Date Shigezane

Date Shigezane (1568-1646) was a cousin of Date Masamune and a fierce warrior who, as a senior retainer, supported Masamune's conquest of Ōshū. Rare among Sengoku warriors, he combined a valor so great that he was praised as “peerless in valor” with the side of an intellectual who wrote the “Shigezane-ki.”

Shigezane's father was Date Sanemoto, a senior member of the Date family, and from childhood Shigezane showed a resolute character. In Masamune's war to unify Ōshū, he stood at the front line and earned numerous military distinctions in battles against the Hatakeyama, Sōma and Ashina clans. In particular, at the Battle of Suriagehara in 1589, he contributed to a great victory over Ashina Yoshihiro, which sealed the Date family's conquest of Ōshū.

However, Shigezane's relationship with Masamune had a complicated history. Between 1595 and 1598 (there are various theories about the exact period), he suddenly left the Date family and became a ronin. While he was away, he received invitations from Uesugi Kagekatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu, but he did not enter their service. In 1600, the year the Battle of Sekigahara took place, he returned to Masamune's side through the persuasion of Katakura Kagetsuna and others. Thereafter, as a senior member of the Date family, he devoted himself to the development of the Sendai Domain. He is also said to have written the “Shigezane-ki,” a collection of Masamune's military chronicles and anecdotes.

Shigezane lived to a long age, dying at 79. His life, as a typical example of a warrior who survived the turbulent waves of the Sengoku period, holds an important place in the history and culture of the Tōhoku region.