Katta

Katta district contained Shiroishi, a castle town on the southern approaches to the Date lands. A record of 1545 names Shiroishi Castle in Katta district, then associated with the local Shiroishi family. Toyotomi Hideyoshi transferred the region from Date control to Gamo Ujisato in 1591. It passed to Uesugi Kagekatsu in 1598, before Date Masamune captured the castle in 1600.

In 1602 Masamune granted Shiroishi to his retainer Katakura Kagetsuna. The Katakura family made it their hereditary seat, and the surrounding town developed beneath the castle. Sendai domain retained both Sendai Castle and Shiroishi after the shogunate's castle restrictions of 1615. The fortress continued to need repair: fire destroyed much of its principal enclosure, including the great turret, in 1819, and the turret was rebuilt in 1823. Katta's early modern history was thus closely connected with a major Date retainer's castle and the settlement surrounding it.