Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum Audio Guide

Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum

   Welcome to Matsushima, one of Japan's famous Three Views, and to a museum that tells a samurai's life story with figures you can almost look in the eye. The Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum, known in Japanese as みちのく伊達政宗歴史館, sits in the town of Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture, directly across from the temple hall of Godaido. This is a history museum with a very particular approach. It follows the life of Date Masamune, the first lord of the Sendai domain, using more than 200 life-size wax figures arranged in 25 scenes. Instead of reading about the one-eyed hero of Japan's warring states era, you walk through his story scene by scene. Over the next few minutes, we will look at Masamune's difficult childhood, the dramatic moment he faced the most powerful man in Japan, the gallery of great figures from the Tohoku region, and the hands-on ways visitors can step into the story themselves. Settle in, and let's begin.

2. 02

   Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum: A Boy Called Bontenmaru

   Every great story has a starting point, and Masamune's begins with hardship. As a child he was known as Bontenmaru. At the age of five he caught smallpox and lost the sight in his right eye, a loss that would later make him famous as the one-eyed hero of the north. The childhood told here is a lonely one. His mother, who came from a distinguished family and was famed for her beauty, is said to have turned away from the boy after his illness and favored his younger brother Jikumaru instead. His father, Terumune, took the opposite view. He loved Bontenmaru and wanted to raise him into someone worthy of inheriting the headship of the seventeenth generation of the Date family. To that end, Terumune brought in a celebrated monk from Mino named Kosai Soi as the boy's teacher. It is a vivid reminder that the commander the museum presents in dramatic wax scenes began as a wounded child, shaped by a father's faith and a teacher's guidance.

3. 03

   Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum: Facing Hideyoshi at Odawara

   One of the most gripping chapters of Masamune's life is his encounter with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi had summoned him more than once to join the campaign at Odawara, but bowing to another man's authority did not sit easily with Masamune's rebellious spirit. Whether to fight or submit split his domain in two. In the end, Masamune read the direction the times were taking and decided to follow Hideyoshi. Yet Hideyoshi did not welcome him at once. Masamune and his party were held back in the mountains of Hakone. When he was finally summoned to Hideyoshi's camp, he appeared dressed in white death robes, prepared to answer with his own life if it came to that. The outcome was not what you might expect. Hideyoshi had Masamune hold Hideyoshi's own sword and explained his battle plan from the mountain heights. It is the kind of high-stakes scene that a wax-figure museum was made for, with a tense meeting between two strong personalities standing frozen right in front of you.

4. 04

   Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum: Heroes of Tohoku and Hands-On Fun

   Masamune is the star, but he is not alone. The museum also shows 45 wax figures of notable people from the Tohoku region, among them the writer Dazai Osamu, the woodblock artist Munakata Shiko, the poet and author Miyazawa Kenji, and the bacteriologist Noguchi Hideyo. Together they widen the story from one warlord to the wider culture of the north. That corner has its own history. When the Great East Japan Earthquake struck on the eleventh of March in 2011, the building itself was not damaged, but muddy water flooded the inside and outside of the museum. The figures in the corner of great people of Michinoku, near the entrance, suffered severe damage. Today the museum invites you to join in. For an extra fee, you can try on a replica of Masamune's armor, known as the black lacquered five-plate body armor, or paint a traditional kokeshi doll. For a lighter option, you can put on a helmet, a battle coat and an eyepatch, then strike a pose in front of the equestrian statue. The eyepatch is yours to take home.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Michinoku Date Masamune Historical Museum

   As you wrap up your visit, notice how the museum turns a long, complicated life into a walk you can take in about 40 minutes. A boy who lost an eye, a young lord who weighed rebellion against survival, and the founder of the Sendai domain all stand in one continuous story. The museum's shop also offers classic Miyagi souvenirs and goods featuring family crests, and you are welcome to stop in even if you only want to browse. Step outside afterwards and you will find yourself right across from Godaido, with Matsushima's waterside scenery all around you. Here is something to carry with you as you explore. Matsushima and Sendai are both places where Masamune's story lingers, so look for his presence in the town as you walk. What scene from his life will stay with you the longest?