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==The Death of Shingen==
==The Death of Shingen==
Unfortunately, time ran out on the man who had come to epitomize the best and, in some ways, the worst qualities of the Sengoku warlord. In 1573, while laying siege to [[Noda castle]] in Mikawa, Shingen was either wounded by a sniper or fell sick (possibly with tuberculosis); a point modern scholars are divided on<ref>The [[Koyo Gunkan]] gives no indication that Shingen was ever wounded by a sniper at Noda castle.</ref>. He died at Kobama in Shinano on the night of the 12th day of the 4th month of 1573, to be succeded by his fourth son, [[Takeda Katsuyori]].
Unfortunately, time ran out on the man who had come to epitomize the best and, in some ways, the worst qualities of the Sengoku warlord. In 1573, while laying siege to [[Noda castle]] in Mikawa, Shingen fell ill. A popular tradition holds that a defending sniper shot him. However, the [[Koyo Gunkan]] mentions that Shingen had been ill and records, ''On the 11th day of the 4th month around 1pm, Lord Shingen's condition took a turn for the worst. His pulse became extremely rapid. On the night of the 12th, approximately 9pm, he developed an [abscess/rash] in his mouth, and 5 or 6 of his teeth fell out. He gradually weakened.''<ref>the [[Koyo Gunkan]] gives no indication that Shingen was ever wounded by a sniper at Noda castle.</ref>.
Isogai Masayoshi's ''Takeda Shingen'', Kobayashi Keiichiro's ''Takeda Gunki'', and other modern works on Shingen dismiss the sniper story, pointing out that only Tokugawa records make any mention of a sniper and that Shingen had been ill for some time prior to his death, which in any event occured a full two months after Noda. Interestingly, Shingen had given up eating meat as a show of religious piety around 1563 but began eating fish and poultry again around the time of Noda for his health. The sniper version of events, made famous by Akira Kurosawa's film ''Kagemusha'', holds that he was drawn close to the walls of the castle to listen to a defender playing a flute to raise the morale of his comrades. However, this is strongly reminiscent of the death of [[Amako Masahisa]], the difference being that Masahisa was the flute player playing for the benefit of his men. A defending archer guessed where he seated in the dark, let fly, and killed him. It seems possible-even probable-that this story was adopted and adapted for the romantic death of Shingen, a death the Tokugawa could then claim credit for.
He died at Kobama in Shinano on the night of the 12th day of the 4th month of 1573, to be succeded by his fourth son, [[Takeda Katsuyori]].
Shingen had been a warlord of great domestic skill and competent military leadership. He was a complicated figure, at times utterly cruel. Earlier in his life, he had forced [[Suwa Yorishige]] to commit suicide (or had him murdered) after the two warlords had signed a peace treaty, and then proceeded to take Suwa's daughter as a mistress, ignoring the fact that she was technically his own niece. In [[1565]], as mentioned above, he ordered his own son, Yoshinobu, confined to a temple and evidently made him commit suicide for treasonous activity, as well as the man who had once been his guardian, Obu Toramasa. His domestic policies demonstrate the duality of Takeda Shingen. On one hand, he kept two iron cauldrons on hand to boil alive certain criminals (a practice considered sufficiently cruel enough to provoke Tokugawa Ieyasu to have the cauldrons destroyed years later). On the other, he did away with corporal punishment for most minor offences, instituting in it's place a system of fines - an act that earned him considerable praise from the peasants and townspeople of Kai. Shingen's law was not considered overly harsh, and his was one of the few Sengoku Period administrations prior to [[1582]] to tax most of his subjects evenly (most exempted powerful samurai families and/or religious establishments) and with the option of payment in either gold or rice (a forerunner, in some ways, to the later Kandaka system).
Shingen had been a warlord of great domestic skill and competent military leadership. He was a complicated figure, at times utterly cruel. Earlier in his life, he had forced [[Suwa Yorishige]] to commit suicide (or had him murdered) after the two warlords had signed a peace treaty, and then proceeded to take Suwa's daughter as a mistress, ignoring the fact that she was technically his own niece. In [[1565]], as mentioned above, he ordered his own son, Yoshinobu, confined to a temple and evidently made him commit suicide for treasonous activity, as well as the man who had once been his guardian, Obu Toramasa. His domestic policies demonstrate the duality of Takeda Shingen. On one hand, he kept two iron cauldrons on hand to boil alive certain criminals (a practice considered sufficiently cruel enough to provoke Tokugawa Ieyasu to have the cauldrons destroyed years later). On the other, he did away with corporal punishment for most minor offences, instituting in it's place a system of fines - an act that earned him considerable praise from the peasants and townspeople of Kai. Shingen's law was not considered overly harsh, and his was one of the few Sengoku Period administrations prior to [[1582]] to tax most of his subjects evenly (most exempted powerful samurai families and/or religious establishments) and with the option of payment in either gold or rice (a forerunner, in some ways, to the later Kandaka system).