Hanbei Takenaka

Hanbei Takenaka is a character newly featured in Samurai Warriors 3. He is a retainer from Mino who eventually served 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. He is symbolized by the characters "talented" (俊) and "worthy" (賢).

He is voiced by Umeka Shouji in the Japanese dub.

Samurai Warriors
Hanbei starts as a strategist for the Saitō clan in Mino. Once he joins the Toyotomi, he works together with Kanbei.

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
Though he has an unassuming and childish attitude, Hanbei is an unwavering youth with the ability to analyze concepts with startling accuracy. He uses his calculating skills to win every battle he partakes in.

Fighting Style
Hanbei is primarily a distance fighter since his weapon cannot exactly attack enemies close to him. He fights by throwing his weapon in various degrees around him and can use various escape methods with his charge attacks. His Musou Kaiden has his weapon unleash fireworks.

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 Gōki 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.

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 Gōki 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.