One-eyed samurai · Date Masamune
The One-Eyed Dragon: Date Masamune and the Eye He Is Said to Have Removed
He lost an eye to childhood illness, earned the name 'One-Eyed Dragon,' and — the story goes — once removed the ruined eye himself.
Date Masamune, a formidable warlord of Japan's north, was left blind in one eye after smallpox. His fierceness earned the title Dokuganryū — the One-Eyed Dragon.
A popular tale holds that he tore out the dead eye himself, so that no enemy could ever seize it in a grapple. He is also remembered for a magnificent crescent-moon helmet that you have almost certainly seen in pictures.
The man, the blindness, the nickname and the helmet are solid. The self-surgery is the part to enjoy with a raised eyebrow.
True, or told?
Documented: the man, his blindness, the nickname, the crescent helmet. Legend: the dramatic self-removal of the eye.
The Hiroshima thread
A contemporary of the Mori line — the same Sengoku world whose castles you can walk in Hiroshima.
These weren't far-away legends.
The warlords of these stories built their castles in Aki — today's Hiroshima. Read the full arc, from the first samurai to the last.
Read “The Real Samurai” →Where this fits
Bring a piece of this history home.
Hand-finished goshuin castle seals — printed on paper recycled from the paper cranes offered at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. One seal, one castle, one story.
Visit the 御城印 shop →