Hanbei Takenaka

Hanbei Takenaka is a character newly featured in Samurai Warriors 3. He is a retainer from Mino who eventually serves under Hideyoshi. Also known as "The All-knowing Face Hanbei" (和らめ顔の半兵衛), he is said to have matched wits with Kanbei.

His height in Samurai Warriors 3 is 170 cm (close to 5'7"). He is symbolized by the characters "talented" (俊) and "worthy" (賢) and is voiced by Umeka Shōji in the Japanese dub. He also shares a character duet with Kanbei that is titled Kaze to Kumo no Okite.

Samurai Warriors
Hanbei starts as a vassal under Tatsuoki Saitō. Seeing his lord become greedy with indulgence, however, Hanbei captures Inabayama Castle by himself to have Tatsuoki finally listen to him. By this time, the Oda army is invading their lands and the incompetent Tatsuoki wails for Hanbei to save him. Realizing that the Saitō are at the end of their rope, the young strategist decides to test the "fool's" worth. Asking the generals about their lord, Hanbei more becomes fascinated by Hideyoshi's wit and abandons his half-cocked interest in Nobunaga.

After the Saitō family falls, the strategist accepts Hideyoshi's invitation and aids his new lord at Anegawa. With Hideyoshi, he meets Kanbei and the two geniuses unite their intellect for victory. When news of Shingen's death spreads, Nobunaga uses this grand opportunity to eliminate the Takeda at Nagashino. As Kanbei and Hanbei's tactics begin to corner Katsuyori, the supposedly dead Shingen returns to defend his family. Hanbei directs the Oda army to ensure that Shingen dies a real death and the Takeda fall. When Motonari joins with the resistance against Nobunaga, Hanbei looks forward to testing the Mōri strategist and aids the naval battle at Kizugawaguchi.

While Nobunaga stays behind to deal with the central part of the land, he sends Hideyoshi west to take care of the Mōri in Chūgoku. Motonari joins forces with Motochika and resist Kanbei and Hanbei. The younger strategist believes that the serene world he desires is beginning to take its shape and looks forward to carrying out his plan once the battle ends. Although the Mōri leader calls upon his Kyushu allies for assistance, he is defeated by Hanbei. Kanbei expects Hanbei to slay their adversary to end the conflict, but the younger strategist instead chooses to negotiate with Motonari. Believing in Motonari to honor his word with a peace treaty, he declares the three strategists to get along henceforth. Swearing with his two friends to create a world where everyone can laugh and sleep, Hanbei is confident that no one can defeat the new trinity of geniuses.

Kessen
In Kessen III, there is a chance that he might join Nobunaga's army after the Inabayama Castle conflict. He leads an army of archers and has excellent intelligent statistics. However, since he has naturally low defense and war ratings, he is probably best used as a support unit.

Development
The producer is happy to add him to the cast and notes that he is a character completely different than history. He originally wanted to make an intelligent character with a "good face" to match Kanbei, but didn't want to make them too similar to one another. Instead, Hanbei was adjusted to be the "smart yet comical" character to contrast Kanbei's suspicious persona.

Personality
Hanbei is a bright, sarcastic yet relatively composed youth who believes in alternatives. Outgoing and confident in his talents, he looks forward to testing his skills and finding some source of entertainment in each battle. He is quick to judge people based on their appearances and can't restrain himself from letting a snide comment slip, especially with the women he faces. He gets offended when people confuse him for a mere child, telling them that he is a legit genius. While his skills impress Nagamasa, the just yet naive general fails to catch Hanbei's attention.

Unaffected by Kanbei's apathetic nature, Hanbei acts as his friend's affable and charming critic. Hanbei is a bit lazier than his counterpart, as the younger strategist talks at a slower pace than Kanbei and likes to take naps in his spare time.

Fighting Style
Hanbei is primarily a distance fighter since his weapon cannot exactly attack enemies close to him. He fights by hitting foes with his sundial's blunt edge and can twirl the blades as though they are automatic mechanisms. He throws his weapon in various degrees around him during his charge attacks and can use various escape methods with his Rengi attacks. His Musou Kaiden has his weapon hooked to a wire and uses it to spin it around him.

Weapons
Stage to clear for Unique Weapon - Assault in Chugoku

Personal Information
Takenaka Shigeharu was claimed by many to have been a natural genius at war who never hesitated to create a plan. The Bukōyawa adds that he had a graceful yet unmistakable ability for strategy. His skills and intellect were compared to Chén Píng (陳平), a talented politician and strategist for the Qin state. The Taikōki and the Jōzankidan states that he had a weak body and looked like a woman at first glance. Working together with Kuroda Yoshitaka, the two men were said to have been the true masterminds of the land and were unstoppable together. He had a habit of riding worn-down horses, which Hideyoshi later chided him for not befitting his great character.

A famous episode associated with Shigeharu is an incident recorded in the Taikōki. In the book, Nobunaga was going to offer Shigeharu service in Mino for his help in stopping Saitō Tatsuoki. However, Shigeharu refused and gave up his belongings to retreat to a life of seclusion. As he lived as a hermit, Hideyoshi was said to have personally visited him three times in order to make him his vassal. The story is modeled on the three visits that Liu Bei did for Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Shigeharu represented Zhuge Liang, Hideyoshi acted as Liu Bei, their "Guan Yu" was Hachisuka Masakatsu and their "Zhang Fei" was Maeno Nagayasu. A similar incident surrounding Shigeharu was also said to have taken place during the Battle of Nagashino.

