Takeda Yoshinobu

Life and Origins

Takeda Yoshinobu was born in Tenbun 7 (1538), the eldest son of Takeda Harunobu (Shingen), a Sengoku daimyō of Kai Province. His mother was Lady Sanjō, a daughter of Sanjō Kinyori, and Yoshinobu received a thorough education befitting the heir of the Takeda house. He came of age (genpuku) in Tenbun 19 (1550), and in Tenbun 22 (1553) he received a henki (the 'Yoshi' character) from Ashikaga Yoshiteru (then named Yoshifuji), the 13th shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, and took the name Yoshinobu. As the eldest son who would carry the future of the Takeda house, he took Reishōin, a daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto, as his principal wife, and he also embodied the bonds of the Kai–Sagami–Suruga Tripartite Alliance.

Military Achievements

Yoshinobu distinguished himself from his first campaign. In Tenbun 23 (1554) he made his debut in battle during the invasion of Saku District in Shinano Province, where he captured the stronghold of the Chiku clan and contributed to his father Shingen's pacification of Shinano. Also, in the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima in Eiroku 4 (1561), he is said to have raided the main camp of Uesugi Kenshin and won renown by taking an enemy commander's head. Accumulating an impeccable record as a young commander, he steadily established his standing among the Takeda retainers.

The Yoshinobu Incident and Disinheritance

What changed Yoshinobu's fate was the 'Yoshinobu Incident' of Eiroku 8 (1565). A plot by Obu Toramasa, Yoshinobu's guardian-tutor (moriyaku), and others to assassinate Shingen was exposed through the informing of Toramasa's younger brother, Obu Saburōbyōe. Toramasa was made to take his own life, and Yoshinobu was confined at Tōkō-ji in Kōfu and disinherited.

There are various theories about the background of the incident, but the prevailing view holds that the root lay in Shingen's shift in diplomacy, aimed at the conquest of the Imagawa. The conflict in foreign policy between Yoshinobu, who had a strong bond with the Imagawa, and Shingen, who took a hard line toward the Imagawa, is said to have produced the rift between this father and son. Yoshinobu's principal wife was a daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto, so his father's policy of invading Suruga fundamentally negated the basis of Yoshinobu's marital ties.

Life in Confinement and Death from Illness

During his confinement at Tōkō-ji, Yoshinobu spent more than two years within the temple even after being disinherited. No formal public announcement of his disinheritance was made, and it is also said that Shingen sent letters to those around him stating that “there is no problem in the relationship between father and son.” On the 19th day of the 10th month of Eiroku 10 (1567), Yoshinobu died at Tōkō-ji. He was 30 years old. For a long time the theory of suicide was widely believed, but in recent research, based on analysis of funeral records, the prevailing view holds that he died of illness. After Yoshinobu's death, his younger half-brother Takeda Katsuyori was designated as successor.

Later Assessment

Takeda Yoshinobu has been discussed with deep interest by later generations as the 'disinherited heir' of the Sengoku period. Though he lived in the great shadow of his father, Shingen, he held a solid record as a military commander, and his life, spent torn between the pressures of marital alliances, is remembered today as a symbol of the harshness of father-son relations and of succession to power in the Sengoku era.