was

daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to ...

of Kai Province during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

of Japan. Known as "the Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyo of the late Sengoku period, and credited with exceptional military prestige. Shingen was based in a poor area with little arable land and no access to the sea, but he became one of Japan's leading daimyo. His skills are highly esteemed and on par with

Mōri Motonari was a prominent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the western Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Mōri clan claimed descent from Ōe no Hiromoto (大江広元), an adviser to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Motonari w ...

Name

Shingen was called "Tarō" (a commonly used pet name for the eldest son of a Japanese family) or Katsuchiyo (勝千代) during his childhood. After his ''

genpuku is a public holiday in Japan held annually on the second Monday of January under the Happy Monday System. It is held in order to congratulate and encourage all those who have already reached the age of maturity between April 2 of the previou ...

'' (coming of age ceremony), he was given the formal name Harunobu (晴信), which included a character from the name of

Ashikaga Yoshiharu was the twelfth ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan.Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982). ''Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron'', p. 332. He was the son of the eleventh ''shōgun'' As ...

, the 12th

shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

of the Ashikaga shogunate. It was a common practice in feudal Japan for a higher-ranking samurai to bestow a character from his own name to his inferiors as a symbol of recognition. From the local

lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage o ...

's perspective, it was an honour to receive a character from the shogunate, although the authority of the latter had greatly degenerated in the mid-16th century. Both the Ashikaga and the

Takeda is a Japanese name, Japanese family name.1990 Census Name Files">1990 Census Name Files">1990 Census Name Files">1990 Census Name Files">1990 Census Name Files">1990 Census Name Files">1990 Census Name Files< ...

** Nishina Morinobu ** Katsurayama Nobusada * Daughters: ** Ōbai-in ** Kenshō-in ** Shinryu-in ** Matsuhime ** Kikuhime

Appendix

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

"Legendary Takeda's 24 Generals" at Yamanashi-kankou.jp

Samurai archives – Takeda Shingen

– (Japanese) – helmet of Suwa Hossyou (Shingen's Legendary Helmet)

– (Japanese) – Kabuto (samurai helmet) Papercraft {{DEFAULTSORT:Takeda, Shingen 1521 births 1573 deaths Deaths from pneumonia in Japan Daimyo Takeda clan 16th-century Japanese LGBTQ people 16th-century Buddhist monks Japanese Buddhist clergy Buddhist clergy of Muromachi-period Japan Gay military personnel Japanese LGBTQ military personnel Japanese gay men People from Yamanashi Prefecture