Text by Sanae Hojo
Previously, we posted a special topic on "The Rise of the Takeda Family", the link is as follows, and today we will push the "Decline and Fall of the Takeda Family" topic, telling how after the death of Takeda Shingen, the talented and not mediocre Takeda Katsuyori led the Takeda family into the abyss of destruction. The first step in the decline of the Takeda family was the failure to support Uesugi Keitor, the son of the Hojo clan Yasushi who had adopted him, which led to the breakdown of the alliance with the Hojo family, and a domino effect ensued.
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Takeda Family Feature:
Takeda Shingen's family rose to prominence seven hundred years before Japan's Warring States period
Several famous generals of the Takeda family were all Takeda's old enemies in the early days
Hojo Sakumo disturbed the Kanto region, and the Takeda family was forced to fight with Imagawa and Hojo
Yoshimoto Imagawa's father almost killed Shingen Takeda's father
The Takeda family recruited ronins from outside the country to suppress the locals, and was able to complete the centralization of power
Takeda blocked the joint attack of Imagawa and Hojo and consolidated the gains of centralization
Takeda has defeated Imagawa and Hojo many times, why did he suddenly withdraw from the Kanto hegemony
From Kai guardianship to true unification of Kai, the road of the Takeda family is so tortuous
The friendship between Shingen Takeda and Yoshimoto Imagawa was formed in his father's generation
Takeda Shingen's first battle foreshadowed the strategic direction of the following decades
Takeda Katsuyori's vertical and horizontal slump
In February of the fourth year of Tensho (1576), Ashikaga Yoshiaki failed to negotiate peace with Oda Nobunaga and had to go into exile in the Maori family. Since the Mori family and the Oda family were still allies at this time, Mori Terumoto did not dare to take Ashikaga Yoshiaki to the base area of Yangi Province, but arranged for him to stay in Bigo Province.
However, at this time, the Mori family and the Oda family were already at odds with each other, and as the Oda family expanded to the west, the border between the two families became closer and closer, and many people from the west also fought together with the support of the Oda family and the Mori family.
On March 7, Takeda Katsuyori sent an envoy to Hokuriku to convey to Ichiko that he was about to fight again in Mikawa Province, Owari Province, and Mino Province, hoping that Ichijo would not submit to Oda Nobunaga.
In May, Mori Terumoto decided to break off relations with the Oda family after consulting with the elders. On June 12, Ashikaga Yoshiaki sent an imperial letter to the three families of Takeda, Uesugi, and Hojo, ordering them to negotiate peace, and then jointly crusading against the Oda family in Kamiraku.
With the Mori family's victory over the Oda clan at the Battle of the Kizu River on July 13, the morale of the anti-Oda forces was greatly boosted, and Takeda Katsuyori also sent emissaries to Ashikaga Yoshiaki and Mori Terumoto, hoping to conclude an alliance with the Mori clan.
The Maori navy opened the climax of the Oda siege network
In September, the Takeda family and the Mori family concluded a "Kogei Alliance", and Takeda Katsuyori asked Mori Terumoto to negotiate peace with Otomo Sorin, so that he could go all out against the Oda family.
On the other hand, Uesugi Kenshin also negotiated peace with Ichijo in the same year, and Kaga Ichijo joined the Uesugi army and accepted the command of Uesugi Kenshin. Takeda, Uesugi, and Mori have formed a new "Nobunaga encirclement network."
In order to better fight against the Oda family, Takeda Katsuyori also strengthened his ties with the Hojo family.
After the death of Takeda Shingen's daughter, Hojo Clan's wife, Huangmei Temple, in the 12th year of Eiroku (1569), the Takeda family and the Hojo family lost their alliance bond.
In the Koyo Gunkan, Kasuga Toranobu (i.e., Masanobu Takasaka in the game) suggested that Katsuyori Takeda, who had died young, marry the sister of the Hojo clan to strengthen his alliance with the Hojo family by entering into a marriage relationship.
On the 22nd day of the first month of the fifth year of Tensho (1577), the fourteen-year-old Guilin Courtyard entered Kofu under the escort of maids and retainers and held a wedding with Takeda Katsuyori. It is said that after the wedding, Kasuga Torsuna happily said to others, "Since Nagashino's defeat, I can finally sleep peacefully tonight." ”
Tokugawa and Takeda fought in a tug-of-war at Enoe and Suruga
Since the Battle of Nagashino, the Tokugawa clan's power has continued to expand into the eastern part of Enoe Province and Suruga Province, and Inui Castle and Taruyama Castle have fallen into the hands of the Tokugawa family, threatening the Takeda family's territory in the Oigawa area.
