Yonekura Shigetsugu Yonekura Shigetsugu ( died 1575 ) was a Japanese samurai and retainer of the Takeda clan . Biography . Shigetsugu was a retainer of Takeda Shingen and served Amari Haruyoshi . He was killed at the Battle of Nagashino . He was noted for his participation in the Battle of Kawanakajima ( 1564 ) and the Battle of Nagashino in 1575 . During the Battle of Nagashino in 1575 , both the Tokugawa clan and Oda Nobunaga sent troops to alleviate the siege and Takeda Katsuyori was defeated . The victory of Oda ' s Western - style tactics and firearms over Takeda ' s cavalry charge is often cited as a turning point in Japanese warfare ; many cite it as the first " modern " Japanese battle . Yonekura Shigetsugu made a suicidal individual charge by the Takeda flank , before he was killed by gunfire . His corpse was later impaled on a pike by Nobunaga ' s forces . ( see Battles of Kawanakajima ) Following the battle Nobunaga established effective control of Japan . Yonekura ' s death poem is often performed in Noh plays to this day , and is an example of Haiku poetry for a death poem today . While death poems did not adopt any prescribed form as concerns syllables , tone or length ( the ritual required flexibility , in contrast to most samurai rituals such as the tea ceremony which were rigid ) , it was usually required to be short , pertinent and evoke pathos in the listener . It did not need to rhyme , just as Japanese singing was required to be discordant and erratic . The flexibility of the death poem contrasts with the rigid caste system that pervaded Japanese life . Shigetsugu was part of the crucial Nagashino cavalry counter . In typical military strategy , the success of any cavalry charge depends on the infantry breaking ranks so that the cavalry can mow them down . If the infantry does not break , however , cavalry charges will often fail - with even trained warhorses refusing to advance into the solid ranks of opponents . By opposing this traditional charge the Takeda forces hoped to roll back the cavalry , but failed . His master , the late Amari Haruyoshi ( also known as Amari Masatada ) was a famous Takeda samurai . Believed to have been born in 1533 , Masatada was the eldest son of Amari Torayasu and served Takeda Shingen . He also fought at Kikyôgahara ( 1549 ) , where the Ogasawara incurred a severe reversal at the Takeda ' s hands . He also served at the battles of 4th Kawanakajima ( 1561 ) , Usuigatoge , and Matsuyama ( 1563 ) . He was killed in a riding accident in 1564 , when the horse trampled him as he was attempting to clot bleeding . He is probably best known for an incident involving one of his wounded retainers . When the man ' s bleeding did not stop , Masatada advised him to drink horse feces and water to help clotting ( a folk remedy ) . When the wounded man was hesitant to do so , Masatada himself consumed some of the concoction for him . Encouraged , his retainer drank from the same cup and reportedly recovered . Descendants . Muramatsu , Shigetsugu , co - inventor of semiconductor United States Patent 7180182 is descended from Yonekura Shigetsuga . The Shigetsuga line also includes famed sword maker , Kasama Ikkansai Shigetsugu .