Date Masamune

Date Masamune was a much feared, one-eyed samurai warlord who ruled Sendai in the 16th century. After a successful war campaign, the Tokugawa shogunate rewarded him with the agriculturally rich area of Sendai. Masamune eventually became very powerful, and later built a castle on the edge of a mountain cliff overlooking the town of Sendai.

There is nothing left of the original castle now. Over many years it had succumbed to earthquakes and fires. It was dismantled (by the new Meiji government in 1868) and bombed (WWII in 1945). What is left in its place is only a park with Masamune's statue, a small museum and a shrine. It is quite a shame, because judging from a scale model of the castle, it must have been very grand and impressive.


Interestingly, Masamune was initially open to missionary work in Sendai. However he later began to persecute the missionaries possibly because of external pressures by the Tokugawa shogunate to eradicate Christianity, or had a change in heart, or both.

Sendai's famous samurai is now the city's icon, and is often depicted in many tourism related advertisements. Date Masamune wouldn't be too pleased with these cutesy pictures of him though...