Letter from Date Masamune, addressed to Kurokawa, the head caretaker of the Imperial horses Kurokawa
21 December 1585 (Tenshō 13)
Donated by Satō Shōji
Komonjo, or “old documents,” refers to forms of communication created to express one’s intentions to a particular recipient.
Also known as the “One-Eyed Dragon of Ōshu,” Date Masamune was a powerful daimyō in the Tohoku region who went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. This document is a letter of thanks from Date Masamune (1567–1636) to Kurokawa Haruuji for the salted salmon and paper fan presented to him as a New Year’s gift. Masamune expresses his pleasure at the gift, and hopes to be able to meet Haruuji at a later date.
Kurokawa Haruuji (1523–99) was a military commander and retainer of the Date clan, related to the Date clan as well as the Mogami and Ōsaki clans in Dewa (present-day Yamagata). When Masamune attacked the Ōsaki clan during the Battle of Ōsaki in 1588, Haruuji sided with the Ōsaki against the Date forces. He was then forced to resign for the crime of not participating in Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s conquest of Odawara in 1590.