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Statue of Takeda Katsuyori (Yamato (Kōshū, Yamanashi), Japan)

Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼, Takeda Katsuyori^? 1546 – 3 April 1582) was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku Period, who was famed as the head of the Takeda clan and the successor to the legendary warlord Takeda Shingen. He was the son of Shingen by the Suwa goryōnin (諏訪御料人, Suwa goryōnin^? real name unknown), the daughter of Suwa Yorishige. Katsuyori's children included Takeda Nobukatsu and Katsuchika.^[1]

Katsuyori, first known as Suwa Shirō Katsuyori (諏訪四郎勝頼, Suwa Shirō Katsuyori^?), succeeded to his mother's Suwa clan and gained Takatō Castle as the seat of his domain. After his elder brother Takeda Yoshinobu died, Katsuyori's son Nobukatsu became heir to the Takeda clan, making Katsuyori de facto ruler of the Takeda clan. He took charge of the family after the death of Shingen and fought Tokugawa Ieyasu at Takatenjin in 1574 and at Nagashino in 1575 . He captured Takatenjin, which even his father could not; this gained him the support of the Takeda clan.

Katsuyori incurred the wrath of the Hōjō family by helping Uesugi Kagekatsu against Uesugi Kagetora who was Hōjō Ujiyasu's seventh son, adopted by and heir to Uesugi Kenshin.

He lost Takatenjin in 1581 and this led clans like Kiso and Anayama to withdraw their support. His forces were destroyed by the combined armies of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu at Temmokuzan in 1582, after which Katsuyori and his son Nobukatsu committed suicide.^[2]

There has been rumours that Oda Nobunaga had great pleasure in seeing Katsuyori's decapitated head, since the Takeda clan had always been his biggest rival^{[citation needed]}.

• Takeda Katsuyori no Saiki (in Japanese)
• Yamanashi Prefecture page on Takeda Katsuyori (in Japanese)
• Shibatsuji Shunroku 柴辻俊六 and Hirayama Masaru 平山優. Takeda Katsuyori no Subete 武田勝頼のすべて. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社, 2007.
• Shibatsuji Shunroku 柴辻俊六, Takeda Katsuyori 武田勝頼. Tokyo: Shin Jinbutsu Ōraisha 新人物往来社, 2003.

The article incorporates text from OpenHistory.

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