Born in 1532 as the sixth son of Takeda Nobutora, younger brother of Takeda Shingen (Harunobu) by the same mother. Tradition holds that because his features closely resembled Shingen's, he sometimes served as his body double, and that when Shingen died in April 1573, Nobukado impersonated him so the army could withdraw safely to Kofu. Within the Takeda house he was a senior member of the ruling family, serving as lord of Takato Castle from around 1561; after Shingen's death he took the tonsure as 'Shoyoken Nobutsuna' and held key posts in southern Shinano as castellan of Iida and later Oshima Castle. He is also remembered as a painter, producing several portraits associated with the Takeda house, including the Important Cultural Property portrait of Takeda Nobutora held at Daisen-ji in Kofu. In March 1582, when the army of Oda Nobutada invaded southern Shinano in the Koshu campaign, Nobukado abandoned Oshima Castle with little resistance and retreated toward Kai. He was captured during the retreat and executed by an Oda commander under Mori Nagayoshi in Kofu on March 24 — thirteen days after his lord Takeda Katsuyori's suicide. He was 51.

Regarded as a man of cultural talent rather than martial prowess, possessing a painter's keen eye for observation while also, by tradition, having the nerve to serve as Shingen's body double. Yet he lacked the decisive resolve of his brother Shingen or nephew Katsuyori in a crisis, and his abandonment of Oshima Castle in his final years is often cited as emblematic of the breakdown of discipline within the Takeda house.

The portrait of Takeda Nobutora that Nobukado painted has been designated an Important Cultural Property and remains a valuable historical record of Sengoku daimyo portraiture. The tale of his serving as Shingen's body double has often been incorporated into later stories and dramatizations about Takeda Shingen. Oshima Castle (Matsukawa, Nagano), where Nobukado served as castellan in his final post, still preserves its earthworks as Dai-jo, testifying to the history of the Takeda clan's defensive stronghold in southern Shinano.