Takeda Shrine 3.31

Takeda Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, dedicated to the kami of Takeda Shingen. The shrine's annual celebration is on April 12, Shingen's death anniversary.HistoryFollowing the defeat of the Takeda clan during the Sengoku period, the Tsutsujigasaki fortified residence of Takeda Shingen was allowed to fall into ruins, and the center of Kōfu shifted south to surround Kōfu Castle, the center of administrative power under the Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration, the Tsutsujigasaki ruins came under government protection for their historic value and were eventually made a National Historic Monument of Japan. Following the visit of Emperor Meiji to Yamanashi Prefecture in 1880, a local movement developed for a shrine to honor the loyalists who had served in the Boshin War. This dovetailed with the State Shintō projects to erect shrines dedicated to historic figures noted for their martial prowess and with the need for a shrine to honor the war dead of the Russo-Japanese War. In 1915, Emperor Taishō commissioned the shrine, which was completed in 1919. The shrine was ranked as a Prefectural Shrine under the Modern system of ranked Shinto Shrines before World War II.