Yoshitsugu Tatekawa, born as the third son of a local official named Nozaki Yoshitaka in Niigata city, and was later adopted by another local official, Tatekawa Shuhei, whose surname he took. He went to Niigata Takada Junior High School and graduated from the 13th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, specializing in cavalry. He served as a lieutenant in the Russo-Japanese War, where in January 1905, by direct order of Field Marshal Oyama Iwao, he led a five-man cavalry squadron on a 23-day, 1200 kilometer reconnaissance mission far behind enemy lines in Manchuria. The intelligence gathered was mentioned in dispatches by General Oku Yasukata with proving invaluable intelligence leading to the Japanese victory at the Battle of Mukden. His exploits were later publicized in a number of novels and in a serialized story for the "Shōnen Club" youth magazine, and a fictionalized version became a movie..