Takeda Shingen was educated by highly respected Zen Buddhist monks from an early age. As a result, he studied classical Chinese literature and became well-versed in Chinese poetry. Shingen respected the military tactics of Sun Tzu (circa 5th century 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 fine arts, and was highly respected by court nobles and the emperor’s envoys in Kyōto.

As part of the refined persona he projected, Shingen built a mansion modelled after those of the Ashikaga shoguns in Kyōto, to which he invited court nobles and their retainers to lavish poetry festivals.

Shingen was known as an outstanding cultural figure, composing waka (Japanese poetry) as well as painting. In the samurai society of the time, the appreciation of waka poetry was not just a matter of acquiring it as an intellectual pursuit. The poetry readings and subsequent banquets had a strong political significance as they served as occasions for diplomacy, the exchange of information, and the reinforcement of the sovereign-servant relationship.

Moreover, the extensive gardens of the Takeda residence were used to further demonstrate his social status and power when welcoming distinguished guests. Such gardens were an essential part of daimyō diplomacy.

Unsurprisingly, excavations at the site of Lord Shingen’s former residence have revealed 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 further attested to Shingen’s power.

Lady Ōi (1497-1552) was the wife of Takeda Nobutora, and Shingen’s mother. She was born a daughter of the Ōi clan who lived in the western part of the Kōfu Basin and were a local rival of Nobutora. Following the peace between Nobutora and her father, she married into the Takeda family as Nobutora’s wife. She was blessed with four sons and a daughter, and was very dedicated to the education of her children, including inviting outstanding monks to Kai Province, modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture, as teachers. There is also an anecdote that she advised Shingen on the battlefield. Lady Ōi continued to stay at the Takeda residence after her husband, Nobutora, was banished by Shingen. A portrait painted by Nobukado, one of her sons, is held at her family temple, Chōzen-ji.

Shingen took a noblewoman, Lady Sanjyō (1521-1570), as his wife. She married into the Takeda family through an intermediary of Imagawa Yoshimoto, a feudal lord of Suruga Province, modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture. She gave birth to three boys and two girls. Lady Sanjyō also had a sister who married a Buddhist priest who was hostile to Oda Nobunaga, a powerful feudal lord and rival of Takeda Shingen. Lady Sanjyō allegedly introduced this brother-in-law to her husband, Shingen. Death records of Enkoin, her family temple, describe Lady Sanjyō as one of the most beautiful women in western Japan.

Shingen’s eldest son, Takeda Yoshinobu (1538-1567), was blessed with military prowess, and was expected to be the heir to the Takeda clan. In 1550, he took the daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto as his wife, and the western quarter of the Takeda residence was built upon their marriage. However, he later rebelled against his father’s rule and was forced to commit ritual suicide in 1567.

Shingen’s second son was Takeda Ryūho (1541-1582), also known as Unno Nobuchika. In 1556, Nobuchika became ill and a copy of a letter showing that Takeda Shingen requested prayers for the recovery of Nobuchika’s sight has survived. Despite Nobuchika’s blindness, Shingen named Nobuchika heir to the Unno clan of Shinano Province, modern-day Nagano Prefecture, to further expand his influence. However, he was ordained as a semi-clerical half-monk and never appeared on the political stage. During the invasion of Kai by Oda Nobunaga, he learned of his brother Katsuyori’s death and committed suicide.

Shingen’s fourth son, Katsuyori, took Lady Hōjyō (1564-1582) as his wife. She was born the daughter of Hōjyō Ujiyasu of Sagami Province, modern-day Kanagawa Prefecture. She married 31-year-old Katsuyori at the age of 13 to secure an alliance between the Takeda clan of Kai Province and the Hōjyō clan of Sagami Province in 1577. 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, her husband, Katsuyori, was plunged into a struggle for survival. To support him, she sent prayers for the safety of the Takeda clan to Takeda Hachiman Shrine. Ultimately, she committed ritual suicide with her husband and Katsuyori’s son from a previous marriage, Nobukatsu, in 1582.

