, also known as , was a Japanese
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of History of Japan#Medieval Japan (1185–1573/1600), medieval and Edo period, early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retai ...
of the
Sengoku period
The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615.
The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...
. He was known as one of the "
Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen
24 (twenty-four) is the natural number following 23 and preceding 25.
The SI prefix for 1024 is yotta (Y), and for 10−24 (i.e., the reciprocal of 1024) yocto (y). These numbers are the largest and smallest number to receive an SI prefix to ...
".
When Takeda Shingen
took Fukashi castle (now
Matsumoto Castle
, originally known as Fukashi Castle, is one of Japan's premier historic castles, along with Himeji and Kumamoto. The building is also known as the due to its black exterior. It was the seat of Matsumoto Domain under the Edo Period Tokugawa ...
) in 1550, he entrusted it to Baba.
War Experience
Baba fought in the
Kawanakajima campaigns, and led the Takeda army that
besieged and destroyed Katsurayama, a major
Uesugi clan
The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...
stronghold in 1557. In 1573, he took part in the
Battle of Mikatagahara,
during which the troops under his command chased
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fel ...
's army back to Hamamatsu fortress; upon seeing the gates open and braziers lit, Baba mistakenly suspected a trap, and did not press the fleeing army further.
Following Takeda Shingen's death, Baba served his successor
Takeda Katsuyori
was a Japanese '' daimyō'' 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 son in law of Hojo Ujiyasu.
Early life
He was the son of Shingen by the daugh ...
.
Knowing Nobunaga's participation in the
Battle of Nagashino
The took place in 1575 near Nagashino Castle on the plain of Shitaragahara in the Mikawa Province of Japan. Takeda Katsuyori attacked the castle when Okudaira Sadamasa rejoined the Tokugawa, and when his original plot with Oga Yashiro for t ...
, he advised Katsuyori to withdraw but Katsuyori rejected the idea.
[ He led the Takeda army's right-wing,]
Character
According to records, he was in charge of the Suwa area in Shinano from around 1553. This was a border area with the northern Daimyo
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally t ...
, and was a defensive base to monitor invasions from the north. He was also an intermediary for the Shiina family of Etchu.
References
Further reading
*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co.
External links
"Legendary Takeda's 24 Generals" at Yamanashi-kankou.jp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baba, Nobuharu
1575 deaths
Samurai
Japanese warriors killed in battle
Takeda retainers
Year of birth unknown