He became head of his household on 13 January 1686 on the death of his father, and underwent the genpuku ceremony in December 1690, receiving the name of Date Murafusa (伊達村房).

At the time, the domain was in a state of bankruptcy, caused by Tsunamura's ambitious public works and temple building projects.

In September 1706 he took the unprecedented step of informing the shogunate that Date Domain did not have the necessary funds to make its mandatory sankin-kōtai to Edo, and asked for financial assistance.

In 1711, when Date Yoshimura ordered to accompany the Shogunal pilgrimage to Nikkō Tōshō-gū, the domain was forced to borrow an additional 73,700 ryō from moneylenders in Edo and Kyoto.

In 1732, a very severe famine struck the Kansai region of Japan, but Sendai enjoyed a bumper crop that year and was able to ship a very large quantity of rice to the affected areas, making over 500,000 ryō in profits and to wipe out decades of debt at a single stroke.