Japan Heritage story
Date Masamune's dazzling culture in Sendai and Matsushima
政宗が育んだ“伊達”な文化
Date Masamune is famous as a warlord, but he was also a man of culture who set out to make Sendai a capital to rival Kyoto. His bold, showy style, called date, still shapes Miyagi today.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Festivals and rituals
- Era
- Azuchi-Momoyama, Edo
- Region
- Tohoku, Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 政宗が育んだ“伊達”な文化
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 宮城県（仙台市，塩竈市，多賀城市，松島町）
The story
When Masamune built Sendai Castle and his new city, he revived the old holy places of the north and brought top craftsmen from the Kyoto area. Their buildings mix lavish Momoyama carving and colour with quiet ink painting, and his armour and clothes show the same daring taste. He also wrote poetry, practised tea and Noh, and was curious about Europe. Later Date lords kept building in his style, and the word date came to mean stylish and flamboyant.
What to see
- Osaki Hachimangu (Sendai): the shrine Masamune moved to his new city, richly carved and coloured.Google Maps 大崎八幡宮 (opens in a new tab)
- Zuiganji (Matsushima): the great Zen temple he rebuilt by the bay.Google Maps 瑞巌寺 (opens in a new tab)
- Zuihoden (Sendai): the mausoleum built for Masamune by his son.Google Maps 瑞鳳殿 (opens in a new tab)
- Shiogama Shrine: built under later Date lords in the same splendid style.Google Maps 鹽竈神社 (opens in a new tab)
- Matsushima Bay: a classic poetic landscape that the Date lords restored; Basho came to see it.
Plan your visit with the Miyagi prefecture guide, and see more shrines and temples.
Good to know
- Do Sendai's Date sites in one day and Matsushima and Shiogama the next.
- Bring a copy of Basho's Oku no Hosomichi passage on Matsushima to read by the bay.
- Look up close at the carvings and gold leaf: the details are the point of the date style.
Questions travellers ask
What does date mean in Japanese?
It means showy and stylish, and is linked to the bold taste of Date Masamune and his samurai.
Where is Date Masamune buried?
At Zuihoden in Sendai, a mausoleum built by his son and successor.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Aizu's 33 Kannon pilgrimage: faith with a day out
- Asuka: the women who shaped the birth of Japan
- Gyoda: the town of tabi storehouses
- Hida no Takumi: 1,300 years of master woodworkers in Takayama
- Iga and Koka: in search of the real ninja
- Izumo: the sacred land where the sun sets
- Kamenose: crossing the landslide heart of the Tatsuta Kodo
- Katsuragi Shugen: where mountain asceticism began
- Michinoku gold: where Japan's gold story began
- Mount Takao and Hachioji, the city of silk
- Nyonin Koya: the temples where women prayed instead of Mount Koya
- Oyama Mairi: the Edo people's pilgrimage and day out
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.