SAMURAI ARCHIVES

The Takeda had been shugo (provincial governors) of Kai since the days of the Kamakura Shogunate.  Shingen's father, Nobutora, had lain the foundations for the family's advance to the role of major Sengoku daimyo, but he had been expelled to Suruga, leaving Shingen with control of the family from 1541, at the age of 21.  Shingen immediately launched an attack on Shinano, gaining control of almost all of it within just three years.  When the defeated Murakami of Shinano, sent requests to the Uesugi of Echigo for assistance, Shingen too sent in his troops back into Shinano, and there followed the first stage of the notable Battle of Kawanakajima; there were to be five more - and that is counting only the major conflicts. These Battles of Kawanakajima remain famous, and plays, films and novels have frequently retold the story.  Subsequent encounters expanded both men's holdings in the Kanto but particularly added to Shingen's fame.  Shingen had meanwhile been repeatedly forming alliances and breaking them in an unending conflict with the Imagawa and Hojo.  But he now allied definitively with the latter with the intention of marching on Kyoto.  This required the court's permission, and if they gave it, it was tantamount to their accepting the right to control the realm.  The Tokugawa had the same aim.  Shingen therefore made for the Tokugawa base at Hamamatsu, and, at the battle of Mikata-ga-Hara destroyed the combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Nobunaga.  He then moved to occupy Mikawa, but on a rapid return trip to Kai, he fell ill and died.  He was 53 years old.  Shingen's battle philosophy was taken from the great Chinese strategist Sun Tzu, whose famous 'Art of War' advocated victory without fighting, through clever planning and stratagems.  Shingen also strove for victory with minimal losses. He also undertook waterworks, other public projects, and was admired as a statesman.

Sun Tzu

"Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.  When the enemy is at ease, be able to weary him; when well fed, to starve him; when at rest, to make him move."