In the upper reaches of the Oigawa River, there was a "Ikawa Ichiku" formed by the seven villages of Tashiro, Ueda, Yakuzawa, Nakano, Iwasaki, Kamisakamoto, and Kokochi, and the Takeda family relied on the power of the "Ikawa Ichiku" to defend against the Tokugawa family's attack on the area.
In the first month of the fifth year of Tensho (1577), Takeda Katsuyori feared that the lord of Takatenjin Castle, Ogasawara Nobuko (i.e., Ogasawara Clan), would rebel again, so he transferred Ogasawara Nobuyuki to Suruga Province.
Takatenjin Castle is the Takeda family's largest stronghold in the eastern Enoe, and once Takatenjin Castle falls, then Enoe Province will not be protected, and Suruga Province will also be threatened. Instead, Takeda Katsuyori sent Motonobu Okabe, an old retainer of the former Imagawa family, into the defense of Takatenjin Castle.
Okabe Motonobu's clan held important positions in the Takeda Navy, such as Tsuchiya Sadatsuna, who died in the Battle of Nagashino, was from the Okabe clan, so Okabe Motonobu was very trusted by Takeda Katsuyori as the head of the Okabe clan.
In May, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered his retainers Abe Motosada and Abe Nobukatsu to enter Taruyama Castle to attack the Ikawa area.
After entering Taruyama Castle, Motosada Abe decided to dismantle Ikawa Ichizai from the inside, and brought one of the leaders of Ikawa Ichiku, Shichiro Saemon and Ichinojo, to his side. Subsequently, Abe Motosada sent an envoy to Hamamatsu Castle to report the incident to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Unexpectedly, when the messenger of the herald stayed overnight on the way to Hamamatsu Castle, he accidentally revealed the matter to a wandering monk, and as a result, the monk reported it to Nobuyojun Anayama, the representative of Ejiri Castle, which led to Shichiro Saemon and Ichinojo being arrested and executed by the Takeda family.
On the 5th day of the seventh month of the leap month, Takeda Katsuyori promulgated the famous Sanjo military service in the prefecture, and in addition to emphasizing iron cannons, military equipment, and soldiers, the most important point was to change the military service system that had been in place since the Takeda Shingen period.
In the Takeda Shingen era, in order to ensure the loyalty and combat effectiveness of the army, the Takeda Shingen generals divided the people into "military service" and "general people", of which the "military service" needed to join the army to fight, and as a reward they could be exempted from some or all of the taxes and conscription, and the "general people" could not join the army to fight, but they needed to bear normal taxes and conscription.
Takeda Katsuyori's restructuring stipulated that men over the age of 15 and under 60 were required to go with the army for 20 days during the war, and only after 20 days could they leave the army and return home.
From this, it can also be seen that the Takeda family faced a very serious shortage of soldiers after the Nagashino War.
In September, the Takeda family's Kohase Castle defender, Motohisa Miura, launched an attack on Taruyama Castle, and the Takeda army was defeated by the resistance of Abe Motosada and his son. In addition, Amano Fujihide, who had lost his base in Inui Castle, also used his familiarity with the Inui Valley area to constantly engage in guerrilla warfare with the Tokugawa family, causing great trouble to Tokugawa Ieyasu.
However, although Motohisa Miura, Amano Fujihide, and others fought tenaciously against the Tokugawa family in Enoe Province, the decline of the Takeda family in Enoe Province and Suruga Province was inevitable.
In November, Takeda Katsuyori sent a native of the prefecture, Kato Nobuyo, who was born in the Takeda clan and was the son of Takeda Nobuta's younger brother Nobuyo Katsunuma, to help defend Kohase Castle.
In the face of Tokugawa Ieyasu's fierce offensive, Takeda Katsuyori was not satisfied with the loyalty of the people in the Sachime region, so he had to send his trusted retainers and a group to the front line, hoping to resist the expansion of the Tokugawa family.
The heir of the Uesugi family
On March 13, 1578, Uesugi Kenshin died of illness in Kasuga Yamajo Castle in Echigo Province, and because Kenshin died suddenly, he did not leave a last word for anyone to inherit the family business, so his adopted son Uesugi Keikatsu entered the Honmaru of Kasuga Yamajo Castle with the support of the retainers of the Ueda Nagao family of the real family, and began to give orders as the governor of the Uesugi family.
In the current academic circles, there are generally three views on the heirs of Kenshin Uesugi:
One of them is Keikatsu, which means that Uesugi Kenshin wants to make Uesugi Keikatsu his heir. The second is Jinghu, saying that Uesugi Kenshin wants to make Uesugi Jinghu his heir. The third is that Keikatsu and Keihu stand side by side, Uesugi Kenshin wants to establish Uesugi Keikatsu as the lord of Echigo Kingdom, and Uesugi Keiho inherits the Uesugi family and Kanto Governor of Yamauchi.
