was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' of the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

. He was the eldest son of

Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made ...

, born in 1591 by Shinzo no Kata (a concubine). Coming of age while living with

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

, he received a character from Hideyoshi's name and took the adult name of Hidemune. Hideyoshi also granted him the court rank of and the title of ''ji-jū'', appointing the young Hidemune as a page to his own son

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's second son. The birth of Hideyori cr ...

. After Hideyoshi's death in 1600, he was made a hostage at the residence of Ukita Hideie. Though he was Masamune's eldest son, Hidemune was born by a concubine, and therefore could not be the successor to the

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

, which his father ruled. Masamune therefore considered the possibility of having Hidemune start a branch family. This was made possible in 1614, when father and son took part in the Osaka Campaign: Hidemune received the 100,000 '' koku'' Uwajima Domain which

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

granted to Masamune. Hidemune immediately entered his new fief as ''daimyō'', and ruled until his retirement in Meireki 3 (1657).

References

*''This article was composed from corresponding content on the Japanese Wikipedia.'' Daimyo Samurai 1591 births 1658 deaths Date clan {{daimyo-stub