Period of Sengoku in Japan (1467-1573)

Historian consider period of Sengoku to have begun as early as 1467, with the beginning of the Onin War.

In 1467, a decade-long conflict broke out. The Onin War breaks out to determine who would succeed the ruling shogun– the military dictator who ruled Japan on behalf of the figurehead Emperor. A rival imperial court was brought back from destruction as lords fought for control of the country. The Akamatsu, Yamana and Hosokawa clans were particularly prominent, but they dragged the rest of the aristocracy into their conflict.

During this time, the Daimyos ruled hundreds of independent states throughout Japan, consisting of other Daimyos, rebellious peasants, and Buddhist warrior monks. Each independent state raised their own armies.

The period from the Onin War to 1568 was the year in which Oda Nobunaga occupied Kyoto and thereby initiated the period of military consolidation.

Beginning in Kyoto, the war brought terrible destruction to Japan’s capital city. Over the course of the war, there was seldom time for the city’s inhabitants to rebuild the charred ruins of homes destroyed in the fighting.

Sengoku period close is generally marked to be the Battle of Sekigahara in which the Western Army of Tokugawa Ieyasu overcame the Toyotomi Loyalists of the Eastern Army.

The period from Nobunaga's death to 1598, during which Hideyoshi completed the unification of the daimyo, is given the name Momoyama, from the location of Hideyoshi's castle built between Osaka and Kyoto.
Period of Sengoku in Japan (1467-1573)