CHIKUMA, Nagano Prefecture–A newly discovered letter written by feudal warlord Takeda Shingen during famous 16th-century battles against rival Uesugi Kenshin prompted a museum here to mount a fund-raising campaign to acquire it.In the letter, Shingen (1521-1573), from Kai province (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture), commended the achievements of local warriors in the Battles of Kawanakajima, a series of five battles fought in what is now Nagano city between 1553 and 1564.Shingen fought against Kenshin (1530-1578), a warlord based in Echigo province (present-day Niigata Prefecture), around the crossing of the Chikumagawa and Saigawa rivers.The Nagano Prefectural Museum of History here is trying to raise 3.15 million yen ($24,000) by March 15 to purchase the letter from the operator of a secondhand bookshop in Kyoto Prefecture who owns it.
CHIKUMA, Nagano Prefecture–A newly discovered letter written by feudal warlord Takeda Shingen during famous 16th-century battles against rival Uesugi Kenshin prompted a museum here to mount a fund-raising campaign to acquire it.