Takeda Shingen

His father was Takeda Nobutora, whom Shingen exiled to Suruga in 1541 before succeeding as head of the clan. His base was the Tsutsujigasaki residence in Kōfu (the site of the present Takeda Shrine). After pacifying Shinano he fought Uesugi Kenshin five times at Kawanakajima (1553–1564; the fourth battle, in 1561, was the fiercest. The famous scene of Kenshin charging in alone and Shingen parrying with his war fan is a legend and must not be treated as fact). He seized Suruga in 1568, marched west in 1572 and defeated the Oda–Tokugawa allied army at Mikatagahara, and died of illness on the western march in 1573. Two accounts of his place of death are recorded side by side: Komaba in Shinano, and Mikawa; there is also an account that he died of a gunshot wound sustained at the siege of Noda Castle, marked as uncertain. His alleged dying instructions, "keep my death secret for three years" and "sink my body in Lake Suwa", are both legends and must not be treated as fact.

• Birthplace: Kai Province (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture).
• Places of activity: The Tsutsujigasaki residence in Kōfu (present-day Takeda Shrine site, Kōfu, Yamanashi), Kawanakajima (around present-day Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture), Suruga Province (central present-day Shizuoka Prefecture), Mikatagahara (present-day Kita Ward, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka).
• Place of death: Two accounts recorded side by side — Komaba in Shinano, and Mikawa (both marked as uncertain).
• Burial place: Erin-ji, Kōshū, Yamanashi Prefecture (the Takeda family temple).
• Further reading places: Takeda Shrine in Kōfu (the Tsutsujigasaki site), Erin-ji (which holds the Fūrinkazan folding screen), the Kawanakajima battlefield.

Cultural significance

Shingen is the symbol of the "Fūrinkazan" military doctrine: "swift as the wind, quiet as the forest, fierce as fire, immovable as the mountain", from Sunzi's Art of War (chapter on manoeuvring), still quoted today as a motto by Japanese businesses and sports teams. His benevolent rule in Kai (the Shingen embankment for flood control, the Kōshū gold coinage) and the image of the powerful Kai army have made Kōfu City adopt Shingen as its civic symbol, with the annual Shingen Festival.