Sengoku period

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History of Japan

Glossary

The Sengoku period (Japanese: 戦国時代, Sengoku-jidai) or Warring States period, was a period of civil war in the history of Japan that spans from the middle 15th to the early 17th centuries. It started in the late Muromachi period in 1467 with the Onin War (1467–1478), lasting through the entire Azuchi-Momoyama period, until final peace and order was achieved in 1615 of the Edo period.

Starting with and continuing after the Onin War, the central ruling authority of the Ashikaga or Muromachi Shogunate in the capital of Kyoto was ruined, leading to a complete breakdown in social order and civil war throughout Japan. Outside of the capital, the provincial daimyo and magistrates that relied on the shogunate for their own authority and power, found themselves isolated and vulnerable to not only external, but internal forces as well.

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Gekokujō

Many of the provincial daimyo, such as Takeda Shingen and Imagawa Yoshimoto, having ruled their lands under the authority of not only the Ashikaga shogunate, but also under the preceding Kamakura shogunate, established their own independent domains. However, many others, like the Hosokawa, Shiba, and Toki found their lands taken over by their own subjects and retainers, like the Oda, late Hojo, and Saito Dosan, who had seized the opportunity to establish their own name and become new Sengoku daimyo in their own right. Also, peasants throughout Japan united with religious leaders and monks of the Buddhist True Pure Land sect to form Ikko-ikki to rebel against and resist the rule of the daimyo. In some cases they succeeded in forming their own independent domains, of which the most famous ikko ikki in Kaga province lasted independently for almost 100 years.

This phenomenon of social upheaval where the retainers and subjects came to reject traditions and values of the prior establishment and forcefully overthrow their leaders to establish their own independence became known as gekokujō (下克上). Literally, gekokujo; means "the lower overcomes/conquers the upper".

Oda Nobunaga, of the Oda clan, came very close to conquering the daimyo; but he was killed by his own retainer, Akechi Mitsuhide. The Oda clan was taken over by Nobunaga's most trusted general, the ashigaru leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi eventually conquered all of Japan and received the title of kampaku. During his reign Japan twice waged war against China and Korea. But after Hideyoshi's death in 1598, Japan was again divided, and then ultimately united under the banner of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became shogun in 1603.

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Famous Sengoku Daimyo

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Sengoku period in modern culture

  • Kagemusha, the powerful film by Akira Kurosawa, takes place during this era.
  • Onibaba, a film by Kaneto Shindo, is also set in this period.
  • The video game mod Sengoku is a FPS with feudal Japan theme and samurai for Battlefield 1942.
  • The video game Nobunaga's Ambition is a strategy game set in the Sengoku period.
  • The video game Shogun: Total War is a real time strategy game set in Japan during Sengoku period.
  • The anime and manga series InuYasha is set in the Sengoku period.
  • The Soul Calibur series of video games are set in the period of transition between the Sengoku and Edo periods.
  • The video game Samurai Warriors by Koei takes place in this era. The Japanese title for this game is Sengoku Musou, and features many historic individuals and battles from the Sengoku period.
  • The video game series Onimusha by Capcom takes place in this era, especially Onimusha 3.
  • The anime and manga series Samurai Deeper Kyo takes place just after the unification of Japan under the Tokugawa Shogunate however some plot events take place during this time period and many characters participated in the Warring States era.
  • The video game Sengoku Basara (Japan only; the game was released as Devil Kings in the United States and all Sengoku references removed) by Capcom, takes place during the Sengoku Period.
  • Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai takes place during (and after) this era.
  • Several NHK historical dramas, such as Dokuganryu Masamune, Kasuga no Tsubone, Takeda Shingen, Oda Nobunaga: King of Zipangu, Hideyoshi, and Toshiie to Matsu takes place during this era. Another drama, Hojo Tokimune takes place some 400 years before this era, which is in turn about the Hojo clan.
  • The Conquests expansion for Civilization III features a Sengoku scenario.
  • The popular role-playing game Sengoku by Anthony Bryant and Mark Arsenault is set in 16th Century Japan.
  • Two Science fiction movies on the Sengoku era were made. Sengoku jietai, made in 1979, and Sengoku jietai 1549 was set in the Sengoku period when soldiers of the JGSDF were transported through a time portal.
  • The Sengoku Denshou series from the Arcades (later ported to Neo-Geo and the Super Nintendo) had themes of the Sengoku era, which included Nobunaga as an evil warlord trying to conquer the modern world and commands his minions from a Japanese castle.
  • The board game Shogun (board game)
  • The video game Kessen III takes place in the Sengoku era, following the story of Oda Nobunaga.
  • Komyo ga Tsuji a novel and a TV drama of the same name takes place in the Sengoku Era.
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External links

  • SengokuDaimyo.com The website of Samurai Author and Historian Anthony J. Bryant
    • Anthony J. Bryant is the author of Sekigahara 1600: The Final Struggle for Power, Praeger Publishers;(September, 2005)
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