The Tiger of Asia

Swift as the Wind, Silent as a Forest, Fierce as Fire and Immovable as a Mountain

September 1561. Kawanakajima, Shinano Province, Japan

The fourth battle of Kawanakajima was one of the bloodiest battles of the Sengoku era of Japanese history.
Three times before the forces of the Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen had met, however on each occasion both generals had been unwilling to risk fully committing themselves to battle and after brief skirmishes had withdrawn.
By the Autumn of 1561 however things had changed. The Takeda’s control over much of Shinano province was looking ever more secure. Bit by bit local resistance had been whittled away and it seemed only a matter of time before the Takeda’s control over the strategically valuable mountainous region of central Japan would be unchallengeable. Uesugi Kenshin realised that it was now or never, he had to destroy Takeda Shingen.

With around 13,000 men Kenshin took up a calculated position on Saijoyama, a small mountain which overlooked the Takeda’s Kaizu castle. This proved to be a critical error, had Kenshin simply attacked the castle head-on he would have been able to overwhelm its 150 unprepared defenders with little trouble, he did not believe that Shingen would have left such a small force to hold such an important castle however.
As it was the defenders soon became aware of Kenshin’s prescience and word was sent to the main Takeda stronghold of Kofu, 130km away.

It should now have been clear how weakly defended Kaizu castle was yet still Uesugi did not attack; his intention was not merely to take the castle. To utterly destroy Takeda Shingen he needed to draw in Shingen.
With some 20,000 men Takeda approached the castle, keeping the Chikuma river between his army and that of Kenshin. Shingen was able to enter Kaizu un-harassed and make his preparations for the coming battle.

Under cover of night part of the Takeda army sneaked towards Saijoyama, intending to take the Uesugi forces by surprise and make them believe Shingen had made his move. Shingen believed that Kenshin would then decide to make a tactical withdrawal, retreating onto the plain below the mountain to regroup. It was there that Shingen waited with the rest of his warriors.
Kenshin knew Shingen too well however. His spies figured out the Takeda plan and as the Takeda detachment sneaked towards Saijoyama he led his forces down from the mountain, leading a dawn attack upon the would-be ambushers.

Useugi Kenshin’s forces attacked in waves. As one wave tired it fell back, ready to be replaced by the fresh forces waiting behind it.
Their pincer attack having failed the Takeda army quickly fell beneath the savage Useugi attack. Many of Shingen’s generals were killed in the first hour of the battle, including Shingen’s younger brother Nobushinge.
The Useugi advanced onwards, driving a hole through the centre of the Takeda lines. Useugi Kenshin himself entered the fray, leading the assault through the Takeda centre. Kenshin had only one target in mind as he stormed forward heedless of the Takeda samurai around him.

Useugi galloped straight into the Takeda headquarters, launching a direct attack against Takeda Shingen himself. Shingen was quick to react, his sword was ready, he expertly fended off Kenshin’s initial horse born attacks. One of Shingen’s retainers rushed to aid his master, plunging his sword into Kenshin’s horse, throwing the Useugi lord to the floor. The retainer moved to finish off the stunned Kenshin but Shingen ordered him back, allowing Kenshin time to pull himself to his feet.
In perhaps the most famous single combat of history the two powerful daimyo fought with one another. Around them the battle continued, the Takeda forces regrouped as the Useugi samurai desperately tried to break through to help their lord to escape.
From the start it was clear that Shingen had the upper hand, he had the clear advantage in Kenshin still being stunned from his fall. Nonetheless Usuegi fought bravely, enduring wounds that would have long since felled a lesser man before finally collapsing.

Their attack having failed the Useugi forces started to retreat against the Takeda counter-attack. The word quickly spread that Kenshin had fell, spreading panic amongst the Useugi forces. Under constant attack from the Takeda they retreated back across the Chigumi river. Here, the Takeda forces who had attempted to sneak up the mountain earlier that day, finally entered the fray. The small Useugi detachment that had been left to defend the river was destroyed and many hundreds of the men from Echigo lost their lives as they attempted to cross the river.

Useugi Kenshin’s gambit had failed. Rather than dealing a crushing, final blow to Takeda Shingen, he had instead been the one to suffer that fate.
In the coming weeks the Takeda forces would advance towards, flushed with victory, destroying the retreating Useugi forces and firmly securing their dominance over all of Shinano.


IOTL this battle is one of the most famous in Japanese history, marking the peak of the long lasting rivalry between Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi.
The battle as I have outlined it here went much the same way IOTL. The POD comes as Kenshin leads his assault on the Takeda headquarters- IOTL he found Shingen completely unprepared and unarmed, nonetheless Shingen was able to defend himself purely with a fan, a Takeda retainer then wounded Kenshin's horse and forced him to retreat with the rest of his army.
I have to wonder here- what if Shingen had been ready? Since he was able to hold his own against a horse-born sword armed Kenshin when all he had was a fan I really have to come to the conclusion that it is likely he would emerge victorious in a true one on one battle.

