Count Date Munemoto (伊達宗基, 24 August 1866 – 27 January 1917) was a Bakumatsu period Japanese samurai, and the 14th and final daimyō of Sendai Domain in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan, and the 30th hereditary chieftain of the Date clan.

Date Munemoto
伊達宗基
Portrait of Date Munemoto
14th Daimyō of Sendai Domain
In office
1868–1869
MonarchShōgun
Preceded byDate Yoshikuni
Succeeded by-none-
Imperial Governor of Sendai Domain
In office
1869–1870
MonarchEmperor Meiji
Preceded byDate Muneatsu
Succeeded by-none-
Personal details
Born(1866-08-24)August 24, 1866
Sendai, Japan
DiedJanuary 27, 1917(1917-01-27) (aged 50)
Tokyo, Japan
Spouse(s)Matsura Miyako, daughter of Matsura Akira
Parent

Biography

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Munemoto second son of Date Yoshikuni. His childhood name was Kamesaburō (亀三郎). In 1868, following the defeat of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei in the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, Yoshikuni resigned his offices and went into voluntary retirement and seclusion in Tokyo. The new Meiji government permitted the two-year-old Munemoto to become daimyō of Sendai Domain, but penalized the domain severely for its participation in the rebellion by reducing its kokudaka from 620,000 to 280,000 koku. The actual kokudaka of the reduced Sendai Domain was actually even less, and has been estimated at only 100,000 koku.

In 1869, the office of daimyō was abolished by the new government, and Munemoto was made appointive imperial governor of Sendai. In 1870, he yielded this position to his adoptive brother Date Muneatsu, but retained the post of clan leader.

He was married to the daughter of Matsura Akira, daimyō of Hirado Domain, by whom he had one daughter.

In 1884, Munemoto was created count (hakushaku) in the new Japanese kazoku peerage system. He was advanced to Third Court Rank in 1911 and Second Court Rank in 1917. On his death in 1917, the post of clan chieftain went to his younger brother Date Kunimune.

Family

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  • Father: Date Yoshikuni
  • Mother: Matsuoka Michiko (Okatsu-no-kata)
  • Wife: Matsura Kuniko, 3rd daughter of Matsura Akira, daimyō of Hirado Domain

References

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  • Papinot, Edmond. (1948). Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. New York: Overbeck Co.
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