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.

In 1568, Terumune attacked Nihonmatsu Castle against Nihonmatsu Yoshitsugu, outnumbered and defeated, Yoshitsugu pretended to surrender.

Terumune fought against the Mogami Yoshiaki twice in different years, 1574 and 1578, in both battles, his wife, who also Yoshiaki sister, Yoshihime, advanced to the middle of the battlefield to create a peace treaty.

Later in 1578, Terumune succeeded his father Harumune; and he became the sixteenth head of the Date clan of Mutsu Province.

Records show that Nobunaga cultivated a close relationship with Terumune. The daimyo often confided in him affairs of the state through letters. During his campaigns unifying Japan, he sent Terumune a letter boasting how he annihilated tens of thousands in Echizen and Kaga.

When Oda Nobunaga was assassinated in 1582, Terumune gave his clan's support to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the power struggle which followed.

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. In 1585, 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.

Family

• Father: Date Harumune
• Mother: Kubohime (1521–1594)
• Wife: Yoshihime (1548–1623)
• Sister: Onamihime
• Children:
  • Date Masamune by Yoshihime
  • Date Masamichi (1568–1590) by Yoshihime
  • Chikohime by Yoshihime
  • Senshihime by Yoshihime

Retainers

• Oniniwa Yoshinao
• Date Sanemoto
• Endō Motonobu
• Shiroishi Munezane

In fiction

In NHK's 1987 Taiga drama Dokuganryū Masamune, Terumune was played by Kin'ya Kitaōji.

References

References

1. [[Stephen Turnbull (historian)
2. (1998). "The Samurai Sourcebook". Cassell & Co.
3. Meriwether, Colyer. (1893). "Life of Date Masamune". Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
4. Hartshorne, Anna C.. (1902). "Japan and Her People". H. T. Coates & Company.
5. 泉秀樹. (2003-05-21). "戦国なるほど人物事典: 100人のエピソードで歴史の流れがよくわかる". PHP研究所.
6. [https://books.google.com/books?id=msMcAQAAMAAJ&q=date+harumune "Date Terumune" at ''The Japan Biographical Encyclopedia & Who's Who,'' Issue 3 (1964), p. 121].
7. McMullin, N.. (1984). "Buddhism and the State in Sixteenth-Century Japan". Princeton University Press.
8. Turnbull, Stephen. (2012). "Japanese Fortified Temples and Monasteries AD 710–1602". Bloomsbury Publishing.
9. Meriwether, Colyer. (1893). "Life of Date Masamune". Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan.
10. Turnbull, Stephen. (2012). "Samurai Commanders (2): 1577–1638". Bloomsbury Publishing.
11. Asiatic Society of Japan. (1893). "Transactions". R. Meiklejohn & Co..
12. "大河ドラマ 独眼竜政宗". NHK.