Takeda clan
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The Takeda (武田氏 Takeda-shi) was a famous clan of daimyō (feudal lords) in Japan's late Heian Period to Sengoku period.
The Takeda were descendants of
Emperor Seiwa (850-880) and are a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji), by
Minamoto no Yoshimitsu (1056-1127), brother to the Chinjufu-shogun
Minamoto no Yoshiie (1039-1106). Minamoto no Yoshikiyo (+ 1163), son of Yoshimitsu,
was the first to take the name of Takeda.
In the 12th century, at the end
of the Heian period, the Takeda family controlled Kai Province. Along with a
number of other families, they aided their cousin Minamoto no Yoritomo against
the Taira clan in the Genpei War. When Minamoto no Yoritomo was first defeated
at Ishibashiyama (1181), Takeda Nobuyoshi was applied for help and the Takeda
sent an army of 20,000 men to support Yoritomo. Takeda Nobumitsu (1162-1248),
helped the Hōjō during the Shōkyu War (1221) and in reward received the
governorship of Aki province. Until the Sengoku period, the Takeda were shugo
of Kai, Aki and Wakasa provincies. In 1415, they helped to suppress the
rebellion of Uesugi Zenshū; Ashikaga Mochiuji, Uesugi's lord, and the man the
rebellion was organized against, made a reprisal against the Takeda, thus
beginning the rivalry between the Uesugi and Takeda families, which would last
roughly 150 years.
Takeda Harunobu succeeded his
father Nobutora in 1540, becoming lord of Kai, and quickly began to expand.
Though he faced the Hōjō clan a number of times, most of his expansion was to
the north, where he fought his most famous battles, against Uesugi Kenshin.
Shingen is famous for his
tactical genius, and innovations, though some historians have argued that his
tactics were not particularly impressive nor revolutionary. Nevertheless,
Shingen is perhaps most famous for his use of the cavalry charge. Up until the
mid-16th century and Shingen's rise to power, mounted samurai were
primarily archers. There was already a trend at this time towards larger
infantry-based armies, including a large number of foot archers. In order to
defeat these missile troops, Shingen transformed his samurai from
archers to lancers, and used the cavalry charge to devastating effect at the
Battle of Mikatagahara in 1572. The strength of Shingen's new tactic became so
famous that the Takeda army came to be known as the kiba gundan (騎馬軍団), or 'mounted army.'
Shingen died in 1573, at age 53,
from illness. His less tactically talented son, Katsuyori, succeeded him, and
was defeated in 1575, in the famous battle of Nagashino, by Oda Nobunaga.
The Kōshū Hatto, composed
at some point in the 15th century, is the code of law of the Takeda family,
while the Kōyō Gunkan, composed largely by Kōsaka Masanobu in the
mid-16th century, is an epic recording the family's history and Shingen's
innovations in military tactics.
Read about Takeda Shingen and the Fall of Takeda.
Read about KAI-no-KUNI GO, Shingen's sword.