IOTL the battle was a bit of a draw. Somewhat like Jutland it was a tactical victory for Kenshin, far more losses being inflicted on the Takeda, but a strategic victory for Shingen, he was able to hold his own and force the Useugi to retreat.

Shingen Takeda is one of the big 'What ifs' of Japanese history. A highly skilled administrator and military leader he is regarded as one of the few men who could have unified Japan he instead died a mysterious early death (one popular theory holds a lucky bullet from an enemy sniper killed him. This theory is the subject of the Kurasawa film Kagemusha). Rather than taking the simple POD of "WI no sniper's bullet?" I have instead decided an earlier and flashier POD would be more interesting.


takeda6.JPEG
 
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I rather liked Uesugi Kenshin. But I guess dying at Kawanakajima does save him from liver disease in later life.
I can't imagine other clans are simply gonna sit by and let the Takeda grow immensely strong. Especially the Hojo.
I can't wait for the next update.
 
Hey, I never said he was dead.... ;)

But yeah, so many directions that things could go in. Eastern Japan is strange, so many clans with mutual interests yet they always get caught up in petty local squabbles.
 
I didn't see the word dead, but I did presume. Since most of his territory is now gone in Takeda control, he might as well be. But what with all the squabbles the Takeda, Uesugi and Hojo had. Any one of them could've come out on top with one POD. I wander what the Oda will do now. They are only just on the rise at this time.
 
I will be better for Kenshin's legacy if he died in one-on-one combat against Shingen Takeda... Also I am enjoying this timeline but I wonder if Shingen could have defeated the Oda especially once they get their matchlock's
 
I wonder if Shingen could have defeated the Oda especially once they get their matchlock's
I would say it is very hard. The Takeda would need some good allies. In OTL the Takeda attacked the Tokugawa as part of the anti-Oda alliance.
If an official alliance with the Azai/Asakura can be implemented then I think they can defeat the Oda.
 
Life has been oddly busy of late....and I'm having to read a lot into areas of the period I'm not an expert on....But I'm pushing forward!


The Oda: We're about a decade too early for them being a major force. Its only a year or two before Kawanakajima (my memory is being inspecific...) that Oda kills Imagawa and begins his rise to being a major local power.
Maybe it would have been better to go with a simple Shingen doesn't die POD...Or, one that came to me this morning, his successor isn't an idiot....then we could get the Takeda clashing with the top of their game Oda.
 
“Alas you are you and I am I. Our duty compelled us to clash. What though if we had met in more peaceful times? I do not believe that we would have been so at odds.”

1561. Shinano and Echigo Provinces, Japan

Useugi Kenshin was defeated, his army destroyed, the ultimate fate of the man himself however, is deeply shrouded in mystery.
The traditional narrative, most famously told by the 17th century writer Masahiro Kasai, holds that Kenshin survived the battle and that Shingen took him to the nearby Zenkoji temple, to seek the aid of the monks in tending to his gravely wounded rival.
Kasai weaves a long winded tail of the two great warlords finally being to talk face to face and after many ups and downs and twists in their conversation finally coming to the conclusion that they had much in common, and if they had been born in more peaceful times they would likely have been great friends. Purportedly with his dying words Kenshin asked Shingen to swear that he would end the bloodshed and unite Japan.

Given that Kasai was a poet, always looking for the best story to tell, and a Takeda loyalist, it seems unlikely that things transpired exactly as he described. We do know for certain that following the fourth battle of Kawanakajima Takeda Shingen did take a small force to Zenkoji and that he took Kenshin- or at least his body or his armour- with him. Whether the two were able to talk in Kenshin’s final moments is something that we will never know, let alone what they might have talked about. Given what other sources say about Kenshin’s character and the great pain he would no doubt have been in, one cannot help but doubt that if the dying Kenshin was still capable of speech he would have behaved quite as described.

Though little is known of the possible last days of Kenshin, we do have quite considerable evidence of Shingen’s other activities during his time at Zenkoji. As several of his retainers sped north, taking advantage of the destruction of Kenshin’s army to penetrate deep into Echigo province, Shingen put brush to parchment. Beginning a letter writing campaign to what seems to have been well over half the lords in Eastern Japan.

With their de facto leader dead and childless, the Uesugi clan was in disarray. There was no one man who was the clear choice to take over. A fact that was further complicated by the fact that Kenshin was not technically the head of the clan; in fact he had not been born an Usuegi at all, only a few months earlier having changed his name from Nagao to match that of his nominal overlord and adoptive father Useugi Norimassa.

Kawanakajima had killed the vast majority of Uesugi Kenshin’s closest retainers. As such many of Shingen’s attempts to secure allies in Echigo province took on a speculative air, asking those who seemed like they might have some claim to part of the Useugi lands whether they would consider aligning themselves with the Takeda.

One thing we can see in Shingen’s early letters is that he seems to have been keen to take over from Kenshin as Useugi Norimassa’s rightful successor to the post of Kanto Kanrei- though the position no longer had any actual power, the prestige and legitimacy it would offer tempted Shingen greatly. A deal here might perhaps have been reached between the two men but Norimassa’s insistence that any heir must adopt the Uesugi name was too much for the head of the Takeda. That Norimassa would demand such a thing even despite his helpless position and the generous terms offered (chief amongst which being restoring Norimassa to being lord of Kozuke) was taken to be a grave insult by Shingen.

