home territories were run very efficiently to meet the age's military needs. Fire beacons or noroshi were set up throughout the Takeda territories so that spotters could light them and send messages to Kofu and other places by the use of fast horses and runners. This also allowed for the rapid raising of the Takeda army for which the cavalry were its most formidable asset.

Shingen enjoyed a colourful personal life with two wives, three mistresses and possibly thirty others who he was intimate with. In 1544 he struck out from Kai and into Shinano province where he defeated the local daimyo called Suwa Yorishige, who was later forced to commit suicide at the command of the Takeda lord. Shingen quickly became infatuated with Yorishige's beautiful 14-year-old daughter and although she was technically his niece (she was the daughter of Shingen's younger sister) it did not prevent him from taking her for his wife. This caused some consternation among Shingen's followers who believed the young girl to be an incarnation of the fox-spirit of the Suwa shrine and who had bewitched their master for revenge. In many ways their superstition was well founded because in 1546 she gave birth to a son called Takeda Katsuyori and he would be the man who took the Takeda clan to annihilation at Nagashino against Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Between 1553 and 1564 Shingen's chief enemy was Uesugi Kenshin and they fought five times on the same battlefield on the plain of Kawanakajima in Shinano province. The battles were fought after the rulers of the region were conquered and expelled by Shingen and they looked to Kenshin for help. The feud between Shingen and Kenshin became legendary and yet the battles failed to be decisive. The fourth battle in 1561 was a slaughter for both sides and it was in this very battle that both warlords struck blows against each other.

In the winter of 1572 Shingen strove for Kyoto, the prize of those wanting to rule Japan, and entered Tokugawa Ieyasu's territory. On the plain of Mikata-ga-hara the Takeda and Tokugawa armies met and it was the latter who were defeated. However, Shingen could not follow up his advantage because of the weather but he returned the following year to finish what he had started. In 1573 he laid siege to Ieyasu's castle of Noda on the Toyokawa river. Each night one of the Noda garrison played a flute, which captivated some of the Takeda soldiers and none more so than Shingen himself who was particular taken by its haunting melody. In order to hear the flute more clearly he moved closer to the ramparts and was spotted by a sniper who shot him. Grievously wounded Shingen departed from the battle and urged his followers to keep his death secret for as long as possible because the clan had been built upon his legendary shoulders and he feared that it would quickly fall apart if news of his death spread. In the days that followed his conditioned worsened and he died. The Akira Kurosawa film Kagemusha delves into Shingen's legend and how his followers tried to keep his death a secret by using a double which is well worth a look. 

Further Reading

Nagashino 1575 - Stephen Turnbull.

Samurai Commanders 1 (Osprey Publishing) - Stephen Turnbull.

Warriors of Medieval Japan - Stephen Turnbull.