SHINGEN

Takeda Shingen never built a great castle. A poem later put in his mouth explains why: "People are the castle, people are the stone walls, people are the moat."

He was one of the greatest warlords of Japan's age of war. He took power by sending his own father into exile. He conquered Shinano valley by valley, losing often at first and learning from every defeat. He fought Uesugi Kenshin five times at Kawanakajima. He built dikes that still stand, dug gold from the mountains, and wrote laws that bound even himself. In 1572, he marched west and crushed the young Tokugawa Ieyasu at Mikatagahara — and a few months later, he died on the road home.

Nine years after his death, when Oda Nobunaga invaded Kai, the people who were supposed to be the Takeda's castle walked away.

Told as a narrative history from beginning to end, with a cast of characters, a map, and a travel guide to the places you can still visit today, this book says plainly what the records show, what historians still debate, and which famous stories are only legends — including the war fan at Kawanakajima and the sniper at Noda.

Inside, you'll find:

A hard father, and the closed border of 1541
The conquest of Suwa, Lady Suwa, and a law that bound the lord
Two defeats by Murakami Yoshikiyo, and the Sanada
The Shingen dike, the gold of Kai, and Fūrinkazan
Five battles at Kawanakajima, and the death of his brother
The eldest son who opposed him
Breaking the alliance, and the march to Odawara
Mikatagahara, and the young Ieyasu's worst defeat
The siege of Noda, the march home, and a secret death
Nagashino, the fall of the Takeda, and how the man he beat learned from him
A guide to visiting the places in this story today, from Kōfu and Erinji to Kawanakajima, Hamamatsu, and Nagashino
If you want an invincible general, this is not your book. If you want the real story of the tiger of Kai, turn the page and meet the real Shingen.