Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Early the next morning, Kagawa Mitsukage and two other samurai came to the Takeda clan's mansion. Under the guidance of the young warrior, everyone waited for Yoshishige's arrival in Hiroma.

As the number of visits from the imperial court, the shogunate, and daimyo from various places increased, and the new main castle was still under construction, Yoshishige carried out a large-scale renovation of the Takeda clan's mansion after suppressing the Itsumi Rebellion, with the Hiroma room for receiving guests being the most heavily modified.

Yoshishige expanded and divided the existing Hiroma into "Tora no Ma" for receiving retainers and envoys of daimyo, "Tsuru no Ma" for receiving court officials, envoys of the Shogunate, and daimyo, and "Matsu no Ma" for discussing important matters with important ministers, hereditary successors, and the first family.

The place where Yoshishige met Kagawa Mitsukage and others was Toranomon Noma. In fact, it was called Toranomon Noma just for the sake of distinction. The official name should be Ichimon Noma. Correspondingly, Tsuru Noma and Matsu Noma were called Ni Noma and San Noma.

The reason why it is called "Tora No Ma" comes from the "Tigers in a Bamboo Grove" painted on its walls and partitions. This painting was painted by Yoshishige through the relationship between Takeno Joo and Kano Motonobu, the second generation of the Kano school. The whole painting is magnificent, and the tigers are majestic and lifelike, giving people a sense of intimidation and shock.

When Mitsukage Kagawa and others came into the room and looked at the painting "Tigers in a Bamboo Forest" as well as the surrounding carved beams and painted buildings and exquisite metal decorations, they could not help but sit up straight and stand in awe - this was also the effect Yoshishige hoped to achieve when decorating this room.

"Sir, the Wakasa Takeda family is truly wealthy. Look at these murals and wood carvings, they are so exquisite!" The samurai who accompanied Kagawa Mitsuki to pay homage to Yoshishige looked around and marveled at the sight like country bumpkins.

"Yes, they are no longer the same as they were before. Not only are they popular with the Shogun and the Kanrei, they are also very powerful. Otherwise, how could they have the financial resources to build such a mansion." Kagawa Mitsukage's words were full of envy, and he also revealed his disappointment and uneasiness about the current situation of the Aki Takeda clan.

"We have arrived at the Wuwei Hall and the Faxin Temple Hall!" As they were speaking, a young man shouted loudly from behind the partition, and everyone hurriedly bowed and saluted in the direction where Yizhong was about to come out.

As the partition slowly opened, Yoshishige and Takeda Motomitsu slowly walked out from the inner room and sat down at the upper seat and the lower left seat respectively.

"Foreign minister Goro Mitsukage Kagawa pays his respects to Wuweiden and Hoshinjiden!" said Mitsukage Kagawa, bowing deeply.

"No need to be polite." Yizhong said politely.

"Ha!" Kagawa Mitsukage and others then stood up and sat down on the right side below.

"Goro, long time no see!" Takeda Motomitsu was the first to open the conversation and introduced Yoshishige, "This is the family elder of the Aki Takeda clan. He is also an old acquaintance of my father. When Lord Motonobu passed away, he was the one who came to pay tribute on behalf of the Aki Takeda clan."

"I am deeply honored that Your Highness remembers this matter." Kagawa Mitsukage bowed and expressed his gratitude.

"So many years have passed. How is Ginzan Castle? Is Amagami still in good health?" Takeda Motomitsu continued to greet.

"Your Highness!"

Suddenly, Kagawa Mitsukage bowed down to Takeda Motomitsu, and the other two samurai followed suit.

"What's going on?!" Seeing this, Takeda Motomitsu said in surprise: "Goro, why is this happening? Did something happen at home?" "My lord died of illness last month!" Kagawa Mitsuki sobbed in grief.

"Aki-no-mori..." Takeda Motomitsu sat there with a sense of loss, muttering to himself, "When he first came of age, I was his close friend... I never thought that now I'm the one sending him off. How unpredictable things really are."

