Takeda Katsuyori

Takeda Katsuyori (武田 勝頼, 1546 – 3 April 1582) was a Japanese daimyō of the Sengoku period,who was famed as the head of the Takeda clan and the successor to the legendary warlord Takeda Shingen.

Takeda Katsuyori

Early life

He was the son of Shingen by the daughter of Suwa Yorishige (posthumous name:Suwa-goryōnin (諏訪御料人, real name, Koihime)).[1] Katsuyori's children included Takeda Nobukatsu and Katsuchika.[2]

Statue of Takeda Katsuyori

Katsuyori, first known as Suwa Shirō Katsuyori (諏訪四郎勝頼), succeeded to his mother's Suwa clan and gained Takatō Castle as the seat of his domain.

After his elder brother Takeda Yoshinobu died, Katsuyori's son Nobukatsu became heir to the Takeda clan, making Katsuyori the true ruler of the Takeda clan.[3]

Military life

He defeated Hojo Ujinobu in the 1569 Siege of Kanbara[4] and successfully took a Tokugawa clan possession in the 1572 Siege of Futamata, participated in the Battle of Mikatagahara, and initiated the Battle of Omosu in 1580.[5]

He took charge of the family after the death of Shingen and fought Tokugawa Ieyasu at Takatenjin in 1574 and at battle of Nagashino in 1575. He captured Takatenjin, which even his father could not; this gained him the support of the Takeda clan, but he suffered a terrible loss at Nagashino, succumbing to one of the earliest recorded uses of volley fire (Oda Nobunaga's 3000 guns), in which he lost a large part of his forces as well as a number of his generals.[6]

Katsuyori incurred the wrath of the Hōjō family by helping Uesugi Kagekatsu against Uesugi Kagetora who was Hōjō Ujiyasu's seventh son, adopted by and heir to Uesugi Kenshin.

He lost Takatenjin in 1581 and this led clans like Kiso and Anayama to withdraw their support. His forces were destroyed by the combined armies of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu at Battle of Tenmokuzan in 1582, after which Katsuyori, his wife, and his son committed their ritual suicide, known as seppuku.[3][5]:231

The nun Rikei wrote an account of his wife's suicide and, pitying them, wrote several verses in their honour.[7]

Ukiyoe of Takeda Katsuyori at Tenmokuzan

Personal life
Hojo Masako (Katsuyori's wife) carrying a naginata in the Battle of Tenmokuzan.

Toyama Fujin

Takeda Katsuyori married Toyoma Fujin, the adopted daughter of Oda Nobunaga. She died while giving birth to their son Nobukatsu in 1567.

Hojo Masako

Katsuyori later married Hojo Masako, daughter of Hojo Ujiyasu. She bore a son and two daughters. In 1582, Masako at the age of 19, Katsuyori was defeated by Oda Nobunaga and had to flee, she going with him. However, Katsuyori was resigned to die and prompted her to leave. She refused and killed herself (jigai), along with Katsuyori in the Battle of Tenmokuzan. Their daughters married and had families. Their son, Takeda Katsuchika, lived to the age of 103

Family

Father: Takeda Shingen (1521–1573)

Sons:

  • Takeda Nobukatsu (1567–1582)
  • Takeda Katsuchika (1580–1682)

Wives:

  • Toyama Fujin
  • Hojo Masako

Daughters:

  • Tei-hime, married Miyahara Yoshihisa
  • Kougu-hime, married Naitō Tadaoki

Notes

Media related to Takeda Katsuyori at Wikimedia Commons

  1. Sato, Hiroaki (1995). Legends of the Samurai. Overlook Duckworth. p. 209. ISBN 9781590207307.
  3. Turnbull, Stephen (1987). Battles of the Samurai. London: Arms and Armour Press. pp. 79–94. ISBN 9780853688266.
  4. "蒲原城" (in Japanese). じゃらん. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  5. Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. Cassell & Co. p. 219,222–223,230. ISBN 1854095234.
  6. Turnbull, Stephen (1977). The Samurai. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc. pp. 156–160. ISBN 9780026205405.
  7. Sato, Hiroaki (2008). Japanese Women Poets. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, Inc. pp. 137–139. ISBN 9780765617842.

References and further reading
  • Hiroaki Sato (2008). Japanese women poets: an anthology. M.E. Sharpe, Inc.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  • Takeda Katsuyori no Saiki (in Japanese)
  • Yamanashi Prefecture page on Takeda Katsuyori (in Japanese)
  • Shibatsuji Shunroku 柴辻俊六 and Hirayama Masaru 平山優. Takeda Katsuyori no Subete 武田勝頼のすべて. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社, 2007.
  • Shibatsuji Shunroku 柴辻俊六, Takeda Katsuyori 武田勝頼. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社, 2003.

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