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Ginzu Girl
7th June 2002, 21:50
I finally got around to watching Kurosawa's "Kagemusha." It made me curious. Was Takeda Shingen indeed done in by a lone sniper? Were his generals really successful in concealing his death by using an imposter for three years?!

On a more personal note. One of Takeda's bodyguards was named "Tsuchiya." Does anyone happen to know whether it's spelled “y‰® (earth hut) or "“y’J (earth valley)?

Many thanks!

Ben Bartlett
7th June 2002, 22:25
He either died from a sniper or a disease. I don't think his generals actually covered up his death for 3 years, though. Here's a site with some information on him:

http://www.samurai-archives.com/shingen.html

fifthchamber
8th June 2002, 13:07
Hi all,
I also was not too sure about the real 'possiblities' of the sitution around Takeda's death. Until I read the book 'Japonius Tyranus' by Jerome Laemars (??). In the book he mentions the fact that the Takeda generals and clan had 'tried' to ensure that Shingen's death had not happened but that the ploy seemed only really to have fooled those actually from the Takeda homelands..Kai and the surrounding areas. He refers to letters that show that Nobunaga at least was kept fully apprised of the situation and through him Toyotomi, Tokugawa, and other Oda generals were also informed.
It seems at least from the book that the ploy was attempted for a period at least but that the networks of spies in the provinces saw through the deception far quicker than the Takeda troops and farmers. (Who would perhaps prefer to have kept the belief alive at any rate).
As I say, this is the only book I have read that mentioned the scheme outside of 'Kagemusha' but it seems reasonable that this outcome would have been preffered by the Takeda clan at the time as it needed a united and total unit due to external pressures from the onging wars against the Oda and also the Kenshin troops on both sides of Kai at the time....
Can't help with the 'Tsuchiya' problem though...You would have to read either 'Koyo Gunkan' or the end titles to actually find out as the page's names are rarely mentioned in 'public access' works...
Abayo