Anayama Nobukimi

Anayama Nobukimi (1541-1582) was born as the nephew of Takeda Shingen (son of his elder sister Nanshoiin) and is known by the title "Anayama Baisetsu." He was a senior retainer of the Takeda clan. As an important member of the Takeda clan, he served both Shingen and Katsuyori and, as lord of Kawachi, was responsible for military and administrative affairs in the Suruga region. However, his assessment is complex, as he colluded with Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Takeda subjugation and abandoned the Takeda clan, dying in the aftermath of the Honnō-ji Incident of 1582.

Nobukimi was born in Tenmon 10 (1541) as the son of his father Anayama Nobuyuki (Izu no Kami) and Nanshoiin, the elder sister of Takeda Shingen. Serving as a member of the Takeda clan under Takeda Shingen, during the Genki era (1570s) he rose to prominence as an important regional daimyō of the Takeda family controlling Suruga and Kawachi. He married Kenshōin, the daughter of Takeda Shingen, and was a figure of particular trust within the Takeda clan. He participated in the Battle of Nagashino (1575) on the Takeda side and subsequently continued to serve Katsuyori.

In Tenshō 10 (1582), when the Oda-Tokugawa army launched the Takeda subjugation campaign in February, Nobukimi colluded with Tokugawa Ieyasu and defected. As senior Takeda retainers surrendered and fled one after another, Nobukimi's defection became decisive in the fall of the Takeda. After the Takeda's destruction, Nobukimi was protected by the Tokugawa and granted a portion of the former Takeda territories. However, in June of the same year, amid the turmoil following the Honnō-ji Incident in which Oda Nobunaga died unexpectedly, he was attacked by defeated-soldier hunters near Kyoto and died. He was 41 years old.

In the realm of Japanese swords, Nobukimi was a person with deep connections to the Takeda clan's sword traditions. The numerous famous blades that he inherited from Shingen as a member of the Takeda clan were partially transmitted through Nobukimi's hands to the Tokugawa family, while others were dispersed to various locations. The swords owned by Nobukimi, who bore the title "Anayama Baisetsu," held historical significance as a cultural bridge transmitting sword culture from Takeda to Tokugawa. Nobukimi's domain of Kawachi (present-day southern Yamanashi Prefecture) was also within the Kai swordsmithing sphere, and he was in a position to patronize local swordsmiths. The life of Nobukimi, who witnessed the historical turning point of the Takeda clan's destruction, was a microcosm of the Sengoku period where the fate of Japanese swords and warriors intertwined.