Sengoku period

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The Sengoku period (Japanese: 戦国時代, Hepburn: Sengoku Jidai, lit. 'Warring States period') is the period in Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. Although the Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467) or Meiō incident (1493) is generally chosen as the Sengoku period's start date, there are many competing historiographies for its end date, ranging from 1568, the date of Oda Nobunaga's march on Kyoto, to the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, deep into what is traditionally considered the Edo period.^[1][2] Regardless of the dates chosen, the Sengoku period overlaps substantially with the Muromachi period (1336–1573).

This period was characterized by the overthrow of a superior power by a subordinate one. The Ashikaga shogunate, the de facto central government, declined and the sengoku daimyo (戦国大名, feudal lord of sengoku period), a local power, rose to power. The people rebelled against the feudal lords in revolts known as Ikkō-ikki (一向一揆, Ikkō-shū uprising).^[2]

During this period, the traditional master-servant relationship between the lord and his vassals broke down, with the vassals eliminating the lord, internal clan and vassal conflicts over leadership of the lord's family, and frequent rebellion and puppetry by branch families against the lord's family.^[3] These events sometimes led to the rise of samurai to the rank of sengoku daimyo. For example, Hōjō Sōun was the first samurai to rise to the rank of sengoku daimyo during this period. Uesugi Kenshin was examples of Shugodai (守護代, deputy Shugo) who became sengoku daimyo by weakening and eliminating the power of their lords.^[4][5]

This period was marked by the loosening of samurai culture, with people born into other social strata sometimes making a name for themselves as warriors and thus becoming samurai. One such example is Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a well-known figure who rose from a peasant background to become a samurai, sengoku daimyo, and kampaku (Imperial Regent).^[6]

Modern Japan recognizes Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu as the three "Great Unifiers"（Japanese：三英傑／さんえいけつ） for their restoration of central government in the country.^[7]