Thursday, September 18, 2014

Takeda Nobutora



I received my copy of the Saga of the Samurai series on Takeda Nobutora earlier this week.  Terje Solum and Anders K. Rue's take on Takeda Nobutora (1494-1574) is very good and highly recommend this book for anyone who is a scholar on the Sengoku Era.  Nobutora was banished by his son Shingen (Takeda Harunobu) in 1541.  Nobutora ended up in Sunpu as a guest of Imagawa Yoshimoto.  The two did get along well.  Nobutora did have some freedom to move as long as he did not set foot in Kai.  He visited Kyoto in 1558.

That being said, Nobunaga's victory at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560 changed everything.  Not only Yoshimoto was killed in action, but Nobutora's situation changed too.  Yoshimoto's lame son Ujizane did not get with Nobutora.  There are two reasons why.  1) Imagawa Ujizane was a feeble minded fool.  2) Nobutora probably scared Ujizane to death as he struck fear into people.  Nobutora ended up leaving Sunpu in 1563.

Nobunaga no tame!

3 comments:

Daeva said...

I'm a fan of this series of booklets, unfortunately I have only one (vol.3) as they are quite expensive!
Also, would there be a chance to see the whole thing done someday..?
Last time I checked, I couldn't find their website and felt like Brookhurst Press is putting the books on sale as a whole as an attempt to get rid of them D:

...Also could you please stop insulting Yoshimoto?
Your reasons for Ujizane not getting along with Nobutora are absolutely pointless XD

otsuke said...

Ujizane was certainly terrified of Nobutora. While Yoshimoto and Nobutora did get along well, Ujizane was a different story. Ujizane and Nobutora did not get along at all and eventually Nobutora left Sunpu. Even before Nobutora died, he was fearsome. When he met Takeda Katsuyori just before he died, Katsuyori was horrified!

Daeva said...

I don't know how reliable the deal with Nobutora is, but, anyway, the fact that Ujizane was afraid of him doesn't mean that it's because Ujizane was an idiot XD