Letter by Date Masamune
- Person
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作者伊達政宗
- Date
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制作年 AD17
- Title
- ダテマサムネヒツショジョウ
- Collections
- Century Akao Collection
- Depository
- Institute of Oriental Classics (Shido Bunko) Campus Mita
- Ref. number
- AW-CEN-000205-0000
- License
- CC BY Images license
- Creditline
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慶應義塾（センチュリー赤尾コレクション）
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A military commander active from the end of Momoyama Period to the early Edo Period, Lord Date Masamune (1567-1636) was born in Yonezawa, Dewa Province (today’s Yamagata Pref.), the first son of Date Terumune. His childhood name was Bonten-Maru, which was changed to Masamune when he came of age in 1577. but after he lost sight in one eye, he was nicknamed “Singled-Eyed Dragon”. Masamune succeeded his father as head of the family at age 18. Thereafter, he enlarged the family sphere of influence in and around Yonezawa. In 1589, he defeated his old adversary Ashina Yoshihiro and moved into Aizu Kurokawa Castle, which was later called Aizu Wakamatsu Castle. In the following year, however, Toyotomi Hideyoshi confiscated Aizu, Iwase, and Asaka estates that belonged to Masamune, and the lord was forced to return to Yonezawa Castle. In 1591, he put down the riots that erupted in Kasai and Osaki, in northern Japan, and was given Iwadeyama Castle as a reward. During the Bunroku Campaign of 1592, in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent an invading army to the Korean Peninsula, Lord Date Masamune went to serve at the Nagoya war headquarters set up in Hizen (today’s Saga Pref.), from where he crossed the straight to invade Korea. After his return to Japan, he became entangled in a revolt plotted by Toyotomi Hidetsugu and was ordered to house arrest. He was soon pardoned and fought on the Tokugawa side during the Battle of Sekigahara and defeated General Uesugi Kagekatsu, a warlord in Aizu. Later, Masamune built a new castle in Sendai (1603) and consolidated his estates, thus laying the foundation of the great Date House of 620,000-goku (rice bales) in Sendai Province. He died at age 70 at the Date government mansions in Edo.Masamune was a bold, daring and formidable military general, but he also cultivated a taste for Japanese poetry, sado (way of tea), and Noh theatre and was instrumental in introducing to the remote northern regions the splendor of Momoyama culture. Not only that, he also had a progressive mind and a grand vision for the world beyond Japan, sending at one point envoy Hasekura Tsunenaga to Rome to seek an audience with the pope.Date Masamune wrote this letter to Nagai Naomasa (1587-1668), the Lord of Koga Castle, in Shimousa Province (today’s Ibaraki Pref.), in which he thanks Naomasa for the gift of two wild geese, downed during a falcon hunt. Masamune writes that the geese will be cooked and offered to Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada. He also thanks Naomasa for having Sakurai Hachiyemon, a Noh performer under Masamune’s patronage, commissioned to perform a theatrical piece. Naomasa must have been instrumental in having Hachiyemon named to the said performance. The Noh event mentioned here was presented on March 12, 1628, when Shogun Hidetada visited Masamune’s Edo mansions. From these facts, it is evident this letter was written when Masamune was 62 and Naomasa, 42. As Masamune died when he was 70, this letter was written in advanced age, but the bold and dynamic strokes do not hint that this famous military general was slowing down much, if at all.
萬々辱候／＼以上鷹之雁ニ贈預忝存候明日之御膳に上可申候夜前者御能組御越候我等太夫ニ三番迄被仰付由扨々辱義ニ御坐候御取成故ニ候後刻西丸ニ而御礼可申候恐惶謹言三月十一日正宗（花押）松陸奥守永信州様御報正宗
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