Yonekura Shigetsugu

Yonekura Shigetsugu

YONEKURA Shigetsugu Takeda retainer d.1575 Tango no kami

Shigetsugu was a retainer of Takeda Shingen and served Amari Haruyoshi. He was killed at the Battle of Nagashino.

During the Battle of Nagashino1575) both Tokugawa 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 was heroically killed in the fighting, following a suicidal individual charge by the Takeda flank, before being killed by gunfire, and later impaled on a pike by Nobunaga's forces. He was also notable for being in the battle of Kawanakajima. (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 syllabals, 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 dischordant 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, much like traditional a Greek phalanx, but failed.

His master, the late Amari Haruyoshi (also known as Amari Masatada) was a famous Takeda samurai. Believed to have been born 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 the bleeding from its Ilioinguinal nerve. 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.