Sengoku period

"Sengoku" and "Sengoku era" redirect here. For other uses, see Sengoku (disambiguation).

Periods

Paleolithic	before 14,000 BC
Jōmon	14,000 – 300 BC
Yayoi	300 BC – 250 AD
Kofun	250 – 538
Asuka	538 – 710
Nara	710 – 794
Heian	794 – 1185

Kamakura	1185 – 1333
Kenmu Restoration	1333 – 1336
Muromachi (Ashikaga) Nanboku-chō Sengoku	1336 – 1573
Azuchi–Momoyama Nanban trade	1568 – 1603
Edo (Tokugawa) Bakumatsu	1603 – 1868
Meiji Restoration	1868 – 1912
Taishō World War I	1912 – 1926
Shōwa Financial crisis Militarism Pacific War Occupation Post-occupation	1926 – 1989
Heisei Lost Decade	1989 – present

Topics

The Sengoku period (戦国時代, Sengoku jidai, c. 1467 – c. 1603) is a period in Japanese history marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict Japanese historians named after the otherwise unrelated Warring States period in China.^[1] It came to an end when all political power was unified under the Tokugawa shogunate.^[2]^[3]

During this period, although the Emperor of Japan was officially the ruler of his nation and every lord swore loyalty to him, he was largely a marginalised, ceremonial, and religious figure who delegated power to the Shogun, a noble who was roughly equivalent to a Generalissimo. In the years preceding this era the Shogunate gradually lost influence and control over the daimyo (local lords). Although the Ashikaga shogunate had retained the structure of the Kamakura shogunate and instituted a warrior government based on the same social economic rights and obligations established by the Hōjō with the Jōei Code in 1232, it failed to win the loyalty of many daimyo, especially those whose domains were far from the capital, Heian-kyō. Many of these Lords began to fight uncontrollably with each other for control over land and influence over the shogunate. As trade with China grew, the economy developed, and the use of money became widespread as markets and commercial cities appeared. This, combined with developments in agriculture and small-scale trading, led to the desire for greater local autonomy throughout all levels of the social hierarchy. As early as the beginning of the 15th century, the suffering caused by earthquakes and famines often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt and taxes.

The Ōnin War (1467–1477), a conflict rooted in economic distress and brought on by a dispute over shogunal succession, is generally regarded as the onset of the Sengoku period. The "eastern" army of the Hosokawa family and its allies clashed with the "western" army of the Yamana. Fighting in and around Kyoto lasted for nearly 11 years, leaving the city almost completely destroyed. The conflict in Kyoto then spread to outlying provinces.^[2]^[4]

The period culminated with a series of three warlords, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who gradually unified Japan. After Tokugawa Ieyasu's final victory at the siege of Osaka in 1615, Japan settled down into several centuries of peace under the Tokugawa Shogunate, and entered into an era called "Sakoku".

The time span of Sengoku period

Usually, the Ōnin War in 1467 was considered as the starting point of Sengoku period. There are several different events which could be considered the end of it: The Siege of Odawara (1590), the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1603), or the Siege of Osaka (1615).

Time	Event
1467	Beginning of Ōnin War
1477	End of Ōnin War
1488	The Kaga Rebellion
1493	Hosokawa Masamoto succeeded in the Coup of Meio
1493	Hōjō Sōun seizes Izu Province
1507	Beginning of Ryo Hosokawa War (the succession dispute in the Hosokawa family)
1520	Hosokawa Takakuni defeated Hosokawa Sumimoto
1531	Hosokawa Harumoto defeated Hosokawa Takakuni
1549	Miyoshi Nagayoshi betrays Hosokawa Harumoto
1554	The Tripartite Pact between Takeda, Hōjō and Imagawa was signed
1560	Miracle of Okehazama
1568	Oda Nobunaga's march toward Kyoto
1570	Beginning of Ishiyama Hongan-ji War
1573	The end of Ashikaga shogunate
1580	End of Ishiyama Hongan-ji War
1582	Akechi Mitsuhide betrays Oda Nobunaga (Honnō-ji incident)
1590	Siege of Odawara
1592	First invasion of Korea
1597	Second invasion of Korea
1600	Battle of Sekigahara
1603	The establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate
1615	Siege of Osaka

Gekokujō

Japan in 1570

The upheaval resulted in the further weakening of central authority, and throughout Japan regional lords, or daimyo, rose to fill the vacuum. In the course of this power shift, well-established clans such as the Takeda and the Imagawa, who had ruled under the authority of both the Kamakura and Muromachi bakufu, were able to expand their spheres of influence. There were many, however, whose positions eroded and were eventually usurped by more capable underlings. This phenomenon of social meritocracy, in which capable subordinates rejected the status quo and forcefully overthrew an emancipated aristocracy, became known as gekokujō (下克上), which literally means "low conquers high."^[2]