Kawanakajima allowed the Takeda to expand their power not only into Echigo but also potentially opened up Etchu. Etchu had long been a disunited and war torn province, the two primary competitors for dominion there being the Shiina and the Jinbo clans. The Jinbo had traditionally been allies of the Nagao of Echigo however this had changed in 1560 when Kenshin had invaded Echigo in aid of the Shiina, firmly securing their position as the dominant clan in the province.
In the weeks following Kawanakajima both the Shiina and the Jinbo had been quick to attempt to secure Takeda support for their cause.
There was nothing to be gained by the Takeda deciding to support either at the time, for the Takeda there were far more pressing concerns elsewhere. Nonetheless it is clear that Shingen saw the Shiina as by far the safer bet for the future by the language of his letters to their leader, Shiina Yasutane.

Some new alliances were made rather quickly. One major example was Honjo Shigenaga, previously a major Uesugi retainer, after his capture at Kawanakajima, he was quick to pledge himself to the Takeda cause and soon showed himself to be a valuable asset.
There were dealings with many other minor lords, most of which were long winded, inconclusive and ultimately unimportant to the grand scheme of things. It would take too much time to go into them all. Shingen’s exchanges with the Anakegoji of Hida make for particularly drab reading.
It was not just the minor lords who were alarmed by the fall of the Useugi, in the wake of Kawanakajima diplomacy with the more powerful daimyo of central and eastern Japan took on an even higher importance than ever before, for now the Takeda were squarely at the centre of everyone’s attention.

The Hojo in particular were alarmed at the Takeda’s sudden victory.
For decades the Hojo had battled the Uesugi for control of the Kanto region. Though over the years their campaigns had been generally successful, the rise of Useugi Kenshin to leadership of the clan had halted their advance. It was only earlier that year that Usuegi Kenshin had scored a crippling victory, managing to attack the Hojo’s main base at Odawara Castle, destroying its town.

A fact that Takeda Shingen recognised very clearly was that the outcome of Kawanakajima was not entirely to his advantage.
On the surface of things it was a crushing victory, the elimination of his major rival removed all major opposition to the expansion of the Takeda domain. To purely look at things this way however completely forgets the enormous casualties suffered by Takeda Shingen’s forces over the course of the battle.
Though Kawanakajima had removed the Uesugi threat to the Takeda this had come at great cost, and particularly worryingly for the Takeda, the Uesugi threat to the Hojo had also been removed; Without the powerful lords of Sagami having to lift a finger.

Technically, the Hojo were allies of the Takeda. Together with the Imagawa, “The Alliance of the Three Provinces” had been signed in 1554, secured by three marriages between the clans, as a result the Hojo’s current leader, Hojo Ujimasa, was the husband of Takeda Shingen’s daughter.
By the winter of 1561 however the original reasons for the alliance had passed.
The Imagawa march on Kyoto had failed, killing their leader and destroying much of their power in the process; Kawanakajima had cemented the Takeda’s hold over Shinano, and the virtual elimination of the Useugi had radically altered the balance of power in the Kanto region in the Hojo’s favour.

The top priority for Takeda Shingen at this time was therefore not securing territory in the north but in maintaining a continued peace with the Hojo. There was no point in conquering new lands in the north when Kai itself could potentially be threatened.
The threat from the Hojo was particularly acute as Kawanakajima had rendered them the most powerful clan in eastern Japan; with the Takeda being the main thing standing between them and absolute power.

Many letters were exchanged between Takeda Shingen and Hojo Ujimasa at this time. Their contents are of course the usual stuff of diplomacy. Hojo offering his congratulations for Shingen’s defeat of their mutual foe and the promise of a meeting soon so they could arrange the peaceful and prosperous future of eastern Japan.
Beneath this diplomatic language however we know that Hojo Ujiyasa (father of Ujimasa) was urging his son to invade Kai province almost as soon as he heard of the battle of Kawanakajima.
Despite his best efforts with the Hojo Takeda Shingen seemed to be of the opinion that peace would probably not prevail. Amongst the many letters he sent to lesser lords, a significant number go to non-Hojo affiliated rulers in the Kansai region, attempting to secure allies in case of a future conflict.


I’ve called Uesugi Kenshin by his famous name up to know to make things more accessible for OTL readers and make it less obvious that he was going to meet his end at Kawanakajima.
I believe that in actual fact in this time line he would probably be known as Nagao Kagetora however. In fact, though he definitely had taken the name Useugi by the time of Kawanakajima, he may never have actually been called Useugi Kenshin until after the battle.
But then names in feudal Japan are confusing and often subject to change, the less I dabble in that the better.
 
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Very interesting. It seems Shingen has shot himself in the foot to say.
I am curious as to what the Hojo will do. Hojo Ujiyasu still has another ten years before his OTL death so I can imagine whatever happens it won't be easy for the Takeda.

Also, I agree with using OTL names. It does make it easier to recognise who is who.
 
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