Takeda Katsuyori

Who was Takeda Katsuyori?

Takeda Katsuyori was a Japanese daimyo of the Sengoku Period, who was famed as the head of the Takeda clan and the successor to the legendary warlord Takeda Shingen. He was the son of Shingen by the Suwa goryōnin, the daughter of Suwa Yorishige. Katsuyori's children included Takeda Nobukatsu and Katsuchika.

Katsuyori, first known as Suwa Shirō Katsuyori, succeeded to his mother's Suwa clan and gained Takatō Castle as the seat of his domain. After his elder brother Takeda Yoshinobu died, Katsuyori's son Nobukatsu became heir to the Takeda clan, making Katsuyori the true ruler of the Takeda clan. He took charge of the family after the death of Shingen and fought Tokugawa Ieyasu at Takatenjin in 1574 and at Nagashino in 1575. He captured Takatenjin, which even his father could not; this gained him the support of the Takeda clan, but he suffered a terrible loss at Nagashino, succumbing to one of the earliest recorded uses of volley fire, in which he lost a large part of his forces as well as a number of his generals.

Katsuyori incurred the wrath of the Hōjō family by helping Uesugi Kagekatsu against Uesugi Kagetora who was Hōjō Ujiyasu's seventh son, adopted by and heir to Uesugi Kenshin.