In order to establish the legitimacy of Uesugi Keikatsu, the Yonezawa clan in the Edo period recorded in the "Uesugi Family Imperial Annals" that when Uesugi Kenshin was terminally ill, the wife of the back room of the retainer Naoe Keixuna asked Kenshin Kenshin's bedside whether he would pass on the family governor to Uesugi Keikatsu, and Uesugi Kenshin, who could not speak, nodded, so the retainers embraced Uesugi Keikatsu as the heir, which also became one of the strong evidences of Keikatsu's theory.
However, after all, the Uesugi Family Imperial Annals is the work of the Yonezawa Domain, and there are countless contents that beautify Uesugi Kaikatsu during this period, so it is natural to be cautious in such a major matter as the competition for the governor, so its credibility is greatly reduced.
In recent years, there have been more and more supporters of the Jinghu theory, and the strong evidence for this is that Uesugi Jinghu received the Miao character "Uesugi" before Uesugi Keikatsu, and also received the old name "Jinghu" from Uesugi Kenshin.
In the "Uesugi Clan's Military Service Account in the Third Year of Tensho", Uesugi Keikatsu is listed in the list of military service accounts, but there is no shadow of Uesugi Jinghu, which shows that Uesugi Jinghu does not need to undertake military service in the Uesugi family, but shows people as a person who promulgates military service.
In addition, Uesugi Kenshin went south to Kanto many times without carrying Uesugi Keikatsu to the Kanto, but he took Uesugi Keihu out twice, indicating that this was paving the way for Uesugi Keihu to inherit the family governor.
The statement that Jingsheng and Jinghu are standing side by side is actually not low, after all, neither side of this statement is offended. Uesugi Kenshin wanted Uesugi Keikatsu to inherit the official position of "Dansho Shaobi" and the status of the lord of Echigo Province, because Uesugi Keikatsu, with the support of the Ueda Nagao family, could better rule Echigo Province.
Relatively speaking, Uesugi Keitora had no roots in Echigo Province, but he had the support of the real Hojo family in the Kanto region (Dasima note: Uesugi Keitora was originally the seventh son of the Hojo clan), so Uesugi Kenshin let Uesugi Keitora inherit the territory of the Uesugi family and the office of the Kanto governor, and let Uesugi Keikatsu become a subordinate of Uesugi Keitor, so that neither the Uesugi family would be divided, nor would it offend the Hojo family.
Uesugi Keitora has the support of the Hojo family and the Kanto housekeeper
However, at present, the above three opinions are all inferences, and it is likely that more historical data will be needed to prove which adopted son Uesugi Kenshin wants to appoint as his heir.
The truth about the Gokan Rebellion
According to the Chronicles of the North Vietnamese Army, Uesugi Keikatsu preemptively entered the Honmaru in Kasugayama Castle on March 24, and the retainers of the Ueda Nagao clan quickly occupied the entrances and exits of the Honmaru to prevent Uesugi Keitora from entering the Honmaru.
Uesugi Keitora, who occupied Ninomaru, ordered his retainers to shoot at Honmaru with bows and arrows and iron cannons. On May 3, Uesugi Keitora went to the residence of the former Kanto governor Uesugi Kenmasa to negotiate and, with the permission of the heir governor, launched an attack on Kasuga Yamajo Honmaru.
In addition, in the Echigo Koshina, Uesugi Keikatsu ordered Yasuda Kengen to assassinate Uesugi Keitora when he entered Kasuga Mountain Castle. However, at that time, Uesugi Keikatsu's mother, Sentoin, was at Uesugi Keihu's residence (Uesugi Keiho married Uesugi Keikatsu's sister), so Keikatsu sent a secret letter to Sentoin asking his mother to leave as soon as possible.
Sentoin was very surprised when he received the secret letter, and in order to save his son-in-law's life, he informed Uesugi Keikatsu of his plan, which allowed Uesugi Keihu to escape.
However, from the historical records of the time, there is no record of a joint battle in Kasugayama Castle between March and May, the time of Kenshin's death.
If the Uesugi family really fought for the position of governor at this time, Uesugi Keikatsu and Uesugi Jinghu's documents would have been flying all over the sky in order to win over the generals of the Uesugi family.
Therefore, it is likely that the records of the struggle between Uesugi Keikatsu and Uesugi Keitora immediately after Kenshin's death were artistically processed by later generations.
So, what was the real cause of the Gokan Rebellion? In fact, the cause of the Gokan Rebellion was the confrontation between Uesugi Keikatsu and the lord of Sanjo Castle, Kamiyo Kengang.
