page_title: Date Masamune
section_title: Service under Ieyasu
hierarchical_section_title: Date Masamune / Service under Ieyasu
caption_attribution_description: Masamune Date's armour
context_page_description: Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful daimyō in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all the more iconic for his missing eye, as Masamune was often called dokuganryū, or the "One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshu".
  As a legendary warrior and leader, Masamune is a character in a number of Japanese period dramas. He was played by Ken Watanabe in the popular 1987 NHK series Dokuganryū Masamune.
context_section_description: Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded Masamune the lordship of the huge and profitable Sendai Domain, which made Masamune one of Japan's most powerful daimyōs. Tokugawa had promised Masamune a one-million koku domain, but, even after substantial improvements were made, the land only produced 640,000 koku, most of which was used to feed the Edo region. In 1604, Masamune, accompanied by 52,000 vassals and their families, moved to what was then the small fishing village of Sendai. He left his fourth son, Date Muneyasu, to rule Iwadeyama.  Masamune would turn Sendai into a large and prosperous city.
  Although Masamune was a patron of the arts and sympathized with foreign causes, he was also an aggressive and ambitious daimyō. When he first took over the Date clan, he suffered a few major defeats from powerful and influential clans such as the Ashina. These defeats were arguably caused by recklessness on Masamune's part.
  Later in his life, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi died, Tokugawa Ieyasu increased the size of his lands again, but was constantly suspicious of Masamune and his policies.
  Although Tokugawa Ieyasu and other Date allies were always suspicious of him, Date Masamune for the most part served the Tokugawa and Toyotomi loyally. Under Tokugawa He fought in Sekigahara Campaign at Siege of Shiroishi and in the Osaka campaigns. When Tokugawa Ieyasu was on his deathbed, Masamune visited him and read him a piece of Zen poetry. Masamune was highly respected for his ethics; a still-quoted aphorism is, "Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness."
caption: Date Masamune Armour
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