One of the earliest instances of this phenomenon was Hōjō Sōun, who rose from relatively humble origins and eventually seized power in Izu province in 1493. Building on the accomplishments of Sōun, the Late Hōjō clan remained a major power in the Kantō region until its subjugation by Toyotomi Hideyoshi late in the Sengoku period. Other notable examples include the supplanting of the Hosokawa clan by the Miyoshi, the Toki by the Saito, the Shiba clan by the Oda clan, which was in turn replaced by its underling, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a son of a peasant with no family name.

Well-organized religious groups also gained political power at this time by uniting farmers in resistance and rebellion against the rule of the daimyo. The monks of the Buddhist True Pure Land sect formed numerous Ikkō-ikki, the most successful of which, in Kaga Province, remained independent for nearly 100 years.

Unification

Main article: Azuchi–Momoyama period

After nearly a century and a half of political instability and warfare, Japan was on the verge of unification by Oda Nobunaga, who had emerged from obscurity in the province of Owari (present-day Aichi Prefecture) to dominate central Japan, when in 1582 Oda himself fell victim to the treachery of one of his own generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. This in turn provided Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had risen through the ranks from ashigaru (footsoldier) to become one of Oda's most trusted generals, with the opportunity to establish himself as Oda's successor. Toyotomi eventually consolidated his control over the remaining daimyo and, although he was ineligible for the title of Seii Taishogun because of his common birth, ruled as Kampaku (Imperial Regent). During his short reign as Kampaku, Toyotomi attempted two invasions of Korea. The first spanning from 1592–96 was initially successful but suffered setbacks to end in stalemate; the second begun in 1597 was less successful (as the Koreans and their Ming Chinese allies were prepared for the Japanese the second time around) and ended with Toyotomi's call for retreat from Korea on his deathbed in 1598.

When, in 1598, Toyotomi died without leaving a capable successor, the country was once again thrust into political turmoil, and this time it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who took advantage of the opportunity.^[3]

Toyotomi had on his deathbed appointed a group of the most powerful lords in Japan — Tokugawa, Maeda Toshiie, Ukita Hideie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Mōri Terumoto — to govern as the Council of Five Regents until his infant son, Hideyori, came of age. An uneasy peace lasted until the death of Maeda in 1599. Thereafter a number of high ranking figures, notably Ishida Mitsunari, accused Tokugawa of disloyalty to the Toyotomi regime.

This precipitated a crisis that led to the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, during which Tokugawa and his allies, who controlled the east of the country, defeated the anti-Tokugawa forces, which had control of the west. Generally regarded as the last major conflict of the Sengoku period, Tokugawa's victory at Sekigahara effectively marked the end of the Toyotomi regime, the last remnants of which were finally destroyed in the Siege of Osaka in 1615.

Tokugawa Ieyasu received the title Seii Taishogun in 1603, and abdicated in favour of his son Tokugawa Hidetada in 1605 (while retaining real control himself), to emphasize the family's hereditary hold on the post; he thereby established Japan's final shogunate, which lasted until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Notable people

Japan in the late 16th century

Gun workman, Sakai, Osaka

Ōzutsu (Big Gun)

Daimyo

The contrasting personalities of the three leaders who contributed the most to Japan's final unification—Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa—are encapsulated in a series of three well known senryū:

Nakanu nara, koroshite shimae, hototogisu (If the cuckoo does not sing, kill it.)
Nakanu nara, nakasete miyou, hototogisu (If the cuckoo does not sing, coax it.)
Nakanu nara, naku made matou, hototogisu (If the cuckoo does not sing, wait for it.)

Oda, known for his ruthlessness, is the subject of the first; Toyotomi, known for his resourcefulness, is the subject of the second; and Tokugawa, known for his perseverance, is the subject of the third verse.

Other notable daimyo include:

Notes

↑ Sansom, George B. 2005. A History of Japan: 1334-1615. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Publishing.
1 2 3 "Sengoku period". Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. OCLC 56431036. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
1 2 "誕". Kokushi Daijiten (in Japanese). Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. OCLC 683276033. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
↑ "Ōnin War". Encyclopedia of Japan. Tokyo: Shogakukan. 2012. OCLC 56431036. Retrieved 2012-08-15.

