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.

While death poems did not adopt any prescribed form as far as syllables, tone, and length were concerned (the ritual required flexibility, compared to most samurai rituals, like the tea ceremony, which were practiced with rigidity), it was usually required to be short, be pertinent, and invoke pathos in the listener.

The flexibility of the death poem was in direct contrast with the rigid caste system that pervaded Japanese life during that period of time.

However, when the enemies' infantry does not break rank and scatter, the cavalry charge will often fail, since trained warhorses refuse to advance into solid masses of soldiers.

[4] By opposing their adversaries' traditional tactics in this way, Takeda Katsuyori's forces hoped to rout the cavalry charges.

When the man's bleeding did not abate, Masatada advised him to drink horse feces mixed with water to help accelerate the formation of blood clots (a folk remedy).