Sanjo Castle is located in Kambara-gun, in the central part of Echigo Province, and is very close to the territory of the Aizu Ashina family. On March 28, after Uesugi Kenshin's death, it was rumored that Kamiyo was taking hostages from his retainers, which was an act of rebellion.
And the explanation of the god Yu Qingang is because of the death of Uesugi Kenshin, which caused the people in the territory to be unstable, and he took hostages in order to stabilize the situation.
On April 3, Uesugi Keikatsu sent a letter to the Ashina Mori family, saying that he had inherited the Uesugi family and hoped to change his previous relationship and make friends with the Ashina family.
However, instead of acceding to Uesugi Keikatsu's request, the Ashina Mori clan launched an attack on Echigo Province, and although Uesugi Keikatsu defeated Ashina's army on April 16, he always suspected that the Ashina family's attack was related to the Kanyu Kinzuna.
In order to ensure the stability of the Sanjo Domain, Uesugi Kenmasa began to act as an intermediary for the peace talks between Uesugi Keikatsu and Kanyo Kintsuna.
However, Uesugi Keikatsu gave Shenyu Qingang very harsh conditions, resulting in no progress in the peace talks between the two families. On May 1, Uesugi Jingkatsu announced that Shenyu's pro-gang rebellion was preparing to raise troops to attack the Shenyu family.
Uesugi Keikatsu's tough stance has aroused the disgust of many Echigo Kuni, after all, no one can guarantee that he will not be the next Shinyu Kintsuna.
In addition, because Uesugi Keikatsu did not give face, Uesugi Kenmasa, Yamamoto Temple Dingcho, Uesugi Keishanobu (Koshi Nagao family) and others who were in charge of intermediary mediation also sided with Shenyu Qinzuna.
In late April, Honjo Hidetsuna, the lord of Tochio Castle, raised his troops to join the side of Kamiyu Kinzuna and launched an attack on Naoe Nobutsuna's residence and Itajo.
It can be seen that the early war of the "Gokan Rebellion" did not break out over the position of the Uesugi family governor, but Uesugi Keikatsu's desire to strengthen the power of the family governor and thus implement iron-fisted politics, which eventually led to a rebellion among the people of the country against Uesugi Keikatsu's rule.
Uesugi Keikatsu is really so reckless
Uesugi Keikatsu is not only the heir of Uesugi Kenshin, but also the leader of the Ueda Nagao family, and after Uesugi Keikatsu succeeded to the heir, the Ueda Nagao family wanted to take the opportunity to expand its influence, which caused the Uesugi family's former retainers to counterattack.
In late April, the anti-Keikatsu people wanted to install a new governor to replace Uesugi Keikatsu, and at the invitation of Uesugi Kenmasa, Uesugi Keiho secretly became the co-leader of the anti-Keikatsu faction.
Uesugi Keitora already had the strong Hojo family as his backing, and now he had the support of the anti-Keikatsu faction retainers within the Uesugi family, so many people in Ueno Province wavered and began to contact the anti-Keikatsu faction.
On May 6, Uesugi Keikatsu heard that Hojo Takahiro, the commander of Ueno Kunibashi Castle, had killed Hojo Takatsu and his son Hojo Sukegoro of the Hojo Takahiro clan in Kasugayama Castle.
On May 13, Uesugi Keitora secretly left Kasuga Yamajo with his wife and retainers and entered the Imperial Palace, where Uesugi Kenmasa lived in seclusion, officially breaking with Uesugi Keikatsu.
Surprisingly, when Uesugi Keiho left, many of the defenders of Kasuga Mountain Castle actually followed Jinghu, resulting in a serious shortage of defenders of Kasuga Mountain Castle.
On the morning of the 16th, the commissioners of Sanjo Town, Kasugayama Castle, Tojo Sado Mamoru and Uesugi Keitora Neidori, set fire to the castle town of Kasugayama Castle, burning down more than 3,000 houses.
In addition, on the Shinetsu border, Sameo Castle Shogun Horie Clankin, Iiyama Castle Shogun Momoi Yoshitaka, Honda Ishimi Mamoru and others entered the Imperial Pavilion one after another, and Uesugi Keitorakata had the upper hand.
On 17 May, Uesugi Keitora led his army to attack Kasugayama Castle, but due to the stubborn resistance of the Ueda people, Uesugi Keitora was defeated after losing his general, Yoshitaka Momoi.
Although Uesugi Keikatsu won the Battle of Kasuga Yamashiro, the situation at this time was still very unoptimistic for him, in addition to the reinforcements sent by the Ashina Mori clan to Uesugi Keigtora, Uesugi Keitora relatives and allies such as Hojo Clan Masa, Takeda Katsuyori and other Uesugi Keitora were also gearing up and heading straight for Echigo Province.
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