was a Japanese samurai of the

Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

through Azuchi-Momoyama period. Served as a retainer of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...

Masakage was the uncle of the famous

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 all ...

.Who supported the reign of the government
Masakage, or as he was first known, Rokurō, was the son of Date Harumune. He was later adopted by Rusu Akimune, head of the Rusu clan which governed

Miyagi district is a district located in past Mutsu Province and today's Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The name of the prefecture was from this district. The original territory was east–west long from the Ōu Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, including current Senda ...

. In 1568, he married the daughter of Kurokawa ''"Sama-no-Kami"'' Haruuji, lord of the Kurokawa district (later known as

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

). Masakage contributed very highly to the Date clan by defending it from many oppositions. He was participate at the Siege of Hasedō in 1600, also involved in the succession dispute. Masakage was extremely close to Masamune, as one of his top subordinates, bringing him to many victories. The greatest victory he brought to Masamune was in the "Kasai-Osaki Uprising" or Ōshū campaign along with

Yashiro Kageyori (1563–1608) was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi-Momoyama period through the early Edo period. He served the Date clan during the tenure of Date Masamune as lord. Kageyori was also known as Genzaburō (源三郎) and Kageyuhyōe (勘解由兵� ...

In fiction

In NHK's 1987 Taiga drama ''

Dokuganryū Masamune is a 1987 Japanese historical television series. It is the 25th NHK ''taiga'' drama. The broadcast received an average viewer rating of 39.7 percent in the Kanto area. The drama was adapted from the novel of Sōhachi Yamaoka. Plot Toyotomi Hidey ...

'', Masakage was played by Kyōzō Nagatsuka.

Notes

External links

Masakage's armor
(in Japanese) Samurai 1549 births 1607 deaths Date clan {{samurai-stub