戦国時代Sengoku period

The Sengoku period (戦国時代, Sengoku jidai; Japanese pronunciation: lit. 'Warring States period') was the period in Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or Meiō incident (1493) are generally chosen as the period's start date, but 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 was traditionally considered the Edo period. Regardless of the dates chosen, the Sengoku period overlaps substantially with the Muromachi period (1336–1573).

This period was characterized by the decline of the Ashikaga shogunate, the de facto central government, while the feudal lords (daimyo), acquired greater political influence. The people rebelled against the feudal lords in revolts known as Ikkō-ikki (Ikkō-shū uprising).

The period saw a breakdown in the traditional master-servant relationship between a lord and his vassals, with many instances of vassals rebelling against their lords, internal dynastic conflict over lordships within noble families (in which vassals would take sides), and the installation of figurehead lords by cadet branches of noble families.

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