Sengoku Jidai

The 100 years from the end of the 15th to the end of the 16th century is known in Japan as the Sengoku Jidai. sengoku Jidai is one of th most effective and known eras in japan and society today involving warring states, sacrifices, war, authority and significant people. The Sengoku era was important in Japanese history as a transition period from a decentralized estate and feudal system to a centralized feudal state. It was also an era of cultural brilliance and economic growth. The nature of war changed during this period. Individual combat between heavily mounted aristocrats was replaced by large armies of foot soldiers armed with pikes, and, after the appearance of Portuguese in 1543, with muskets. -The widespread use of muskets and cannons revolutionized warfare and resulted in the building of formidable castles. Extended warfare obliterated aristocratic families and allowed talented lower-class men to challenge their superiors, the most remarkable example being Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Born a peasant, he rose to consolidate Japan through ambition and treachery. General lawlessness also led to the development of armed and powerful religious factions, the most powerful being the True Pure land Buddhists, who controlled a province on the Sea of Japan and strongholds in the Kyoto-Osaka region. The war destroyed the remaining Government of the Shogunate, ended the system on which it was built, and led to a century of endemic warfare called the Sengoku Jidai. The wars continued because no single family or leader emerged to consolidate the country. The needs of war led the successful contenders to consolidate their holdings and form alliances by pledging allegiance to more powerful lords in a pattern similar to feudalism in Europe during the Middle Ages. The territorial lords were known as daimyo. The Sengoku era was also culturally brilliant and economically vibrant. The imperial court, also in Kyoto, was both powerless and poverty stricken. The shoguns continued to use their great wealth to patronize the arts, building magnificent palaces and temples in Kyoto and sponsoring dramatic presentations. Poetry and painting flourished, influenced by Zen Buddhism, as did landscaping and the tea ceremony, all influenced by the aesthetics of Song (Sung) dynasty China. Similarly, many daimyo also patronized the arts. The economy grew, despite as well as stimulated by the wars. 

Agricultural advances produced surpluses that generated trade, mainly with China and Korea. Widespread piracy led the Ming government of China to negotiate a system of officially sanctioned and regulated trade with the shoguns, which was unsuccessful because the bakufu lacked the power of enforcement.