片倉景綱

Katakura Kojūrō Kagetsuna (1557–1615) was Date Masamune's most trusted counselor and strategist — known as 'the right eye of the One-Eyed Dragon,' a title that perfectly captures the relationship between the charismatic but volatile Masamune and his calm, brilliantly analytical retainer. Kagetsuna was raised alongside Masamune as the younger brother of Masamune's wet nurse, a bond of childhood intimacy that became the foundation for one of the great lord-retainer partnerships of the Sengoku era. Through the campaigns of Ōshū unification, through the delicate politics of submission to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, through the maneuvering of the Sekigahara era, Kagetsuna was always the steadying mind behind Masamune's passionate drive. As a warrior he was skilled and courageous, fighting at Hitotori Bridge and Suriagehara and many other engagements; as a strategist he is credited with several of Masamune's most important decisions. He died of illness in 1615 during the Osaka campaign, just as he was leading his forces to battle — faithful to his lord to the last moment. Masamune is said to have called him 'my right eye' in mourning. The swords Kagetsuna carried reflect his character: refined, functional, without ostentation — the weapons of a man whose greatest strength was never his arm but his mind.