Takeda Shingen vs Uesugi Kenshin: The Battles of Kawanakajima

In the second battle of Kawanakajima, from August to November 1555, Uesugi Kenshin camped just east of the Zenkō-ji temple, which gave him an excellent view of the plain. The two armies waited for months for the other to move. In the end there was no real battle: both leaders went home to deal with affairs in their own provinces. Zenkō-ji remained one of Kenshin's bases of operations. With fighting so close, its chief abbot was afraid the temple would be burnt to the ground.

Visitor guidance: Zenkō-ji is a major temple in the centre of Nagano city.

In September 1561 Kenshin left his Kasugayama Castle with 13,000 warriors, determined to destroy Shingen. Kasugayama was the primary fortress of the Uesugi and Kenshin's home base. It was his departure point for the 1561 campaign against Shingen. No structures survive in the castle grounds today; visitors walk up to the inner bailey from the shrine at the foot of the mountain.

Visitor guidance: The inner bailey is about 20 minutes on foot from Kasugayama Shrine at the foot of the mountain.

The first castle here, Kaizu, was built in 1560 by Yamamoto Kansuke under the direction of Takeda Shingen. When Kenshin took up a position on Saijoyama, a mountain to the west looking down on the castle, Kōsaka Masanobu sent word through a system of signal fires to his lord at the Tsutsujigasaki fortress in Kōfu, 130 km away. Today several of the gates stand again, reconstructed in 2003 using traditional methods.

Visitor guidance: Several gates, reconstructed in 2003, can be seen at the castle site in Matsushiro.

Shingen ruled from the Tsutsujigasaki residence in Kōfu. When the signal fires reached him in 1561, he left Kōfu with 16,000 men and gathered 4,000 more on the road through Shinano. After the Takeda clan fell, the residence was allowed to fall into ruins. Today the ruins are under government protection for their historic value, and Takeda Shrine has a museum with armour, weapons and other artifacts of Shingen.

Location precision: The shrine stands at the Tsutsujigasaki ruins; the pin marks the shrine, not the lost residence.

Visitor guidance: The shrine museum holds armour and weapons of Shingen.

At dawn Kenshin's army crept down Saijoyama, with cloth muffling the horses' hooves, and struck Shingen's men by surprise. In the best-known tale, Kenshin burst into Shingen's headquarters and slashed at him, and Shingen parried with his signalling fan. Shingen's younger brother Takeda Nobushige was killed in the fighting. Hachimanbara Historical Park is traditionally said to be where Shingen had his headquarters; a bronze statue of the duel stands in the shrine grounds.

Location precision: The park is traditionally identified as Shingen's headquarters; the duel itself is a tale from the chronicles.

Visitor guidance: A bronze statue of the duel stands in the shrine grounds in the park.