Takeda Nobukatsu (1567-1582) was born the eldest son of Takeda Katsuyori and Lady Tōyama, the adopted daughter of Oda Nobunaga. In the Kōyō Gunkan (The Military History of the Takeda Clan) it is said that while being cornered by the Oda forces invading Kai, Nobukatsu insisted to his father, who was about to set fire to his unfinished castle, that they should commit ritual suicide gracefully there. They ultimately retreated into the mountains and relied on the Oyamada clan based in the eastern part of Kai Province. Due to Oyamada’s treachery, the 16-year-old Nobukatsu committed suicide along with his father, his father’s young wife, and about 60 members of their retinue.

Do you know that Takeda Shingen, a feudal lord of the Sengoku period (Japan’s Warring States period), had his roots in Japan’s Imperial family? The Takeda clan is the head family of the Genji of Kai Province, modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture, a branch of the Seiwa Genji, whose ancestor was Emperor Seiwa in the 9th century. The surname Minamoto, or the Genji, was given to a grandson of Emperor Seiwa, Tsunemoto, who gained fame as a military commander in the mid-10th century. In the history of the Genji, it was the three generations of Takeda Nobutora, Shingen and Katsuyori, who were ascendant as warring feudal lords in the 16th century.

Shingen’s father, Takeda Nobutora (1498-1574), became the 18th head of the Takeda clan at the age of only 9, and later went on to unite both the Takeda family and the competing lords of Kai Province. In 1519, he established a new base in Kōfu, and increased his presence as a daimyō, or feudal lord, during the Warring States period. In 1541, while returning from a visit to his son-in-law, the ruler of Suruga Province (modern-day Shizuoka Prefecture), his son, Shingen, sealed the border between Kai and Suruga, banishing Nobutora. He was forced to retire to Suruga where he became a monk. However, after the death of his son-in-law, he served the Ashikaga shogunate in Kyōto. Ultimately, he would never set foot in Kōfu again, and died in 1574 at his third son, Nobukado’s, castle in Shinano Province (modern-day Nagano Prefecture). His remains were interred at Daisenji Temple in Kōfu, where his portrait, painted by his third son, is held until today. Nobutora lived in harsh times and has often been criticized for his cruelty and inhumanity. However, he has been reevaluated in recent years as a warlord who laid the foundation for territorial control, including a conscription system and taxation system, in order to make his domain wealthy and militarily powerful.

At the age of 21, Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) replaced his father as head of the clan. By the time of Shingen’s takeover, the foundation for the rule of the territory had been laid by Nobutora, and Shingen quickly emerged as a leader by launching an invasion into neighboring Shinano Province. Shingen was feared as the “Strongest” daimyō during Japan’s Warring States period due to his skillful leadership in battle and the expansion of his territory. In 1572, at the request of the Ashikaga shogun, Shingen left Kōfu with a large army bound for Kyōto. The following year, however, Shingen suffered from an illness during a military campaign in the west, and died on his way back to Kōfu. In life, he protected Kai Province from invasion. He also devoted himself to domestic issues including building large levees to protect people and land from flooding, and establishing laws to control vassals and protect public order. Shingen is revered as a local hero to this day.

At the time of his death, Shingen willed that his passing be kept a secret for three years. The leadership of the Takeda clan was then entrusted to Shingen’s fourth son, Katsuyori (1546-1582), as Shingen’s eldest son, Yoshinobu, was forced to commit suicide due to suspicion of treason some years prior. The power of the Takeda clan reached its height during Katsuyori’s tenure as lord of Kai Province. However, a defeat at the Battle of Nagashino by the combined forces of Oda and Tokugawa, caused turmoil within the clan. In 1581, to reestablish control over Kai, he built Shinpu Castle in Nirasaki, northwest of Kōfu, and subsequently relocated his headquarters there. The following year, outnumbered and outmatched by Oda and allied forces, 37-year-old Katsuyori committed ritual suicide with his 19-year-old wife, his 16-year-old son from a previous marriage, and about 60 officers, soldiers and attendants. This act marked the end of three generations of Takeda domination of the central part of the Japanese archipelago.