Masamune Dates

Masamune Date (, Date Masamune ) (1566 - 1636) was one of the Daimyō which directed the Région of Tōhoku to the Japan. Near to the Christians, Masamune is known for a certain number of things which make of him an original personality of the time, in particular its famous Casque decorated of an enormous asymmetrical half-moon. It is sometimes called Dokuganryū ( the one-eyed dragon ).

Life

Youth

Oldest son of Terumune Dates, it is born with the castle from Yonezawa in September 1566, in current the Préfecture of Yamagata under the name of Bontenmaru .

Child, Masamune loses his left eye because of the small pox, eye which it itself tore off. Because it became one-eyed, his/her own mother declares it unable to become chief of clan and starts to support the brother of Masamune as a heir to the clan. She tries to poison it one night by serving her dinner to him. Masamune must be solved to kill his/her own brother, commenting on " I thought that one could live together like brothers, perhaps in another life… "

At 12 years, it receives the name of Masamune Tojirō , and marries the girl of Kiyoaki Tamura the following year. It takes part in its first military countryside in 1581, helping his father in the war against the Souma clan. It replaces this one at age the 18 years when it withdraws its position of daimyō, having declared that it was withdrawn at a young age in order to avoid the expensive catch being able that it had itself with his own father. The father of Terumune itself had faced his grandfather before him.

Shortly after the accession of Masamune under daimyō, vassal of the Date of the name of Sadatsuna Ouchi, deserted for the clan Ashina in the area of Aizu. Masamune then declares the war in Ashina for this treason.

The Date family had consolidated her capacity on her field and had cemented the stability of the area by marriages of parents with the close clans. With the accession of Masamune, these relations are put on side as Masamune starts to attack and conquer all the clans surrounding, including those held by parents in the provinces of Mutsu and Dewa. Shocked by his cruelty, a nearby clan, Hatakeyama, beseeches hopelessly the intervention of Terumune Date in the military campaigns from his son against his neighbors. During a dinner with Hatakeyama, Terumune affirms that it cannot control the actions of his son. In a despaired act, Hatakeyama capture Terumune and start to bring back it on their premises. Masamune, which had left at this time learns removal. As Masamune and its men join Terumune and its kidnappers about to cross a river, Terumune howls with his/her son to draw without being concerned with its own security. The men of Masamune draw and kill everyone, Terumune Date included/understood. Masamune continuous and torture and keep silent families of the men implied in the removal of his/her father.

After the defeat of Ashina in 1589, it makes field of Aizu its base of operations.

Masamune and Hideyoshi

In 1590, Hideyoshi Toyotomi starts to see Masamune like a threat for its capacity and attacks Aizu. It is claimed that Hideyoshi had to encircle the army of Masamune with a troop of 100.000 men to force it to subject itself. Masamune, expecting to be carried out, puts its more beautiful clothing and does not show any fear. Wanting to avoid disorders, Hideyoshi saving.

After some time spent to the service of Hideyoshi, he sees himself giving by this one the castle of Iwatesawa and the surrounding grounds. Masamune settles in 1591, rebuilds the Château there, re-elects it Iwadeyama and encourages the growth of a city to its foot. Masamune occupies Iwadeyama during 13 years, during which it transforms the area into a political and economic center of first importance. It also accompanies Hideyoshi in its two campaigns by invasion of the Korea in 1592 and 1597.

The turning

In 1600, at the time of the Battle of Sekigahara, Masamune joined the camp of Ieyasu Tokugawa. This one rewards it by giving him the important one and profitable stronghold for Sendai, which does of Masamune one of the most powerful daimyō. Ieyasu had promised in Masamune a field of a million Koku S, but alas, even after substantial improvements are carried out, the field produces only 640.000 kokus, whose majority are used to nourish the area of Edo. In 1604, Masamune, accompanied by 52.000 vassal (and their families), settles in the small village of fishermen of Sendai. It leaves its fourth wire, Muneyasu Date, to direct Iwadeyama. The purpose of Masamune is to transform Sendai into a large and prosperous city.

