Date Masamune

was a Japanese daimyo in the Tōhoku region during the Azuchi-Momoyama period and Edo period. He was known as the  because he lost the use of an eye.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002). "Date Masamune" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 148-149. 

Date clan
In the Edo period, the Date clan were identified as one of the tozama or outsider clans,Appert, Georges. (1888).  Ancien Japon, p. 64. in contrast with the fudai or insider daimyō clans which were hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan.

Date sent troops which fought with the Tokugawa during the Battle of Sekigahara.

Sendai-kō
The feudal daimyō were sometimes identified with the suffix "-kō" (servant) combined with the name of a place or a castle.Plutschow, Herbert. (1995). Japan's Name Culture: The Significance of Names in a Religious, Political and Social Context, p. 44.  

In 1601, Date built the Sendai castle; and the modern-day city of Sendai developed around it. Sendai-kō was one of the ways Date Masamune was described.

Keichō Embassy
In 1613-1620, Date sent Hasekura Tsunenaga on a diplomatic mission to the courts of Philip III of Spain in Madrid and Pope Paul V in Rome.Nussbaum, "Hasekura Tsunenaga," p. 293.

This historic visit is called the .In the name "Keichō Embassy", the noun Keichō means the Japanese era name (nengō) for the time period spanning the years from October 1596 to July 1615.

Legacy
In 1991, a minor planetIAU Minor Planet Center,  6859 Datemasamune; retrieved 2011-11-18. or main-belt asteroid  6859 Datemasamune was named after this Edo period historical figure.Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). "5128 Wakabayashi," Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Vol. 1, p. 441.

 References 

 Other websites 

 Aoba-jo (Sendai Castle) 

Category:1567 births
Category:1636 deaths
Category:Daimyo
Category:People from Yamagata Prefecture