The politics and art of incense (portrait strokes of Date Masamune)

Date Masamune 伊達政宗 (1567-1636), a major commander and politician of the Azuchi-Momoyama (安土・桃山時代) and the beginning of the Edo periods (江戸時代), the head of the Sendai-han (仙台藩) (Date-han (伊達藩) principality, which dominated the north of the island of Honshuu, was a patron of the arts throughout his life. The article focuses on the personality of Date Masamune, his military and political activities and at the same time touches upon a question about his deep interest in traditional Japanese culture. Having earned an excellent reputation in the fields of military and politics, he gained fame in the field of art, literature and poetry. Using his administrative resources, he supported Buddhist temples and with the help of knowledge and skills in the artistic sphere (first and foremost in the arts of tea and incense) successfully solved political problems. As a politician, his efforts to develop the Japanese art of incense 香 道 koudou was an illustration of his ability to successfully combine artistic inclinations and political ambitions. The materials included in the history of the Date clan entitled “Feasting of Incense” (饗 應 香 kyouou-kou) from the 1626 ceremony, which Date Masamune held for the shoguns and ministers of the imperial court are analyzed. Using some materials from the chronicle of clan Date (伊達治家記録 “Date jike kiroku”, 1723) and descriptions of some items from the incense series “Date’s Capital” (伊達 之 都 Date-no miyako) of the famous company “Buddhist altars of Sasho” (仏 壇 の 佐 正) in Sendai, a detailed historical and cultural commentary on the written and artistic sources is given (censers, incense stands, various kinds of incense, family crests of the feudal ruler daimyo Date Masamune, poetry, historical records). Based on the example of political and public activity of the distinguished commander and statesman of Japan at the turn of the 16-17th centuries Date Masamune, it is possible to reconstruct not only individual episodes of the military-political situation of that time, but also significant ideological principles that are characteristic of the aesthetics of the late Middle Ages. This is significant for the identification and analysis of new written, artistic and ethnographic sources that are currently featured in museums, art galleries, archives and private collections in modern-day Japan.