He first made an unlikely agreement with the Tokugawa's clan lord Ieyasu. This agreement was rumored to be the cause of the demise of the once great Imagawa clan. Taking advantage of the discord happening at the Imagawa capital, Suruga, because of the very surprising death of their lord, Yoshimoto, the two clans worked together to vanquish the Imagawa. Shingen took control of the Imagawa capital, while Ieyasu got hand of the other province named, Totomi.
Now, the Takeda had a very comfortable place in their provinces. He had the very large Shinano province at the west of Kai, the Takeda capital. He also has control of the Kozuke province to the north, and the recently acquired territory of Suruga at the south. He was very much protected by a large mountain range to Kai's east. Unfortunately he was caught in the middle of the several great clans such as the Uesugi, Tokugawa, and Oda. Shingen's strategies carried them to victory as always against the fierce assaults on all sides. Now, he is very much ready to fight back, with a goal in mind, and that is to become the one and only Shogun, ruler of all of Japan.
He camped himself inside the province of Suruga. He took with him a fairly great army under his command, alongside the great Nobufusa Baba, the cunning Masatoyo Naito and the ruthless Masakage Yamagata. He marched bravely to the province of Mikawa, hometown of Ieyasu, to take Ieyasu's dear Hamamatsu castle. Shingen gave the Tokugawa a decision, either to surrender or to get annihilated on all sides, Ieyasu chose to fight, for control of his province of Mikawa.
While the Takeda commander, Shingen was marching towards the castle of Hamamatsu, Ieyasu gathered up all willing samurai, to take arms and fight for their own homeland. Ieyasu asked his dear friend, Nobunaga for some assistance in this bout. Nobunaga recognizes that the Takeda might be a dangerous force to his power later on when not stopped. So, Nobunaga sent 3,000 warriors to the Tokugawa's aid, in order to weaken the approaching Takeda army. The Tokugawa men believed deeply that their lord, Ieyasu can conquer and unify Japan. Ieyasu also believed that his generals can carry him to victory, with him were his most trusted men. So, the generals of the Tokugawa stood firm in the face of ultimate annihilation.
Ieyasu was persistent, yet he fought for his dear life. He gathered the 14,000 Oda-Tokugawa army to the high plain of Mikata where his samurai faced the legendary cavalry of the Takeda clan. Shingen was surprised of the action taken by the Tokugawa men, He expected them to retreat and take refuge in the province of Owari, Nobunaga's home province.Yet there Ieyasu is, outnumbered greatly, standing firm on the grass by his beloved castle of Hamamatsu.
Shingen ordered his men in an attack formation, named the fish scale. While Ieyasu arranged his men in a number of lines, the first of which were a line of matchlock or better known as gunmen. The two forces were positioned in their places, waiting for each other to make a move. And then, as cold snow began to fall, Ieyasu thought this be the perfect time to launch an all out assault, because the cavalry's charge will at least be slowed by the snow. So, Ieyasu ordered the gunmen to fire at will. This attack made the cavalry front line to charged directly at Ieyasu's line. This caused the gunmen to retreat in a very un-orderly fashion.
Ieyasu Tokugawa noticed the demise of his front line, so he commands his men to retreat and live to fight another day. Shingen then ordered a complete pursuit for Ieyasu's head. Masakage Yamagata, and Nobufusa Baba rallied their cavalry units under their command to surround the main body of the Tokugawa army. Masatoya Naito however charged directly to Ieyasu's unit, only to be blocked by the great Tadakatsu Honda, one of the great, and possibly the greatest warrior to ever live in Japan. The great Takeda cavalry was stopped directly in their tracks by him and his weapon, the Tonbo-giri, one of the three legendary spears in all of Japan.
The Tokugawa retreated in unison, while Tadakatsu protects their back force. Ieyasu orders Tadayo Okubo, one of his generals to signal the army of the retreat, using his golden signaling fan. Tadayo planted it in the Saigadake, where the land began to go down hill. He then persuaded the remaining army under his command to charge to the Takeda army to free his trapped comrades. But then one of his loyal generals named Yoshinobu Natsume offered to sacrifice himself, for the life of their commander, Ieyasu was far too important.
Yoshinobu, then charged his unit to the enemy force to buy Ieyasu more time to escape. The Oda has already retreated to inform their lord, Nobunaga of the threat to come. Only the Tokugawa remain in the path of the hooves of the Takeda cavalry. Ieyasu then recieves word that his general, Yoshinobu has died, now Ieyasu retreats in full form saying to himself to avenge his fallen soldiers.
Ieyasu barely made it to his hometown castle of Hamamatsu, and only with a handful of men with him. Tadakatsu knew that it was already a quite pointless battle, so he retreats along with Ieyasu. Masakage Yamagata, followed by Nobufusa Baba pursued the enemy army to claim Ieyasu's head. Ieyasu quickly let open all the gates and ordered his men to light fires on torches and braziers in order to guide his army inside Hamamatsu.
When the Takeda vanguard arrived at the very gates of Hamamatsu castle, the scene before them were unbearable. The castle before them was isolated, completely open, and free from harm. A moment later, Tadatsugu Sakai, a Tokugawa general, beat war drums to further confuse the enemy. They thought of this as a trap or ambush, for they were too suspicious. Little did they know that the Tokugawa army only had a handful of men remaining, and those handful were simply hiding, and if the Tokugawa were to ambush them, then the remainder of Ieyasu's men were to be annihilated.
Nobufusa, Masakage and the rest of the Takeda army decided to camp for the night, for they thought that they could not get anything more in assaulting the castle. And at the middle of the night, the remaining Tokugawa army launched an unsuspecting raid on the Takeda main camp. The following day the army of the Takeda relieved the castle of the siege, continuing with their march towards the capital. Little by little, approaching the home town of the "Demon King", Nobunaga Oda.
The Tokugawa were fools in engaging the Takeda cavalry face to face in the open battlefield, they should have either surrendered or entered the battle in the protection of the Hamamatsu walls of stone. In that way, they could have had a chance to stop the Takeda from ruining their entire army. They could have also put Tadakatsu's unit to defend the walls from the inside, and the matchlock on the sides of the walls to discombobulate the enemy army.
The Takeda on the other hand should have continued with the siege instead of withdrawing. The matter that the Takeda vanguard, that consists of Masakage Yamagata and Nobufusa Baba didn't attack the open castle instead of camp for the night, made the Tokugawa have a chance to survive. They should have wiped out the Tokugawa to prevent them from rising and having a future threat later on. Now they are in the most trouble they have ever faced, and that is being trapped in the midst of the patient and trusting Ieyasu Tokugawa, and the ever powerful, ever forceful Nobunaga Oda.
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