was a retainer of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese samurai clan of Takeda during the closing years of the Sengoku period. Born the fifth son of the legendary Takeda Shingen (by Lady Yukawa), he was also known as Takeda Harukiyo (武田晴清). In 1561 Morinobu was adopted into the Nishina clan of

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

as part of Shingen's plan to cement his control over the province. When the invasion of the Takeda territory by the Oda- Tokugawa alliance began in late 1581, Morinobu took on the responsibility of defending Takato Castle (高遠城) in southern Shinano, along with one of his allies, Oyamada Masayuki. As he fortified himself in the castle, Oda Nobutada, the designated successor of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

and commander of the Oda army, sent a Buddhist priest to negotiate surrender. However, Morinobu responded by cutting off the nose and ears of the priest and was killed in the subsequent attack at the castle. Before he conducted

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

prior to the fall of the castle, he told Oda soldiers of his prediction of Nobunaga's death, which soon came to pass.

References

1557 births 1582 deaths Samurai Takeda clan Suicides by seppuku {{samurai-stub