Nukui Kagetaka served as a bushō during the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods.  Kagetaka was a retainer of the Noto-Hatakeyama clan.

A branch of the Fujiwara-Hokke under Fujiwara-no-Toshihito, the Nukui clan were kokujin, or provincial landowners, in the Wajima area of Noto Province.

In 1555, Kagetaka’s grandfather, Nukui Fusasada, was killed by his lord, Hatakeyama Yoshitsuna, a sengoku daimyō in Noto.  This triggered a rebellion by the Nukui family, which failed and caused him to flee to Kaga Province.  In 1566, after Yoshitsuna and his father, Hatakeyama Yoshitsugu, were ousted by senior retainers, Kagetaka returned to service of the clan with the status of an influential elder.

In 1577, after a large army led by Uesugi Kenshin laid siege to Nanao Castle, Kagetaka secretly aided Kenshin by collaborating with Tsugumitsu to murder Chō Tsugutsura and many other members of the Chō family who were allied with the Oda.  After the death of Kenshin, an invasion by the Oda army ousted Kagetaka from Noto. 

In 1582, after the demise of Oda Nobunaga in a coup d’état known as the Honnō Temple Incident, Kagetaka joined forces with the warrior monks of Sekidō in a bid to reclaim lands in Noto earlier seized by Nobunaga and granted to Maeda Toshiie.  Backed by Uesugi Kagekatsu, members of the Nukui and Miyake clans along with the warrior monks clashed with forces of the allied armies led by Toshiie and Sakuma Morimasa but were defeated and the temple facilities on Mount Sekidō burned down before reinforcements sent by the Uesugi could arrive.  Kagetaka, Miyake Nagamori, and Yusa Nagakazu, among others, were all killed.  This event is known as the Battle of Arayama.