However, the Nobunaga Kōki argues that Shigeharu's history and abilities may have been exaggerated over time since there is little actually recorded for him. There are also no records of him being Hideyoshi's vassal in his earlier accounts, and it is possible that he could have been an undecorated martial officer for the Oda family. He had one wife and one child, named Shigekado, to succeed him. His wife was the daughter of Andō Morinari and was formerly known as Tokugetsu-In (得月院).

Other Names
Shigeharu's popular name in fiction is Hanbei and connects with Yoshitaka's nickname, Kanbei. Both names support the idea that neither men's talents were truly complete without the other with Hanbei meaning "half" (半) and Kanbei meaning "official" (官). In fiction, it was Hideyoshi who was the one who makes this assessment of his two strategists, giving them these names as an entertaining tribute to his vassals. Historically, it's unclear if he actually called them as such. Some records support the notion, others argue that it was a later distortion of facts during the Edo period. Nevertheless, a name to describe both of these men at once exists, and it is known as Ryōbei (両兵衛) or Nihyoue (二兵衛).

Other pseudonyms include Ima Kusunoki (今楠木), Ima Kōmei (今孔明), and "The All-Knowing Face Hanbei" (知らぬ顔の半兵衛, Shiranu kao no Hanbee), which are all rooted in the idea that Shigeharu was a genius. The latter name became an idiom in Japan, in which the person assumes the state of his intelligence, gaining the ability to read any outcome instantly and without fail. Their intelligence is so great it's as if the person can make their every desire a reality.

Life and Death
Shigeharu was the second eldest son of Takenaka Shigemoto, a vassal of Saitō Dōsan and later Tatsuoki. His mother was Myōkai Taishi, one of Sugiyama Kyuzaemon's daughters. After his father's death in either 1560 or 1562, Shigeharu inherited the clan and served Saitō Yoshitatsu. He served Tatsuoki after his master's passing.

Around this time, Nobunaga was making plans to invade Mino province. Yoshitatsu had prevented his previous offensives, but Tatsuoki's new leadership had convinced Nobunaga to attack. An invasion became more likely when younger soldiers within Mino became disillusioned with Tatsuoki and defected to the Oda clan. As the Oda army marched within Mino, Shigeharu lead an ambush on the Oda troops to try to drive them back. He lead the Saitō army a second time with his tactics two years later in 1563. However, since his master drowned himself in liquor and ignored the state's affairs, Shigeharu and the Mino Trio began to distance themselves from the land's politics and Tatsuoki.

Shigeharu, his younger brother Shigenori, and Andō Morinari accompanied Tatsuoki to Inabayama Castle in February the following year. Armed with 16 other subordinates (17 in the Takenaka Heiki), Shigeharu was able to capture the castle in only one day. While written to have happened in five separate records, modern historians question the feat's validity as there are few details written about the incident. The Nobunaga Kōki and Saitō family records do not record the siege happening, so it's also possible that this entire event is fictional. In any case, Nobunaga soon wanted the position and ordered for a surrender. Shigeharu refused yet Tatsuoki gave in during August the same year. There is also a story that Shigeharu, who disliked his master by this time, staged a coup d'état to cause confusion in the Mino ranks, thus leading to Tatsuoki's surrender.

After he left the Saitō family, he went to serve Azai Nagamasa and was granted a striped of 3,000 coins. He barely served the Azai for a year before he returned his possessions and went back to his old homeland in Iwate Province.

When the Saitō family fell in 1567, it is said that Nobunaga remembered Shigeharu and offered him service. The popular account of Shigeharu's actions was that he refused but eventually served Hideyoshi. In reality, it is more than likely that Nobunaga wanted his younger brother, who created a great reputation for himself at Mino, as his vassal and not Shigeharu. He presumably joined his brother in the Oda service. Due to his previous servitude to the Azai, Shigeharu was not allowed to serve in political affairs after Nagamasa's betrayal.

He served in Andō Morinari's ranks during the Battle of Anegawa. After the conflict, Nobunaga ordered him to join Hideyoshi at Yokoyama Castle. He then became Hideyoshi's yoriki and followed Hideyoshi to the Chugoku region. During Araki Murashige's defection, Kuroda Yoshitaka was arrested and held prisoner in Orioka Castle. As a notion for surrender, Nobunaga was said to have ordered Hideyoshi to kill Yoshitaka's son, Matsujumaru. Shigeharu convinced Hideyoshi to spare the boy and wait for Yoshitaka's return. Matsujumaru's life was saved and, as thanks, there are a few stories that state Yoshitaka shared with his family crest with Shigeharu.

In 1579, Shigeharu fell due to illness while they were surrounding Miki Castle. Hideyoshi ordered his dismissal to Kyoto, but Shigeharu wanted to live his end as a warrior and stayed. He died at age 36. His death was said to have been caused by pneumonia or tuberculosis.

Trivia

 * In the middle of his outfit, you can see an "H".