Currently I am leading a private essence of autumn photo tour in Nagano.  During the past couple of days, we have visited an ancient pagoda which we don’t know its actual construction date, due to records being burned during a samurai battle, but we believe it was built in the 1200s.  Most believe there’s only one sea of trees, but in Nagano there’s actually a second, but it’s a fraction of the size; definitely worth the visit, as trees grow in volcanic planting pots as you can see in the images on this newsletter.  The pilgrimage route we are following in Nagano used to be followed by one of the most legendary samurai lords, Takeda Shingen (武田信玄).  Takeda Shingen, known as “The Tiger of Kai,” is one of Japan’s most famous and fierce Daimyo warlords of the Kai province (today’s Yamanashi) and laid siege to what was then referred to as Fukashijo after a stealth attack to his modest home in Yamanashi.  His army was widely considered the strongest army during the Sengoku period.  The Tiger of Kai easily took over the castle and renamed it Matsumoto Castle while he continued fortifying it.  Takeda Shingen was well known for taking the fight to his enemies, and is known even to this day as the hero of the Yamanashi people, and one of the top 10 most fierce and loved Samurai Daimyo’s throughout Japanese history.  Even today when visiting Mt. Fuji which is partly in Yamanashi, or elsewhere in the prefecture, you will constantly view the Takeda clan’s emblem, and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who does not know the name Takeda Shingen.  Takeda Shingen was so respected and loved by the citizens in Yamanashi that he did not need to build a castle or a palace with extensive defensive features because he lived in harmony side by side with the people of Yamanashi.  In many circles, Takeda Shingen is considered to be one of the great unifiers of Japan, mentioned in the same breath as Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  The great three unifiers could have easily been five, which would have to include Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin.  Only counting three unifiers seems lacking to me considering the contributions that Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin made to Japan’s history among others.  Today we were enjoying some of the same autumn leaves that Takeda Shingen and his samurai followers would have on the same pilgrimage route.