Background
Masamune Date was born on 5 September 1567 in Yamagata. In childhood named Bontenmaru, he was the eldest son of Date Tcrumune, lord of Yone- zawa in the province of Dewa, present-day Yamagata Prefecture.
伊達 政宗
Masamune Date was born on 5 September 1567 in Yamagata. In childhood named Bontenmaru, he was the eldest son of Date Tcrumune, lord of Yone- zawa in the province of Dewa, present-day Yamagata Prefecture.
In 1584, when his father was killed, he succeeded him as lord of the domain, and the following year carried out revenge on his father’s killer, Hatakeyama Yoshi- tsugu, at Nihonmatsu. In 1589 he defeated another long-time enemy of the family, Ashina Yoshihiro, and took over control of the region of Aizu, in present-day Fukushima Prefecture, moving his residence to Kurokawa Castle in Aizu. The following year, however, he was berated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi for his tardiness in joining the campaign against Odawara Castle, which Hideyoshi was then conducting, and was obliged to give up possession of the three districts of Aizu that he had recently acquired and return to his former residence in Yonezawa. In 1591 he journeyed to Kyoto, had an interview with Hideyoshi, and succeeded in clearing himself of any suspicion of disloyalty. After returning to his domain, he put down a revolt raised by the Osaki and Kasai families and moved his residence to Iwatezawa in the Tama- tsukuri district of Mutsu, present-day Miyagi Prefecture.
In 1592-93, at the time of the so-called Bunroku era campaign against Korea, he fought in various encounters in the Korean peninsula and won merit. After the death of Hideyoshi, he allied himself with Tokugawa Ieyasu, fighting on leyasu’s side at the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and leading the attack on the forces of Uesugi Kagekatsu of Aizu, in reward for which he was given possession of the district of Karita in Mutsu.
In 1603 he constructed Aoba Castle in Sendai and moved his residence there, becoming the first lord of Sendai. In 1613, at the urging of the Franciscan missionary Luis Sotelo, he dispatched his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga to head a mission to Spain and Rome, but though the members of the mission were received by the king of Spain and the Pope and returned to Japan in 1620, they failed to realize the objectives set them, which were to open up trade relations with the Spanish domains in the New World and arrange for the establishment of a bishopric in the province of Mutsu. During the campaigns against Osaka Castle in 1614 and 1615, Masamune once more fought for the Tokugawa cause, distinguishing himself in attacks on the Toyotomi generals.