Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

As Kagawa Morihisa and Hachiro arrived in Wakasa, Yoshishige ordered Yamamoto Shigeyuki to plan the city relocation ceremony, which was officially held on April 18th.

Not only were all the important officials of the Wakasa Takeda clan present at the castle relocation ceremony, but even Takeda Motomitsu, who was far away in Aki, and Takeda Nobumasa's special envoy and important official of the Aki Takeda clan, Takeda Shigekiyo, came from afar to attend the event.

This Takeda Shigekiyo, whose original name was Ban Shigekiyo, held the official position of Shimotsuke. As the son of Takeda Motoshige, he was adopted by the Ban clan, a branch of the Aki Takeda clan, and later returned to the Takeda clan. He participated in all important battles of the Aki Takeda clan against foreign enemies for more than 30 years and held a very high status in the family.

During the reign of Takeda Mitsukazu, with the decline of the Takeda clan, the power of speech in the family was gradually controlled by Shinagawa Nobumasa, who was pro-Amago faction, and Kagawa Mitsukage, who was pro-Ouchi faction. Takeda Shigekiyo and his son Takeda Nobushige (yes, the same name as the early protagonist~), as the pro-war faction, were gradually marginalized by the two forces.

Historically, after the Amago clan failed in their attack on Yoshida-gunyama Castle, the Ouchi and Mori coalition forces immediately turned their attention to attacking Sadō Ginzan Castle. The head of the clan, Takeda Nobumasa, abandoned the castle and fled to Izumo, and the Aki Takeda clan was in name only.

However, Takeda Shigekiyo and his son, who were unwilling to see their country and clan destroyed, stood up at this moment. With the support of everyone, Takeda Nobushige served as the temporary leader of the Aki Takeda clan, determined to defend Ginzan Castle to the death; Takeda Shigekiyo was besieged in the Ijo and Bonjo castles, vowing to live and die with the Aki Takeda clan.

As a result, under the fierce attack of the Ouchi and Mori coalition forces, the two castles fell one after another, Takeda Nobushige committed suicide, Takeda Shigekiyo was captured, and the Aki Takeda clan ultimately could not escape the fate of destruction.

It is worth mentioning that when the city was broken, one of Takeda Nobushige's sons escaped death and became a monk in Ankokuji Temple in Aki under the protection of his retainers. This person was the famous diplomatic monk Ankokuji Eike in history.

Of course, because they stood on the right side this time, not only did Takeda Shigekiyo and his son escape a tragic death, but "Ankokuji Keikei" was also born just two years later under the childhood name "Takewakamaru".

After the war, under the manipulation of Takeda Motomitsu and the sudden awakening of people like Kagawa Mitsukage, the pro-Ouchi faction and the pro-war faction reached a reconciliation within the Aki Takeda clan. Takeda Shigekiyo and his son were able to return to the core of the Aki Takeda clan, and the Aki Takeda clan achieved the long-lost unity since Takeda Motoshige.

Therefore, after arranging his affairs at home, Takeda Motomitsu wanted to take advantage of the relocation ceremony to return to Wakasa, where he had not seen for a long time, to see the majestic appearance of the new castle. Takeda Nobumasa was worried that Takeda Motomitsu would return alone, so he asked Takeda Shigekiyo to escort Takeda Motomitsu to Wakasa as his special envoy, and took the opportunity to let Takeda Shigekiyo, a member of the Aki Takeda clan, see how powerful the Wakasa Takeda clan was now.

In fact, in addition to the Aki Takeda clan, Yoshishige also invited the Kai Takeda clan and many branches of the Takeda clan to participate in the event, including the Kyoto and Mariya Takeda clans.

Speaking of the Takeda clan that was scattered across the country, in addition to the three more famous families of Kai, Wakasa, and Aki, which had complicated ties, there were also many branch families that played or once played important roles in the long river of history.

The Takeda clan of Kyoto originated from the younger brother of Takeda Ujinobu, the founder of the Kai Takeda clan, Yamagata Munobu. As a retainer, he served the Ashikaga shogunate in Kyoto for generations. Starting with Takeda Mitsunobu, through Momonobu, Naosunobu, and Yonobu, each generation served as the Ashikaga shogun, which shows their status in the shogunate.

