Takeda Shingen was not yet called Takeda Shingen at this time. His name was Takeda Harunobu. The "Haru" in his name had been bestowed on him by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu at his genpuku, or coming-of-age ceremony, and he had taken the name Harunobu from that character. As for Takeda Shingen, the name remembered by later generations, it came from the Buddhist name he adopted upon entering the priesthood. In short, Shingen was still Harunobu now, not Shingen.
Takeda Harunobu, the son of Takeda Nobutora, had grown dissatisfied with his father's brutality and refusal to heed advice. He staged a coup, exiled his father outright, and became the head of the clan himself. Through a series of wars, he then used his strategic brilliance to defend Kai Province before advancing into Shinano. The man later known as "the greatest general of the Warring States," "the foremost strategist of the Warring States," and "the Tiger of Kai" had already begun to show his claws.
This time, Harunobu had set his sights directly on Inuyasha's group-or, more precisely, on Kagome. Part of the reason was a hint from his ally, a beautiful demon woman named Yan Luo: "That girl possesses a power that can make you ruler of the realm." But more importantly, Harunobu had already had people watching her for some time. Not only did the girl dress strangely, baring her legs in broad daylight in a manner more wanton than even the women caged in the lowliest brothels, but her origins were also suspect. She was supposedly from Musashi Province, which bordered Kai, yet his spies reported that the village where she had first appeared held no trace of her having lived there before. The villagers all said she had climbed out of a well and was the reincarnation of the