The Takeda are the Minamoto of Kai, a kin house of the shogun's line whom Yoritomo has always kept at a distance: they are strong in a mountain province that commands the Kōshū road from the Kantō to Shinano and Suruga, and their name carries a claim to lead the Genji.
Nobumitsu fought the Taira, beat Kiso Yoshinaka's men in 1184 and shone at Ichi-no-Tani; after that he was made constable of Kai. In 1189 he fought the Northern Fujiwara (English Wikipedia). The winter's affair touches the family on the likely course: the German page on Kajiwara says his plan, when he left Kamakura, was to raise Takeda Ariyoshi (a story told only after his flight, not on 1 January).
That is why the Takeda are watched from February, and why the death of Kajiwara in Suruga on 20 January (about 6 February 1200, on the likely course) would also be the end of a Takeda danger. Nobumitsu himself is a Hōjō loyalist in the long run (the page has him against Wada in 1213 and for the Hōjō in 1221).
Who he is
- Name
- Takeda Nobumitsu
- Title
- Constable (shugo) of Kai; head of the Kai Genji house of Takeda in practice
- Since
- Appointed constable of Kai after the battle of Ichi-no-Tani (1184), the English page says
- Born
- 1162 (English Wikipedia); on the likely course he dies in 1248
- Family
- Son of Takeda Nobuyoshi (1128 to 1186), the founder of the Takeda. The elder brother Takeda Ariyoshi is not on the English page (the German page on Kajiwara names him as the man Kajiwara planned to raise).
- Confidence
- medium
English Wikipedia (Takeda Nobumitsu); de.wikipedia (Kajiwara) for Ariyoshi.
Overlord
Minamoto no Yoriie
What it holds
- The constable's post of Kai (English Wikipedia)
- Takeda lands in the Kōfu basin, round Nirasaki (recalled)
- A claim to lead the Kai Genji
How it was acquired
By Yoritomo's appointment, and by descent.
Allies and rivals
Allied with the Hōjō in the long run. Watched by the old guard once Ariyoshi's name is put in Kajiwara's plan (after about 5 February, on the likely course). Neighbours: the Ogasawara (also Kai Genji), the Suwa, the Hōjō in Suruga.
How things stand that morning
Constable of Kai. Nothing is yet laid to the family: Kajiwara's plan to raise Takeda Ariyoshi is told only after his flight and death (the likely course, about 5 to 6 February 1200).
Wealth
Horses and rice of the Kōfu basin; the Kōshū road tolls; the gold of the Kai mountains is later (not for 1200). No figure.
Military
Kai housemen; no numbers (the English page's 50,000 of 1221 is not for 1200 and not repeated).
Threats
- Kamakura's suspicion of the Genji line
- Ariyoshi's fate, if the Kajiwara plot is believed
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
In 1200
- Shōji 2/1 to 2 (about February to March 1200, not pinned)In the sequel to Kajiwara's death Takeda Ariyoshi is dealt with and Nobumitsu stands as the head of the family (recalled, not checked).Depends on: Proof of Ariyoshi's part in Kajiwara's plan Stopped by: Ariyoshi's innocence being accepted
Later, on the likely course
- Jōkyū 3 (1221)Nobumitsu serves the Hōjō in the Jōkyū war and is rewarded with the governorship of Aki.Depends on: The war of 1221 Stopped by: Not known: no source says what would prevent it.
Where the sources disagree
- The English page does not mention Ariyoshi or Kajiwara. The plan to raise Ariyoshi is from de.wikipedia and from the brief; we could not read the Azuma Kagami's account of what became of Ariyoshi.
Evidence: One English page; the Ariyoshi link is from a German page.
On the map: Home district only.
Primary sources for Kamakura regime
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Hundred Times Refined Extracts: court annals (late thirteenth century, from court diaries). Short dated annals of the imperial court excerpted from courtiers' diaries, among them the Gyokuyo and the Meigetsuki. Read online
- Mirror of the East, Anonymous; compiled by officials of the Kamakura shogunate (compiled about 1300 from the shogunate's records, diaries and family documents). The Kamakura house's own chronicle, in daily entries. Read online
- Jottings of a Fool: an interpretative history of Japan, Jien (慈円) (about 1219 to 1220, revised to about 1223). A history by Kujo Kanezane's brother, head of the Tendai school and the leading churchman of the court, written to explain the fall of the Kujo and the rise of the warriors as the working of principle (dori). Read online
- Diary of the Inokuma Regent: the diary of Konoe Iezane, Konoe Iezane (近衛家実) (1197 to 1218, as a daily diary). The diary of the regent's heir, aged twenty-one in 1200 and already a senior courtier under his father Konoe Motomichi, who was regent (sessho) for the child emperor Tsuchimikado. Read online
- Leaves of Jade: the diary of Kujo Kanezane, Kujo (Fujiwara) Kanezane (九條兼實) (1164 to 1200, as a daily diary). The diary of the former regent, Yoritomo's ally at court, who had been driven from power in the Kenkyu purge of 1196 and lived in retirement in 1200. Read online
- Record of the Bright Moon: the diary of Fujiwara no Teika, Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家) (1180 to 1235, as a daily diary, with gaps). The diary of the poet and courtier, then thirty-eight and a middle-ranking official of the Kujo house. Read online
- Surviving Documents of the Kamakura Period, Various; collected by Takeuchi Rizo (竹内理三) (documents of 1185 to 1333, collected and printed 1971 to 1997). The collected charters, deeds, court orders, shogunal directives, temple records and land registers of the Kamakura age, printed in date order. Read online
- The Tale of the Heike, Anonymous; traditionally attributed to Shinano no Zenji Yukinaga, performed and reshaped by blind reciters (early thirteenth century in its first form; the standard Kakuichi text was fixed in 1371). The epic of the Genpei war, in the form the reciters gave it over the century after 1200. Read online
Sources and studies
- KJA_BRIEF.md and the OMNIA board for sheet kja (the lead's notes: [own] computation, [not yet checked against the source] recollection, [en] English Wikipedia)
- Azuma Kagami (the Kamakura chronicle), Kenkyu 10 to Shoji 2 entries, recalled and through the brief; ja.wikipedia and ja.wikisource were refused in this session, so no entry was re-read
- Jeffrey P. Mass, Warrior Government in Early Medieval Japan (1974), from memory; the archive.org full text could not be opened
- English Wikipedia: Takeda Nobumitsu (read this session; thin)
- de.wikipedia: Kajiwara Kagetoki (read this session; gives the death date 6 February 1200, the plot to raise Takeda Ariyoshi, and nothing more)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.