The Aki no Kami mentioned by Takeda Motomitsu was Takeda Mitsukazu, the eighth head of the Aki Takeda clan. In 1517, during the Battle of Aritanaka Ide, the seventh head of the Aki Takeda clan, Takeda Motoshige, was killed in the battle, and Takeda Mitsukazu succeeded him as the head of the family, and it has been years since then.

"I've been so busy lately that I actually forgot about this." Yoshishige muttered to himself, "Indeed, Takeda Mitsukazu passed away this year, and the Aki Takeda family is doomed."

"Akimori is in his prime (37 years old), how could it be...Ah!"

From Takeda Motomitsu's grief-stricken expression, we can see that he was indeed in pain and regret over the death of Takeda Mitsukazu. After all, the "光" in Takeda Mitsukazu's name was taken from Takeda Motomitsu's taboo name. This shows that during Takeda Motomitsu's reign, the relationship between the Aki Takeda clan and the Wakasa Takeda clan was quite close.

"In that case, may I ask who is the new head of the Takeda clan in Aki?" Yoshishige's question reminded Takeda Motomitsu. He quickly recovered from his grief and stared at Kagawa Mitsuki with curiosity, waiting for his answer.

"To be honest, we came here for this very reason." Kagawa Mitsukage replied, "At present, our Aki Takeda clan is leaderless, and we, the important officials of our family, have discussed and would like to ask the Wakasa Takeda clan to select one person from the Ichimon to inherit the Aki Takeda clan's family business and take over the position of head."

"This..." Takeda Motomitsu was stunned for a moment, turned his head and glanced at Yoshishige, and seeing that he did not react, he responded first: "As far as I know, Aki-no-kami should have an heir, so it is not our Wakasa Takeda clan's turn to send someone to inherit the family business, right?"

"Both Kotaro and Kojiro died young, and the only remaining Kosaburo was born to the Kumagai clan... You should know that after the Battle of Yokogawa Omote, the Kumagai clan defected to the Mori clan. Many important officials in the family, including Shinagawa Sakyo Ryo, opposed him inheriting the position of head. Therefore, after discussion, they still wanted to ask the Wakasa Takeda clan to adopt a son as the adopted son of Aki no Kami and inherit the name of the Aki Takeda clan."

There is actually a little story hidden in what Kagawa Mitsuki said.

Like the Wakasa Takeda clan, the Aki Takeda clan also had people from Kumagaya, Kagawa, Yamagata and other countries under their command. In other words, the above-mentioned people in Wakasa were brought over by Takeda Nobuyoshi from Aki.

However, compared with the Wakasa Takeda clan, the Aki Takeda clan had weaker control over these people (after all, the Aki Takeda clan was only a deputy official, managing the Aki branch county on behalf of the Wakasa Takeda clan). Moreover, with the Aki Takeda clan's repeated defeats in foreign wars and a series of strange operations by Takeda Mitsukazu, its authority among the Aki people was greatly reduced.

First there was the Battle of Tanaka Ide. In this surprise attack known as the "Seikoku Okehazama", the head of the Aki Takeda clan, Takeda Motoshige, along with the heads of the Kumagai clan, Kumagai Motonao, and Kagawa Yukikage, the heads of the Kagawa clan, died in battle, giving Mori Motonari a lot of experience (this battle was Mori Motonari's first battle).

Later, Takeda Mitsukazu divorced his wife, Kumagai Uji, for no reason (said to be because of her ugly appearance), and married the daughter of Yoshikawa Mototsune, which angered the successor of the Kumagai family, the fierce general Kumagai Nobunao, who officially broke away from the Aki Takeda clan in 1533 and defeated the punitive army organized by Takeda Mitsukazu in the Battle of Yokogawa Omote, completely tearing off the fig leaf of the Aki Takeda clan's strength on the outside but weakness on the inside.

From then on, the Takeda clan of Aki gradually declined in Aki, and most of the people in Aki gathered under Mori Motonari.

In order to counter the influence of the Mori clan in Aki, Takeda Mitsukazu joined the Niwa clan, while Mori Motonari joined the Ouchi clan. The small Aki Province became a battlefield for the two giants of the western country to clash, and the Aki Takeda clan was used as a pawn, under the command of the Niwa clan, struggling to survive in the storm. (End of this chapter)