Takeda Nobutora

Takeda Nobutora (1494 or 1498–1574) was a Sengoku daimyō of Kai Province (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture), and is known as the father of Takeda Shingen (Harunobu). He subdued the country lords (kokujin) who were entrenched within Kai Province and established the Takeda clan's control over the whole of Kai. His achievements were significant, and they laid the foundation on which his son Shingen made his name known throughout the realm. He ruled Kai as its master until Tenbun 10 (1541), when he was expelled to Suruga by Shingen.

Nobutora succeeded to the headship of the family in Eishō 4 (1507), and for more than thirty years afterward he devoted himself to unifying and stabilizing Kai Province. Repeatedly fighting and making peace with the daimyō of Shinano, Suruga and Sagami, he steadily strengthened the military power of the Takeda army. In Daiei 1 (1521), he repulsed the Imagawa forces that had invaded Kai, at the Battle of Iidagawara and the Battle of Kamijōgawara. His campaigns into Saku District in Shinano in his later years also laid the groundwork for Shingen's later conquest of Shinano. Nobutora also developed Kōfu (present-day Kōfu City) as the base of the Takeda family, and established the Tsutsujigasaki Residence as the Takeda administrative seat.

Nobutora was known for his martial temperament, and his strict rule over his retainers provoked resentment among some of them. In Tenbun 10 (1541), when Nobutora paid a courtesy visit to Imagawa Yoshimoto, Shingen (then aged 21) gained the support of influential retainers such as Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Torayasu. He sealed off the border between Kai and Suruga and carried out what amounted to an expulsion, making it impossible for his father to return to Kai. Nobutora was kept in Suruga, where he was treated as Yoshimoto's father-in-law. He later moved to Kyoto and served the shogunal family. In his last years he took refuge in Takatō in Shinano, and he died in Tenshō 2 (1574). His age at death is given as 81 (by traditional count), although some accounts place his birth in Meiō 7.

In connection with Japanese swords, the celebrated meibutsu “Sōsan Samonji” (Yoshimoto Samonji) is well known. In Tenbun 5 (1536) it was presented to Nobutora by Miyoshi Masanaga (Sōsan). The following year, when Nobutora's daughter married Imagawa Yoshimoto, it was given to Yoshimoto as a gift. It later passed through the hands of Oda Nobunaga, the Toyotomi family and the Tokugawa family. It is now held by Kenkun Shrine as an Important Cultural Property.