Katakura Kojūrō

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Katakura Kojūrō (片倉小十郎, Katakura Kojūrō^?) was the common name of the head of the Japanese Katakura family, who served as senior retainers to the Date clan. Following the Date clan's move into Sendai han, they were granted holdings at Shiroishi Castle, which they held through the start of the Meiji Era. A chronologically arranged list of the generations of Edo-era Katakura Kojūrō (listed by their formal name) follows:^[1]

Kagetsuna (1557-1615)
Shigenaga (1585-1659)
Kagenaga (1630-1681)
Muranaga
Murayasu
Muranobu
Murasada
Murakiyo
Muratsune
Kagesada
Munekage
Kuninori
Kagenori

Kagetsuna, the first Katakura Kojūrō, was arguably the most famous, having served alongside Date Masamune. The clan came to prominence yet again in the Boshin War, when Shiroishi Castle was used as the headquarters of the Ouetsu Reppan Domei. After the war, the 12th Kojūrō, Katakura Kuninori, sold the castle and relocated to Hokkaido. The castle was then given to the Nanbu clan of Morioka, before the domain system was finally ended in the early 1870s. The current head of the family, Shigenobu (who would have been the 16th Kojūrō), is the chief priest of Aoba Shrine (青葉神社 Aoba-jinja), in Sendai.^[2]