Under Takeda Shingen, Sanada Yukitaka participated in the Battle of Odaihara in 1546 and the sieges of Toishi in 1550 and 1551, and was one of three generals to be named Danjōchū by Shingen. He was the father of Sanada Nobutsuna and Sanada Masayuki and grandfather of the legendary samurai warrior Sanada Yukimura of whom Toyotomi Hideyoshi once said "A hero appears once every hundred years".