Date Terumune
Biography. Terumune's childhood name was Hikotaro (彦太郎) later Sojiro (総次郎). He was born a warrior since his family is often in conflict with its neighbors. Records show that Nobunaga cultivated a close relationship with Terumune. The daimyo often confided in him affairs of the state through letters. During his ucampaigns unifying Japan, he sent Terumune a letter boasting how he annihilated tens of thousands in Echizen and Kaga. Death. An account cited him as party to the negotiation with a local rival called Hatakeyama Yoshitsugu. At this time, his son Date Masamune appear to be leading the  clan. Yoshitsugu was invited to a feast after an alliance was forged. A day after, when Masamune took the guest hunting, the latter's men abducted the undefended Terumune. Yoshitsugu stabbed Terumune to his death when he panicked as Masamune and his men caught up with him by the banks of the Abukuma River. A version of this account stated that Terumune was taken to the kidnapper's fort, where he was slain during Terumune's siege. Daimyo. Terumune succeeded his father Harumune; and he became the sixteenth head of the Date clan of Mutsu Province. When Oda Nobunaga was  assassinated in 1582, Terumune gave his clan's support to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the power struggle which followed. Terumune was the father of Date Masamune, who succeeded him as clan leader in 1584. In fiction. In NHK's 1987 Taiga drama "Dokuganryū Masamune", Terumune was played by Kin'ya Kitaōji.