The Kazusa Takeda clan originated from Takeda Nobunaga, the son of Takeda Nobumitsu, the twelfth head of the Kai Takeda clan. The then Koga Kubo Ashikaga Nariuji confirmed Takeda Nobunaga's control over Kazusa.

Afterwards, the Takeda clan of Kazusa was divided into two. The main family used the Chonan Castle as their home castle and was known as the "Chonan Takeda clan"; the branch family used the Maritani Castle as their home castle and was known as the "Maritani Takeda clan". Later, they simply changed their surname to Maritani and called themselves the Maritani clan. At this time, the Takeda clan of Kazusa was no longer as powerful as before due to the strategy of foreign powers such as Hojo and Satomi, as well as the siege of local Kazusa forces such as Sakai and Toki. Especially after the disastrous defeat in the first Kokufudai Battle in 1538, they lost the qualification to compete for hegemony in Kazusa.

Among them, the Maritani clan experienced two internal conflicts. Tamba no Kami Nobutaka, who relied on Hojo Ujiyasu to seize the position of head, and his younger brother Shikibu Daisuke Nobuo, who relied on Satomi clan, fought each other for years. This made the powerful man who once controlled the central and western parts of Kamitsu gradually become a puppet in the hands of Hojo and Satomi and a tool for fighting for control of Kamitsu.

As the guest of honor of this event, the current head of the Kai Takeda clan, Takeda Shingen, sent his second son Takeda Nobufusa as a special envoy and prepared generous gifts to go to Atagoyama Castle.

Takeda Nobuharu was only sixteen years old. He and his elder brother Takeda Harunobu were brothers from the same mother. The two brothers studied and grew up together since childhood. He was good at literature and martial arts, had both talent and virtue, and had an upright personality, so he was loved by Takeda Shingen.

There are rumors that Takeda Shingen even wanted to pass the throne to his youngest son, but he had a very good relationship with his elder brother. Instead of being arrogant, he always protected his brother. This can be regarded as a rare story of "brotherly love and respect" in the Kai Takeda clan.

Upon learning that Takeda Nobuharu would be sent to Wakasa as a special envoy, Yoshishige was naturally happy. After all, this man was Takeda Nobuyuki's most beloved son, which was enough to show that Takeda Nobuyuki attached great importance to his invitation.

However, Takeda Shingen's decision caused heated discussions in the Kai Takeda family.

Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Torayasu, who served as tutors to Takeda Harunobu, were very dissatisfied with Takeda Nobutora's decision. They believed that such an important matter should be handled by Takeda Harunobu, the eldest son, rather than the second son Takeda Nobushige. Takeda Nobushige did this to pave the way for Takeda Nobushige, which was an important manifestation of his intention to "depose the eldest son and establish the youngest son."

But Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Torayasu knew who Takeda Shingen was. Their dissatisfaction and protests were not important to this "Tiger of Kai" and were not enough to prompt him to change his decision.

In 1507, Takeda Shingen inherited the position of head of the family. At that time, his uncles Nobue Aburakawa, Namie Iwate, Masatane Kurihara and some people from eastern Kai united to resist his rule, but just one year later, Takeda Shingen, who was only years old, put down the rebellion and completed the unification of the Takeda family.

In the following 34 years, Takeda Shingen successively conquered the people of Kai, such as Oyamada, Imai, and Anayama, and achieved the unification of Kai.

He defeated the invasions of Imagawa and Hojo several times, and eased the relationship with the Imagawa clan by supporting Imagawa Yoshimoto during the "Hanakura Rebellion". He also achieved peace with the Imagawa clan by betrothing his eldest daughter to Imagawa Yoshimoto, and formed the "Koshun Alliance";
After unifying Kai, Takeda Shingen began to expand his power into Shinano. After failing in the battle with the Suwa clan and being forced to form an alliance, he turned his attention to Saku County and Ogata County north of Kai. Through the continued efforts of important officials such as Itomi Toramasa and Itagaki Nobukata, the Takeda clan was able to gain a foothold in southern Shinano.

It can be said that apart from his somewhat violent temper and somewhat arbitrary approach to things, the political achievements of the eighteenth head of the Kai Takeda clan were still very outstanding.

But military victory could not eliminate internal divisions and unrest, especially the dispatch of Takeda Nobuharu to Wakasa, which seemed to have intensified the conflict between Takeda Nobutora and Takeda Harunobu, the father and son. (End of this chapter)