伊達政宗 Masamune Date
4-Kanji Description	奥州筆頭 （おうしゅうひっとう）
4-Kanji Translation	Head of Oushuu
Weapon	1-6 Katana
Element	Lightning
Faction	Date Army
First Appearance	Sengoku BASARA
First Playable	Sengoku BASARA
Seiyuu	Kazuya Nakai
Voice Actors	Kirby Morrow (Devil Kings) Reuben Langdon (Sengoku BASARA: Samurai Heroes) Robert McCollum (Sengoku BASARA (anime))

独眼竜は伊達じゃねぇ、you see?
"The One-Eyed Dragon is not just for show, you see?"

"Put ya guns on!"

Masamune Date In the anime is portrayed as the energetic and fearless young ruler of the Date Clan. He is known by the nickname Dokuganryū (One-Eyed Dragon). Medium-long brown hair, a black eye-patch, an uncommon and original blue suit and a classic helmet with a golden crescent moon at its top is how Masamune has been drawn in the anime, respecting each detail from the game. Another curious thing to mention is his horse: it resembles a motorcycle, because it's equipped with real modern handlebars coming out from the mane and an exhaust pipe on the back. Whenever he travels on horseback, he rides leaning back with his arms crossed.

He tends to speak a mixture of English and Japanese and the way he and his men are shown seems to resemble a Yakuza Clan (due to some hairstyles, way of talking and other details). Date Masamune is presented as a cocky and ambitious warlord, usually wielding a single Katana, though when fighting seriously he can use up to six swords at once (three in each hand, held between the fingers). His six swords gain the nickname "Dragon's claws".

While energetic and optimistic on the battlefield, outside of it he is rather quiet, mild, and thoughtful. He discusses plans and difficulties openly with his men and often weighs the counsel of his second in command, Kojūrō Katakura, before making major decisions. This personality contrast adds to his character's appeal, preventing the forming of a single, unchanging personality. In addition, his loyalty to his men is unmistakable; he has shown more than once to deeply care for all of them, especially for his right hand Kojūrō.

Despite his rivalry with the young Sanada Yukimura, the two have a deep respect for each other and will also form an alliance in order to take down the Devil King Oda Nobunaga.

Contents 1 Description 1.1 Weapons 2 Story Events 3 Historical Information 4 Skills 5 Trivia 6 Gallery

Description Edit

WeaponsEdit

• Wyvern Tear - A normal sword with weak attack power and defense.
• Gorgon's Claw - A better sword than Wyvern Tear, but not by much.
• Dragon Fang - A special sword with medium attack power and weak defense that adds lightning damage with each hit.
• Uroboros - A special sword with low attack power and very high defense that adds a bonus hit to every blow when an enemy is in a "primed" state.
• Tiamat - Has the same properties as Dragon Fang, but with much higher attack power and medium defense.
• Alastor - The legendary sword from Devil May Cry, which has the same properties as Dragon Fang and Tiamat, but with the ultimate attack power and defense.

Story Events Edit

In Sengoku Basara 3, he was enraged after he and Katakura Kojūrō were defeated by Ishida Mitsunari, a loyal retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Odawara Castle. So he, along with Katakura Kojūrō, went after Ishida Mitsunari to defeat him in order to return his pride. Later, Date Masamune made a decision to forge an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu and join the battle of Sekigahara to fight Mitsunari. He battles Mitsunari, but not out of revenge, as he states that he was just a stepping stone for him. He defeats Mitsunari but doesn't kill him, remarking that his eyes resemble his before leaving.

In his second story, he heads straight to Osaka and defeats Mitsunari in his first stage. He learns that Yukimura went to Yoshihiro and decides to go there too. After meeting Yoshihiro, he heads to Osaka again to battle Yukimura. After a fierce battle, it ends in a draw and Masamune takes his leave.

Historical Information Edit

Date Masamune (伊達 政宗^?) (September 5, 1567 – June 27, 1636) was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi-Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful daimyo in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all the more iconic for his missing eye, and Masamune was often called dokuganryū (独眼竜), or the "one-eyed dragon".

Masamune is known for a few things that made him stand out from other daimyo of the time. In particular, his famous crescent-moon-bearing helmet won him a fearsome reputation. As a child, smallpox robbed him of sight in his right eye, though it is unclear exactly how he lost the organ entirely. Some sources say he plucked out the eye himself when a senior member of the clan pointed out that an enemy could grab it in a fight. Others say that he had his trusted retainer Katakura Kojūrō gouge out the eye for him. Because of his missing eye, his own mother condemned him as unfit to take over as clan leader and began favoring his younger brother as heir.

