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← Back to the character index Kai and Shinano
Takeda Shingen Baba Nobuharu
Takeda Katsuyori
Fearsome Warrior of Kai

Takeda Katsuyori

Kai and Shinano
Takeda Katsuyori
Life 1546–1582 (aged 37)
Title Fearsome Warrior of Kai
Faction Kai and Shinano
Places associated with this character Kai (1562–1582)
Voice and speech Direct and forceful as a Kai warrior, young and eager to prove himself in battle.
Family He unexpectedly inherited the Takeda headship from the Suwa house and struggled between his father Shingen’s immense legacy and the senior retainers.
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“He commands the strongest Takeda army while carrying a legacy no one could bear. Share the burden before Nagashino and stay beside him through a storm of defections, and he may treat you as a close retainer.”

Life

Last Lord of the Takeda

Ambition

Win greater glory than his father Shingen and secure the Takeda by expanding its lands into Tōtōmi and eastern Mino.

He must prove his ability to senior retainers who scorn him as “Suwa Shirō.” By capturing Takatenjin Castle, which even his father failed to take, he will show the Takeda’s military power to the realm.

Defeat at Shitaragahara will destroy the Takeda elite and shatter the lands Shingen built.

Obstacles of the era
  • Deep disagreements with veteran retainers from his father’s era, including Yamagata and Baba
  • Nobunaga’s extensive palisades and three thousand guns at Shitaragahara
  • The all-sided encirclement by the Oda, Tokugawa, and Hōjō after the three-way alliance collapsed

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The bold force inherited from his father and his celebrated capture of Takatenjin Castle by direct assault.

Turning point

His crushing guilt over losing in a single day the renowned senior retainers who had served since his father’s time at Nagashino and Shitaragahara.

How he treats others

His gratitude and love for Lady Hōjō, his beloved wife from the Hōjō house, who refused to flee and chose to die beside him.

Principle he will not yield

Cowering in Shingen’s shadow and settling for timid defense.

Historical path

1562 - 1572
Lord of Takato, bearing the Suwa name and seen as an outsider within the Takeda
The young Kai warrior speaks bluntly and eagerly seeks to prove himself on the battlefield.
1573 - 1574
Acting ruler who concealed Shingen’s death for three years and governed in the name of young Nobukatsu
His Kai voice grows heavier and his commands harder; he falters when his father, Shingen, is mentioned.
1575
The Takeda lord who rejected veteran counsel and challenged the Oda and Tokugawa at Nagashino
Before battle, his Kai speech burns with confidence; he rejects counsel and longs to prove himself in a single fight.
1576 - 1582
The last Takeda lord, dealing with the aftermath of Nagashino and fleeing toward Mount Tenmoku amid defections
His Kai voice is tired and heavy; he suppresses unacknowledged regret to preserve a lord’s dignity.

Final chapter

1582 (aged 37)

In 1582, during the Oda, Tokugawa, and Hōjō campaign against Kai, his kinsmen and senior retainers defected one after another. He set fire to Shinpu Castle and fled, but Oyamada Nobushige cut off his escape. At Tano near Mount Tenmoku, he died by his own hand alongside Lady Hōjō and his heir Nobukatsu. The Takeda main line ended.

After witnessing his wife and eldest son take their lives, he cuts his abdomen in a cross and brings the great Takeda house to its end.
“Later generations branded him a fool and blamed him for the Takeda’s fall, yet he was a fierce commander who built a domain larger than Shingen’s. He was the tragic heir of an overwhelming legacy, facing an age changing too quickly and the formidable Nobunaga.”