References

Hane, Mikiso (1992). Modern Japan: A Historical Survey. Westview Press.
Hall, John Whitney (May 1961). "Foundations of The Modern Japanese Daimyo". The Journal of Asian Studies (Association for Asian Studies) 20 (3): 317–329. doi:10.2307/2050818.
Jansen, Marius B. (2000). The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674003349/ISBN 9780674003347. OCLC 44090600.
Lorimer, Michael James (2008). Sengokujidai: Autonomy, Division and Unity in Later Medieval Japan. London: Olympia Publishers. ISBN 1-905513-45-3.

External links

Samurai Archives Japanese History page
(Japanese) Sengoku Expo: Japanese Design, Culture in the Age of Civil Wars held in Gifu Prefecture, 2000-2001
(Japanese) List of the Sengoku Daimyos

Preceded by Muromachi period	History of Japan Sengoku period 1467–1573	Succeeded by Edo period 1603–1868

Prominent people of the Sengoku period

Three major daimyo	Oda Nobunaga Toyotomi Hideyoshi Tokugawa Ieyasu

Shogun	Ashikaga Yoshiharu Ashikaga Yoshiteru Ashikaga Yoshihide Ashikaga Yoshiaki Tokugawa Hidetada

Emperors	Go-Kashiwabara Go-Nara Ōgimachi Go-Yōzei

Other daimyo	Akechi Mitsuhide Amago Haruhisa Amago Yoshihisa Andō Chikasue Araki Murashige Asakura Norikage Asakura Yoshikage Asano Nagamasa Asano Yoshinaga Ashina Moritaka Azai Nagamasa Bessho Nagaharu Chōsokabe Morichika Chōsokabe Motochika Date Masamune Date Terumune Fukushima Masanori Furuta Shigekatsu Gamō Ujisato Hachisuka Koroku Hatano Hideharu Hattori Kazutada Hōjō Sōun Hōjō Ujiyasu Hōjō Ujimasa Hōjō Ujinao Hōjō Ujitsuna Honda Masanobu Honda Tadakatsu Honda Tadamasa Honda Tadatomo Hori Hidemasa Hoshina Masanao Hosokawa Fujitaka Hosokawa Tadaoki Ii Naomasa Ii Naotora Ikeda Terumasa Ikeda Tsuneoki Imagawa Ujizane Imagawa Yoshimoto Ishida Masatsugu Ishida Mitsunari Katagiri Katsumoto Katakura Kojūrō Katō Kiyomasa Katō Yoshiaki Kikkawa Hiroie Kikkawa Motoharu Kinoshita Iesada Kobayakawa Hideaki Kobayakawa Takakage Konishi Yukinaga Kōriki Kiyonaga Kuroda Kanbei Kuroda Nagamasa Kyōgoku Takatomo Kyōgoku Takatsugu Maeda Gen'i Maeda Toshiie Maeda Toshinaga Mashita Nagamori Matsudaira Hirotada Matsudaira Ietada Matsudaira Kiyoyasu Matsunaga Hisahide Miyoshi Nagayoshi Mogami Yoshiaki Mōri Hidemoto Mōri Motonari Mōri Okimoto Mōri Takamoto Mōri Terumoto Nabeshima Naoshige Nakagawa Hidenari Nakagawa Kiyohide Nanbu Nobunao Natsuka Masaie Niwa Nagahide Oda Nagamasu Oda Nobuhide Oda Nobukatsu Oda Nobutaka Oda Ujiharu Okudaira Nobumasa Ōmura Sumitada Ōtani Yoshitsugu Ōtomo Sōrin Ōuchi Yoshitaka Rokkaku Yoshikata Ryūzōji Takanobu Saitō Dōsan Saitō Tatsuoki Saitō Yoshitatsu Sakakibara Yasumasa Sakai Tadatsugu Sanada Masayuki Sanada Yukitaka Sassa Narimasa Satake Yoshinobu Satake Yoshishige Shibata Katsuie Shimazu Takahisa Shimazu Tadayoshi Shimazu Yoshihisa Shimazu Yoshihiro Tachibana Dōsetsu Takahashi Shōun Takayama Ukon Takeda Katsuyori Takeda Nobutora Takeda Nobuyoshi Takeda Shingen Takigawa Kazumasu Tōdō Takatora Toki Yorinari Torii Mototada Toyotomi Hidetsugu Tsugaru Tamenobu Tsutsui Junkei Uesugi Kenshin Uesugi Kagekatsu Uesugi Norimasa Ukita Hideie Ukita Naoie Yamauchi Kazutoyo Yūki Hideyasu

