[1] Kagetsuna was the son of Yonezawa native Katakura Kagenaga (a Shinto priest turned samurai), he was famed for his role as a senior retainer under Date Masamune.

Kagetsuna played a key role in the survival of the Date clan in 1590, by recommending that Masamune submit to Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Odawara Campaign.

[3] Later, two years after Sekigahara, when Masamune was made lord of Sendai, Kagetsuna was granted Shiroishi Castle (白石城 Shiroishi-jō), and a stipend of 13,000 koku.

The Katakura clan, as senior retainers of the Sendai domain, would remain in Shiroishi as local lords for the next two centuries, spanning over 11 generations.

As Kagetsuna was ill, he was unable to join Masamune at the Osaka Winter Campaign of 1614, choosing to send his son Shigenaga in his stead.