Takeda Nobutora

The grave of Takeda Nobutora is at Daisenji in Kofu, Yamanashi.

Template:Japanese name Takeda Nobutora (武田 信虎, 1493–1574) was a Japanese daimyo (feudal lord) who controlled the Province of Kai, and fought in a number of battles of the Sengoku period. He was the father of the famous Takeda Shingen, who was originally named Harunobu, along with two other sons, Nobushige and Nobukado.

Nobutora fought Hiraga Genshin at the Battle of Un no Kuchi in 1536. He was forced to retreat, but his son Harunobu defeated Hiraga and took the castle. Nobutora nevertheless wished to pass on his domain to Nobushige, and so Harunobu overthrew his father and exiled him to Suruga. Nobutora didn't return to Shinano until the death of Shingen in 1573, invited by his grandson Katsuyori, on that time Nobutora was in his 80's, some reported that even as an old man he still managed to strike fear to people around him.

Takeda Nobutora throughout his life carried a stone known as the "Samurai foxes fire gem" (狐侍火災宝石。). This gem was originally given to Sadazumi-shinnō (873–916), the son of Emperor Seiwa (850–880). The gem was past from patriarch to patriarch of the Minamoto clan. As the years went by and new branches of the clan where created, it found its way to the Takeda (武田氏 Takeda-shi) clan and was past from father to first-born son. the stone was thought to grant the owner the loyalty of a fox deity, or borderline god and could not be killed in battle. Another legend states it gave mastery level skill in the art of war and swordsmanship it was thought to be why Takeda Shingen was unmached in battle and as a tactical leader. It is unknown what kind of stone the jewel actually was but was sed to be red or yellow like flame. The stone was lost the year before the Japanese civil war and has never been found.

Nobutora was also a previous owner of a famous sword named "Soza Samonji" (宗三左文字), although he gave that sword to Imagawa Yoshimoto as a gift to secure an alliance. After Yoshimoto's death at the Okehazama, the sword came into possession of Oda Nobunaga. After the Incident of Honnoji, Toyotomi Hideyoshi recovered the sword whom he later gave to Tokugawa Ieyasu as a gift. The sword is currently a Cultural Properties of Japan

Family

• Sons:
  • Takeda Shingen (1521-1573)
  • Takeda Nobushige (1525-1561)
  • Takeda Nobukado (1529-1582)

References

• Turnbull, Stephen: The Samurai Sourcebook, 1998, London, Cassell & Coopertaion.

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