The Date clan had built alliances with neighboring clans through marriages over previous generations. However, there were many disputes over the lands during the 15th and 16th centuries. Shortly after Masamune's succession, a Date retainer named Ōuchi Sadatsuna defected to the Ashina clan of the Aizu region. Masamune declared war on the Ashina for this betrayal, but his army was halted by the Ashina general Iwashiro Morikuni, who forced Masamune to retire from the campaign. Masamune took control of Obama Castle after this.

After defeating the Ashina in 1589, he made the Aizu domain his base of operations.

In 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi seized Odawara Castle and compelled the Tōhoku region daimyos to participate in the campaign. Although Masamune refused Hideyoshi's demands at first, he had no real choice in the matter since Hideyoshi was the virtual ruler of Japan. Masamune still delayed, infuriating Hideyoshi. Expecting to be executed, Masamune, wearing his finest clothes and showing no fear, faced his angry overlord. Not wanting further trouble, Hideyoshi spared his life, saying that "He could be of some use".

After serving Hideyoshi for a time, he was given Iwatesawa castle and the surrounding lands as his home domain. Masamune moved there in 1591, rebuilt the castle, renamed it Iwadeyama, and encouraged the growth of a town at its base. Masamune stayed at Iwadeyama for 13 years and turned the region into a major political and economic center. He and his men served with distinction in the Korean invasions under Hideyoshi and, after Hideyoshi's death, he began to support Tokugawa Ieyasu — apparently at the advice of Katakura Kojūrō.

Tokugawa Ieyasu awarded Masamune the lordship of the huge and profitable Sendai domain, which made Masamune one of Japan’s most powerful daimyo. Tokugawa had promised Masamune a one million koku domain, but, even after substantial improvements were made, the land only produced 640,000 koku, most of which was used to feed the Edo region. In 1604, Masamune, accompanied by 52,000 vassals and their families, moved to what was then the small fishing village of Sendai. He left his fourth son, Date Muneyasu, to rule Iwadeyama. Masamune would turn Sendai into a large and prosperous city.

Date Masamune for the most part served the Tokugawa and Toyotomi loyally. He took part in Hideyoshi's campaigns in Korea, and in the Osaka campaigns. When Tokugawa Ieyasu was on his deathbed, Masamune visited him and read him a piece of Zen poetry. Masamune was highly respected for his ethics; a still-quoted aphorism is, "Rectitude carried to excess hardens into stiffness; benevolence indulged beyond measure sinks into weakness."

Skills Edit

Jet-X

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune cross slashes forward with his six swords. In Sengoku BASARA 2, this skill can be upgraded so that it is repeatable up to three times.

Death Fang

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune juggles the enemies in front of him with 3 swords on his one hand.

Magnum Step

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune thrusts forward with 3 swords on his hand.

Phantom Dive

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 2
• Masamune does a horizontal sweep, then leaps and slams the ground, causing an electrical shockwave that goes forward

Hell Dragon

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA
• Masamune charges an energy ball on his sword, then unleashes it forward.

Crazy Storm

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 2
• Masamune slashes multiple times with 4 swords -2 on each hands-, then ending with a cross sweep.

Magnum Strike

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• This is the upgrade of Magnum Step while Masamune is in 6-swords mode. do twice attack and knockback towards enemies in second attack.

Death Bite

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• This is the upgrade of Death Fang while Masamune is in 6-swords mode. do more damage and hits.

Crazy Stream

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• This is the upgrade of Crazy Storm while Masamune is in 6-swords mode. do wide radius, more hit and more damage.

Testament

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 3
• Concentrates all of his energy into one sword for a powerful strike and send wave forward to make them knockback if they didn't receive damage from his sword attack. With the right timing, it becomes a one hit kill. Very useful against Unique Character.

War Dance

• First Appearance: Sengoku BASARA 2
• Release all his sword at once, causing much damage on enemy groups and increase his attach speed.This attack would be canceled if: reached the time limit of use,hit by enemies, or using BASARA attack. In Sengoku Basara 3 ,it would change his skill style and has longer duration in higher level.

TriviaEdit

• In the anime Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, episode nine, Shigure offers Kenichi the helmet of Date Masamune (with it's characteristic cresent-moon horns), to protect him from "Having his brains knocked out of his mouth"
• In the anime his eyes are blue but in manga they are brown.
• Date Masamune's six sheaths (which he carries his swords in) resemble dragon wings.
• Date's horse has handlebars and exhausts that resemble a motorcycle.

GalleryEdit