Yamamoto Kansuke
Encyclopedia
Takeda Shingen
, of Kai Province, was a preeminent daimyo in feudal Japan with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period.-Name:Shingen was called "Tarō" or "Katsuchiyo" during his childhood...
's most trusted Twenty-Four Generals
Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen
The Twenty-Four Generals were just one of many historically famous groupings of battle commanders from Japan's Sengoku Period. These Twenty-Four were the most trusted commanders of the armies of Takeda Shingen...
. Also known by his formal name, Haruyuki (晴幸). He was a brilliant strategist, and is particularly known for his plan which led to victory in the fourth battle of Kawanakajima
Battles of Kawanakajima
The ' were fought in the Sengoku Period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province in the plain of Kawanakajima, in the north of Shinano Province. The location is in the southern part of the present-day city of Nagano.The five major battles took place in...
against Uesugi Kenshin
Uesugi Kenshin
was a daimyo who ruled Echigo province in the Sengoku period of Japan.He was one of the most powerful lords of the Sengoku period. While chiefly remembered for his prowess on the battlefield, Kenshin is also regarded as an extremely skillful administrator who fostered the growth of local industries...
. However, Kansuke never lived to see his plan succeed; thinking it to have failed, he charged headlong into the enemy ranks, dying in battle.
Biography
Kansuke's origins are not known for certain, but he is believed to have originated from UshikuboToyokawa, Aichi
is a medium-sized city of about 180,000 people located in the eastern part of Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The city, founded on June 1, 1943, originally comprised the three formerly independent Hoi-gun towns of Toyokawa , Ko , Ushikubo , and the village of Yawata...
, a town in Mikawa Province
Mikawa Province
is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....
, which was then under the suzerainty of the Imagawa clan
Imagawa clan
The was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Emperor Seiwa . It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan.-Origins:Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in the 13th century at Imagawa and took its name.Imagawa Norikuni received from his cousin the...
. He came to Kai
Kai Province
, also known as , is an old province in Japan in the area of Yamanashi Prefecture. It lies in central Honshū, west of Tokyo, in a landlocked mountainous region that includes Mount Fuji along its border with Shizuoka Prefecture....
and began to serve Takeda Shingen in 1543, receiving a position as an infantry commander (ashigaru-taishō 足軽大将). Legend says that Kansuke was blind in one eye and lame, but a fierce warrior nevertheless. In various works of art, he is depicted holding a naginata
Naginata
The naginata is one of several varieties of traditionally made Japanese blades in the form of a pole weapon. Naginata were originally used by the samurai class in feudal Japan, and naginata were also used by ashigaru and sōhei .-Description:A naginata consists of a wooden shaft with a curved...
as a support for his weak leg. Kansuke was also involved in bringing the defeated Suwa Yorishige
Suwa Yorishige
For the samurai by the same name who died in 1335, see Suwa Yorishige .' was a Japanese samurai....
's daughter to Shingen as a concubine.
He led the pincer movement at the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, but as he believed it to be a failure, he charged into the enemy ranks, being killed in action with his two chief retainers, Osaragi Shōzaemon (大仏庄左衛門) and Isahaya Sagorō (諫早佐五郎). Kansuke's adopted son Yamamoto Kanzō Nobutomo, was killed at the Battle of Kawanakajima.
Kansuke was an ancestor of Yamamoto Yaeko
Yamamoto Yaeko
was a Japanese woman of the late Edo period who lived into the 20th century. Yaeko was the daughter of Yamamoto Gonpachi, one of the Aizu domain's official gunnery instructors. She herself was skilled in gunnery, and took part in the defense of Aizu during the Boshin War...
of Aizu
Aizu
is an area comprising the westernmost third of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. The principal city of the area is Aizuwakamatsu.During the Edo period, Aizu was a feudal domain known as and part of Mutsu Province.-History:...
, a famed Bakumatsu period
Late Tokugawa shogunate
, literally "end of the curtain", are the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate came to an end. It is characterized by major events occurring between 1853 and 1867 during which Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as sakoku and transitioned from a feudal shogunate...
woman warrior.
The Heihō Ōgisho (兵法奥義書), a treatise on strategy and tactics attributed to Kansuke, is included in the Takeda family
Takeda family
The ' was a famous clan of daimyō in Japan's late Heian Period to Sengoku period.The Takeda were descendants of Emperor Seiwa and are a branch of the Minamoto clan , by Minamoto no Yoshimitsu , brother to the Chinjufu-shogun Minamoto no Yoshiie...
chronicle, the Kōyō Gunkan
Koyo Gunkan
The ' is a record of the military exploits of the Takeda family, compiled largely by the Takeda vassal Kōsaka Danjō Masanobu, and completed in 1616 by Obata Kagenori...
. In it, he focuses particularly on the strategic behavior of individual warriors.
Popular culture
For more information on Yamamoto Kansuke, see People of the Sengoku period in popular culture.Further reading
- Emiya Takayuki 江宮隆之 (2006). Yamamoto Kansuke to wa nanimono ka: Shingen ni chōyō sareta riyū 山本勘助とは何者か: 信玄に重用された理由. Tokyo: Shōdensha 祥伝社.
- Ueno Haruo 上野晴朗 (1985). Yamamoto Kansuke 山本勘助. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社.
- Watanabe Katsumasa 渡辺勝正 (1988). Takeda gunshi Yamamoto Kansuke no nazo 武田軍師山本勘介の謎. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社.
External links
- Yamamoto Kansuke at Samurai-Archives.com
- yamamotokansuke.com