Other samurai	Akai Naomasa Akao Kiyotsuna Akashi Takenori Akechi Hidemitsu Akechi Mitsuharu Akechi Mitsutada Akechi Mitsutsuna Akechi Mitsuyoshi Akiyama Nobutomo Amakasu Kagemochi Anayama Nobukimi Anayama Nobutomo Andō Morinari Asakura Kageaki Azai Hisamasa Azai Sukemasa Baba Nobuharu Ban Naoyuki Chaya Shirōjirō Chōsokabe Nobuchika Date Shigezane Endo Naotsune Gotō Matabei Hara Masatane Hashiba Hidekatsu Hattori Masanari Hayashi Narinaga Honda Narishige Honda Shigetsugu Honjō Shigenaga Hōjō Tsunashige Hōjō Ujikuni Hōjō Ujinori Hōjō Ujiteru Hoshina Masatoshi Ichinomiya Munekore Ii Naochika Ii Naomori Ikeda Motosuke Imafuku Masakazu Inaba Yoshimichi Iriki-In Shigetomo Ishikawa Kazumasa Iio Noritsura Iio Tsuratatsu Isono Kazumasa Iwanari Tomomichi Kakizaki Kageie Kani Saizō Karasawa Genba Katakura Shigenaga Katsurayama Ujimoto Kimura Shigenari Kobayakawa Hidekane Kojima Yatarō Kōsaka Masanobu Kuki Yoshitaka Kuki Moritaka Kumabe Chikanaga Maeda Nagatane Maeda Keiji Maeda Toshimasa Makara Naotaka Matsuda Masachika Matsudaira Nobuyasu Mori Nagayoshi Mori Ranmaru Mori Yoshinari Mōri Katsunaga Mōri Motokiyo Mōri Yoshikatsu Murai Nagayori Murakami Yoshikiyo Nagano Narimasa Nagao Fujikage Nagao Masakage Nagao Tamekage Naitō Masatoyo Nakagawa Hidemasa Naoe Kagetsuna Naoe Kanetsugu Natsume Yoshinobu Niiro Tadamoto Nomi Munekatsu Obata Masamori Obata Toramori Obu Toramasa Oda Hidenobu Oda Hidetaka Oda Katsunaga Oda Nobuharu Oda Nobuhiro Oda Nobukane Oda Nobutada Oda Nobutoki Oda Nobuyuki Oniniwa Tsunamoto Oyamada Nobushige Saji Kazunari Saitō Toshimitsu Sakai Masahisa Sakuma Morimasa Sakuma Nobumori Sanada Nobutsuna Sanada Nobuyuki Sanada Yukimura Shibata Naganori Shima Sakon Shimazu Iehisa Shimazu Toshihisa Shimazu Toyohisa Sogō Kazumasa Sue Harukata Tachibana Muneshige Takeda Nobukado Takeda Nobushige Takenaka Hanbei Takenaka Shigekado Torii Suneemon Toyotomi Hidenaga Toyotomi Hideyori Tsutsui Sadatsugu Uesugi Kagetora Uesugi Tomosada Ujiie Naotomo Ujiie Yukihiro Usami Sadamitsu Yamagata Masakage Yamamoto Kansuke Yamanaka Shikanosuke Yasuke

Swordsmen	Hikita Bungoro Kamiizumi Nobutsuna Miyamoto Musashi Sasaki Kojirō Tadashima Akiyama Tsukahara Bokuden Tsutsumi Hōzan Yagyū Munenori Yagyū Munetoshi

Ninja, rogues and mercenaries	Fūma Kotarō Hattori Hanzō Ishikawa Goemon Katō Danzō Kirigakure Shikaemon Kōzuki Sasuke Mochizuki Chiyome Ogurusu Nakamura Ohama Kagetaka Saika Magoichi Suzuki Sadayu Suzuki Shigehide Suzuki Shigetomo Suzuki Magoroku Igasaki Dōshun

Monks and other religious figures	Ankokuji Ekei Honganji Kennyo Honinbo Sansa Ishin Sūden Jion Nankōbō Tenkai Rennyo Sessai Choro Shimozuma Chuko Shimozuma Rairen Shimozuma Rairyū Takuan Sōhō

Onna-bugeisha	Ikeda Sen Kaihime Komatsuhime Maeda Matsu Ōhōri Tsuruhime Tachibana Ginchiyo

Other women	Asahihime Chacha Dota Gozen Gotokuhime Hosokawa Gracia Izumo no Okuni Kitsuno Kyōgoku Maria Kyōgoku Tatsuko Nene Nōhime Oeyo Oichi Ohatsu Okaji no Kata Lady Kasuga Lady Saigō Lady Tsukiyama Senhime Sentōin Tokuhime

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 16, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.