Takeda Clan (Aki)

The Takeda clan of

Aki Province or Geishū () was a province in the Chūgoku Region of western Honshū, comprising the western part of what is today Hiroshima Prefecture. History When Emperor Shōmu ordered two official temples for each province (one for male Buddhist prie ...

was a cadet branch of the famed

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

of the Kai Province of Imperial Japan, descended from

Emperor Seiwa was the 56th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 清和天皇 (56)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. Seiwa's reign spanned the years from 858 through 876.He was also the pre ...

(850-880) and the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

(Seiwa Genji). The Takeda of Wakasa were a branch of the Takeda of Aki. When

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

was first defeated at Ishibashiyama (1181), Takeda Nobuyoshi (1128–86) was applied for help, and the Takeda sent an army of 25,000 men to support Yoritomo. Takeda Nobumitsu (1162–1248), son of Nobuyoshi, fought against the Taira, against

Kiso Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

(1184), distinguished himself in the

Battle of Ichinotani was a Taira defensive position at Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe, Japan. It sat on a very narrow strip of shore, between mountains on the north, and the sea to the south. This made it quite defensible, but also made it difficult to man ...

(1184), and was appointed ''

Shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' (Governor) of Kai province. He also fought against the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

(1189) and against

Wada Yoshimori was an early Kamakura period military commander. A ''gokenin'' (retainer) of the Kamakura shogunate, he was the first director (''bettō'') of the Samurai-dokoro. Life Wada Yoshimori was born as the son of Miura Yoshiaki and grandson of Sugi ...

(1213). During the

Jōkyū War , also known as the Jōkyū Disturbance or the Jōkyū Rebellion, was fought in Japan between the forces of Retired Emperor Go-Toba and those of the Hōjō clan, regents of the Kamakura shogunate, whom the retired emperor was trying to overthr ...

, he helped the Hōjō, and led 50,000 soldiers as 'Daishogun of the Tosando' , and in reward received the governorship of Aki province (1221).

Takeda Nobutake is a Japanese family name.1990 Census Name Files

(† 1362) was the last Takeda ''Shugo'' of the two provinces of Kai and Aki. His elder son Nobunari received Kai and the younger Ujinobu received Aki province. From the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

until the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, 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 Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the Takeda of Aki ruled Aki province (since 1221), Wakasa province (since 1440), were supporters of the

Ashikaga Ashikaga (足利) may refer to: * Ashikaga clan (足利氏 ''Ashikaga-shi''), a Japanese samurai clan descended from the Minamoto clan; and that formed the basis of the eponymous shogunate ** Ashikaga shogunate (足利幕府 ''Ashikaga bakufu''), a ...

against the Southern Dynasty, and sided with the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese Samurai kin group or clan. Ancestors # Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Suizei # Emperor Annei # Emperor Itoku # Emperor Kōshō # Emperor Kōan # Emperor Kōrei # Emperor Kōgen # Emperor Kaika # Emperor Sujin # Emperor Suinin # Emper ...

during the Ōnin war (1467–1477). Takeda Nobuhide (1413-1440), eldest son of the Shugo of Aki Takeda Nobushige (1390-1465), helped the 6th shogun

Ashikaga Yoshinori was the sixth ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1429 to 1441 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshinori was the son of the third ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). His childhood name was Harutor ...

against the revolt of Isshiki Yoshitsura (1440) and was rewarded with the governorship of Wakasa province. Takeda Nobukata (1420-1471) inherited the titles of Shugo of Wakasa from his brother Nobuhide who died childless, and that of Shugo of Aki from his father Nobushige. During the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. ''Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era during which the war started; the war ended during the Bunmei ...

(1467-1477) he occupied Tango province that belonged to Isshiki Yoshinao, and was appointed Shugo of Tango (1469) by the bakufu. His brother Takeda Kuninobu (1437-1490) received the titles of Shugo of Aki, Wakasa and Tango provinces, but lost Tango in 1474. Their principal fortress was Kanayama castle, built on the top of the 411 meters of Mount Takeda; a castle built by Takeda Nobumune (1269-1330) in the late

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, near the present city of Hiroshima. However, clashes with

Mōri Motonari was a prominent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the western Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Mōri clan claimed descent from Ōe no Hiromoto (大江広元), an adviser to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Motonari w ...

of Aki between 1516 and 1541 led to the clan's downfall. The principal line came to an end with the death of Takeda Nobuzane in 1555. The priest

Ankokuji Ekei , he was a military monk and descendant of the Takeda clan of Aki province. He served Mōri clan and later Toyotomi clan. Biography Although it is certain that he was from the Aki Takeda clan, there are various theories about his birth year and ...

(1537 or 1539-1600) was a grandson ( or a son according to theories) of Takeda Shigekiyo (†1541) of the Aki Takeda. As a close advisor of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

, he received in 1585 a fiefdom of 23,000 koku in Iyo Province after the Shikoku campaign. And in 1586, after the conquest of Kyushu, his holdings were expanded to 60,000 koku. At the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), he sided with the western army against

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 fellow ...

, and was condemned to death, along with Ishida Mitsunari and Konishi Yukinaga. During the

Tokugawa period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...

, the Harada and the Yamaguchi families, ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

'' of the

Asano clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan, and the Emperor Seiwa (850-881), the 56th Emperor of Japan. The Main Lineage (''sōke'', 宗家) were Lords (daimyō) of the Hiroshima Domain in Aki Province and another fam ...

(''

Daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of Hiroshima), descended from the Takeda of Aki. According to the Yamaguchi family, the three most important strongholds that belonged to the Takeda of Aki were Kanayama castle (seen above), Kitsune castle and Ato castle (all in Aki province).

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