to throw herself in the river rather than go with him. Furious, Tsunamura pulled her from the river by her hair and stabbed her in the heart. His uncle and the other conspirators seized this opportunity to denounce him to the officials of wanton behavior and force his retirement. This story was the basis of many bunraku and kabuki plays, and attracted an extraordinary number of researchers over the years who have tried to determine if there was any truth in the story. It appears that Tsunamura did visit Yoshiwara and was enamoured by the prostitute named Takao, but she died in 1659 of illness and not by his hand. While Tsunamune remained under house arrest, the domain suffered greatly under the corrupt rule of Date Munekatsu and Tamura Muneyoshi. After ten years of violence and conflict, Aki Muneshige, a relative from a cadet branch of the Date clan and retainer of Tsunamune managed to register a complaint to the shogunate officials about the mismanagement of the domain. Aki and various domain officials were summoned before the council of rōjū and the Tairō Sakai Tadakiyo to testify. Testimony between Aki and the retainers of Munekatsu and Muneyoshi did not agree, and the testimony of Munekatsu's retainer Harada Munesuke made a particularly poor impression. Harada then murdered Aki before further testimony could be given, before being killed himself by the guards. The court ruled in favor of Aki. The young Date Tsunamura was allowed to remain daimyō; however, his uncles Date Munekatsu and Tamura Muneyoshi were removed from office. As for Tsunamune, he lived the next 50 years in loose house arrest at the clan residence in the Ōi area of Edo, devoting his time to the arts, studying painting under Kanō Tan'yū, calligraphy, waka poetry, Maki-e lacquerware and even learning to forge Japanese swords. A number of his works are on display at The Miyagi Museum of Art. He died in Edo in 1711, but his grave was at the Date clan mausoleum of Zuihōden in Sendai. His mortuary temple was destroyed in 1945 during the Bombing of Sendai during World War II, and reconstructed in 1981. His body was so well preserved that an autopsy could be performed, revealing that he had a height of 158 cm and blood type A+, and had died of oral cancer. Family Father: Date Tadamune Mother: Kii-hime (1624–1642) Concubine: Misawa Hatsuko (1640–1686) 1st