Dark blue banner with mustard colored Japanese characters with white loops for bamboo pole. Would have been sold as a souvnir. Came in a lidded cardboard box with a history of Takeda Shingen in Japanese and English. (Film: _Kagemusha_ is about the story of the Takeda family.) A souvenir from Umpoji Shrine/Enzan Yamanashi Prefecture, to _Takeda_ Shingen, a daimyo of Yamanashi Prefecture (b. 1521 - d. 1573). The calligraphy describes Takeda as a kami (spirit) "Fudo-Nyozan" who had a black face and a fierce expression -- he caught and swallowed fire, moved fast like the wind, like the forest, and like the immovable mountain.Takeda was revered as a brave samurai who moved like the spirit and also a great ruler. The original banner at the shrine was flown when Takeda Shingen rode into battle. His son, Takeda Katsuyori, was defeated by Tokugawa in 1582.

1988.020.014