Masamune improves the trade in marshy province of Tohoku. Although at the beginning it must face hostile clans which attack it, it manages to crush these clans after some defeats and ends up directing the greatest stronghold of the future shogunat Tokugawa. It makes build many palates and works on many projects to embellish its area.

It is also known to have encouraged the arrival from abroad on its grounds. It is possible that Masamune Date secretly converted itself with the Christianisme, although it is more probably interested by foreign technology, like were other lords like Nobunaga Oda. During 270 years, Tohoku was a place of tourism, trade and prosperity. The islands of Matsushima, for example, were celebrated for their beauty and their serenity by the poet Haiku Basho Matsuo.

Forwarding around the world

The greatest realization of Masamune is the financing and the approval of one of the only voyages of exploration of the medieval Japan. Masamune sympathized with the missionaries and the Christian tradesmen come to Japan. In addition to authorizing them to come and preach in its province, he pleads for the release of the missionary Luis Sotelo, prisoner of Ieyasu Tokugawa and condemned to death. Masamune authorizes the Soleto Father, just like the other missionaries to practice their religion and to carry out conversions in Tohoku.

After a time, Masamune orders the construction of the Date Walled, a ship of exploration. Masamune builds this boat by using European techniques of Naval construction. It sends Sotelo and one of its vassal, Tsunenaga Hasekura, travels from there towards Rome. This forwarding, which took place between 1613 and 1620, visited places such as the Filipino , the Mexico, the Spain, the France and the Italy, which makes of it the first Japanese forwarding around the world. In the previous times, the Japanese lords had never financed this kind of companies, thus that in fact probably the first forwarding of Japanese exploration.

At least 5 or 6 members of forwarding remained to live in Coria (Seville) in Spain to avoid persecutions against the Christians in Japan, and one counts now 600 their named descendants Japón (for Japan) currently living in Spain.

End of the reign

When Tsunega returns after seven years of voyage, it is to realize that the shogun forced Date meanwhile to apply the laws anti-Christians to its grounds and to pursue those.

It also takes part in the Siège of Osaka at the winter 1614 - 1615, where it is illustrated by brutal manners which are far from achieving the unanimity among the other generals. For example, one tells that in 1615, Masamune orders with its own troops to draw some flights from balls on those of its ally Sukemochi Jinbo, of which he is frustrated by the lack of aggressiveness, to push them with the action.

When the following year Ieyasu is found on its bed of death, Masamune comes to the bedside from its lord to recite a poem Zen.

His/her son Tadamune Date will succeed to him its clean dead in 1636.

Policies

Although Masamune was an owner of arts and sympatisé with the cause from abroad, it was also an aggressive and ambitious daimyō, and none the lords relied really on him. Hideyoshi reduced the size of its grounds to punish its slowness to come to take part in the Siège of Odawara against Hojo Ujimasa. Even if Ieyasu increased the size of its grounds, it always remained being wary of Masamune and its policies, more especially as it was wary of the missionaries, perceiving them like a threat towards its capacity, which led it to make carry out the Soleto father on his return. In spite of this mistrust of its superiors, Masamune behaves rather honestly, and will take in particular share in the campaigns of Korea and Osaka.

Masamune in the fiction

Masamune Date appears in many video games, of which the series Kessen of Koei (where he is a relatively minor officer) and Samurai Warriors (where he is a playable character), as in the Manga/Anime Samurai deeper Kyo (in which he is also named Bontenmaru).

See too

Internal bond

Clan Dates

External bonds

http://samourais.free.fr/ Site general practitioner on the samurais.
the page devoted to Masamune on samurai-archives.com * The official website off the Date clan
Site of the Aoba-OJ (Castle Sendai

Zh-yue: 伊達政宗

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