Oyamada Nobushige

Oyamada Nobushige was head of the Oyamada, a local lord of the Gunnai region in eastern Kai, and a hereditary senior retainer of the Takeda. His birth year is uncertain (1539 or 1540); he died on 16 April 1582 (Tensho 10, 3rd month, 24th day). He is counted among the Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda.

Life

Around 1565 he succeeded to the headship of the Oyamada after the death of his elder brother, serving Takeda Shingen and later Katsuyori.

Campaigns

Under Shingen he is said to have joined the invasion of Suruga and the Battle of Mikatagahara. Under Katsuyori he fought at Nagashino (1575) and, from 1578, acted as intermediary with the Uesugi during the Otate Disturbance.

The fall of the Takeda and his end

In March 1582, after Katsuyori abandoned Shinpu Castle before the Oda advance, his party headed for Iwadono Castle in Gunnai, relying on Nobushige. He is said to have blocked the roads into Gunnai and aimed guns at them. Katsuyori fought Takigawa Kazumasu's forces at Tano and killed himself, ending the main Takeda line. Nobushige is recorded as executed at Kai Zenko-ji on the order of Oda Nobutada, together with his eldest son, mother, wife and daughter, though the Shincho-koki differs from other sources on details such as dates.

Legends and later assessment

Legend tells of his second son and an infant at the cliffs of Iwadonoyama Castle (the "Chigo-otoshi"), and another tradition says he survived, with a grave marker called Yoroizuka in Akiruno, Tokyo. The tale that he led a stone-throwing unit at Mikatagahara lacks firm documentary basis. The railway song Tetsudo Shoka condemned him as a traitor, but his motives are unclear and the sources disagree, so the accounts call for careful scrutiny.