With the rise of the Sengoku fever in modern Japan, many people's attention to the Japanese Sengoku has shifted from the three Warring States masters in the previous history- Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, to other Sengoku daimyōs or warlords. For example, the "Sanada Maru" that was fired a few years ago set off a Sanada Yukimura fever, and even many Japanese netizens touted it as Japan's first god of war and "Japan's first soldier".
Sanada Maru, Yukimura Sanada
Similarly, because film and television dramas are also well known to the great director Akira Kurosawa's "Shadow Samurai" and the Japanese novelist "Takeda Shingen: Wind forest mountain fire", especially the latter's novel, takeda Shingen as Japan's "Napoleon". Unlike Sanada Yukimura, which is now overly touted, Takeda Shingen should be said to be closer to the truth, and the Kai forces led by Takeda Shingen in their prime defeated the combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga in the Three-Sided Battle of Hara.
The strength of his leading talent was also called "the first soldier of the Japanese Sengoku" by later generations, and he was called "the tiger of Kai". The term "Warring States" in Later Japan was also derived from his mouth as "the Warring States of the World Above".
Takeda Shingen in the movie "Shadow Warrior"
It can be said that the military ability of takeda Shingen, who was a young man, was so superior, coupled with a large group of allies such as Hojo and Imagawa, he should have the strength to go to Luo and unify Japan, but why did he fail to unify Japan?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="39" > the age of heroes</h1>
Takeda Shingen was lucky, but unfortunate.
After his exile of his cruel father, he sat firmly in the position of Kai shou with the support of his courtiers, and it can be said that Takeda's courtiers (twenty-four generals) under the leadership of Takeda Shingen made the Takeda family unusually united, which is why they could win the three-way battle. Therefore, under the rule of Takeda Shingen, the Kai Group has a strong centripetal force. Coupled with the title of the first soldier in the world of Takeda cavalry at that time, he was often invincible in military combat. At that time, the popular saying in the Warring States was "Shimazu's gun, Takeda's horse", which was enough to see how strong their cavalry troops were...
Of course, Takeda's strength only stops there.
Takeda's army in Shadow Warriors
The Kai military clique, from the perspective of the pattern, they are a more powerful warlord, the purpose of the battle is only to plunder territory, Yuda Jun estimated that Takeda Shingen estimated that there was no ambition for Shangluo at all. Compared with Oda Nobunaga, Imagawa Yoshimoto and other strategic figures who wanted to unify Japan in the same period, Takeda Shingen's pattern was too small. At this point, Takeda Shingen was not even as good as the nagato clan of the second-rate family.
So in terms of pattern, Takeda Shingen is a warlord.
Takeda Shingen's family group, stills
Moreover, in terms of control of the vassal group, Takeda Shingen's control was obviously inferior to that of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga. Takeda Shingen's ascension to the throne is typical of "Shimo kagami", and he originally relied on his courtiers to expel his father, so the relationship between the clan was more mutual use and cooperation. Moreover, the family group, such as the Twenty-Four Generals, was composed of local heroes in Kai. It would be okay to have them grab the nearby Tokugawa and Uesugi houses, and it would be impossible for them to fight elsewhere. As a result, Takeda Shingen was constrained in many of his actions. On the other hand, Tokugawa and Nobunaga, among others, had both lineage vassals and the authority to control them, which made them more able to centralize their power.
Therefore, from the perspective of pattern, it is difficult for Takeda Shingen to unify Japan.
Takeda family courtier group, stills
And even more poignantly, Takeda Shingen was born in the wrong era.
In the Sengoku period, there were too many strong people, Takeda Shingen happened to be in their encirclement, and Uesugi Kenshin, who was known as the Japanese god of war, was known as the king of Echigo with the support of the always one-sided. It was not weaker than Takeda in battle, and in the Battle of Kawanakajima, known as the "meat grinder", the Takeda family lost soldiers and could not move north.
To their east was the Hojo family, and although the Hojo family under the tea brothers at that time was not enterprising, Shoucheng was still very strong. Imakawa Yoshimoto in the south was the eldest brother of the Takeda clan before the Battle of the Barrel Pan, and Oda Nobunaga of Mino, who led the western leader, needless to say. On the territory, the Takeda family occupied only 1.2 million stones outside of Shinano and Suruga, and after Oda Nobunaga had Mino, Omi, and Echizen in the same period, it was almost 8 million stones, and even the tea-making rice Hojo had 1.5-2 million stones.
The Takeda family, surrounded by powerful daimyōs
Therefore, under the attack of many powerful forces, it is difficult for Kai Tou kuni to break through, and Takeda Shingen, even if he is a tiger, is difficult to defeat the wolves around him.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="51" > geographic restrictions</h1>
Kai Kingdom, equivalent to Japan's current Yamanashi Prefecture, what is the characteristic of Yamanashi Prefecture - poor.
In 2015, japan ranked sixth from the bottom of 47 prefectures in terms of GDP (behind shikoku). The prefecture is not only a mountain, but the base of the prefecture is forest, and in the ancient regime, which was based on agriculture or commerce, Takeda Shingen's base area can be described as poor. There was no port communication with the base and contact with the outside world, and in fact, Takeda Shingen launched the Kawanakajima Joint War to find the sea outlet. How important is the sea outlet to the daimyo of the Japanese Sengoku? Look at Oda Nobunaga's musketeer brigade doing business with foreigners, relying on trade to support military spending.
Yamanashi Prefecture Location Map, one of japan's few inland prefectures
As Yuda Jun said before, Yamanashi Prefecture is all mountainous, and there are plains that produce grain, so the population of the Takeda family is actually not much. The lack of more grain meant that even if the other daimyōs did not fight Takeda Shingen, even if they were to encircle, they would be able to drag the Takeda family down. The Takeda family has no plains, but other families are not lacking, Hojo occupies the most fertile Kanto Plain in Japan, while Tokugawa in Mikawa also has plains and ports, and Oda Nobunaga in the west is not to say much, occupying the two richest areas in Japan, Kiuchi and.
A map of the power of the kanto local daimyōs
Therefore, the poor and poor Takeda family took what to do in the Warring States to compete for hegemony.
In fact, in the history of Kamikora in Japan, there were probably several places that needed to be controlled first, one was the Kanto Plain, which provided more population and productivity for the daimyōs, such as Tokugawa Ieyasu, while the other was and Kiuchi, which were the center of Japan. In fact, like the Takeda family in the Kanto region, the Maori family in Kansai also faced the problem of geographical disadvantage, and even though 11 countries were occupied, the Sanyo San'in region occupied by Maori was still very poor.
Both Maori Moto and Takeda Shingen suffered the loss of poor territory
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="57" > Yutianjun said</h1>
In short, from the perspective of Yuda Jun, Takeda Shingen was already very good at being able to take the position before his death in such a poor Kai kingdom. His innate territorial inferiority, as well as Takeda Shingen's problems with succession, did not manage his relationship with the Ijō clan (too dependent on the kinshi clique) and led to his inability to succeed in the Sengoku period and unify Japan.
However, although Takeda Shingen failed to unify Japan, his use of cavalry and achievements in the art of war were still highly respected by later generations of Japanese, and like his foreign colleague "Napoleon", he was destined to be a failed hero.
— The end —