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| davedim |
 Posted: Dec 25, 2006 10:25 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 934
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Well, I thought that Tatsuka's thread on the Heian period was a good idea, so I thought that I would create a thread on the Sengoku period. Like I said before, it's my niche. Feel free to ask any questions you have.
Sengoku Jidai (戦国時代, The Warring States Period) was a time of social upheaval and nearly constant military conflict in Japan that lasted roughly from the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century.
Although the Ashikaga shogunate had retained the structure of the Kamakura bakufu and instituted a warrior government based on the same social economic rights and obligations established by the Hōjō with the Jōei Code in 1232, it failed to win the loyalty of many daimyo, especially those whose domains were far from Kyoto. As trade with China grew, the economy developed, and the use of money became widespread as markets and commercial cities appeared. This, combined with developments in agriculture and small-scale manufacturing, led to the desire for greater local autonomy throughout all levels of the social hierarchy. As early as the beginning of the 15th century, suffering and misery caused by natural disasters such as earthquake and famine often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt and taxes.
The Onin War (1467–1477), a conflict rooted in economic distress and brought on by a dispute of shogunal succession, is generally regarded as the onset of the sengoku-jidai. The "eastern" army of the Hosokawa family and its allies clashed with the "western" army of the Yamana, and fighting in and around Kyoto lasted for nearly 11 years, after which it spread to outlying provinces.
Not surprisingly, this upheaval resulted in the further weakening of central authority, and throughout Japan, regional lords, or daimyo, rose to fill the vacuum. In the course of this power shift, well established clans such as the Takeda and the Imagawa, who had ruled under the authority of both the Kamakura and Muromachi bakufu, were able to expand their sphere of influence. There were many, however, whose positions eroded and were eventually usurped by more capable underlings. This phenomenon of social meritocracy, in which capable subordinates rejected the status quo and forcefully overthrew an emaciated aristocracy, became known as gekokujō (下克上), which literally means "the underling conquers the overlord." One of the earliest instances of this phenomenon was Hōjō Sōun, who rose from relatively humble origins and eventually seized power in Izu province in 1493. Building on the accomplisments of Sōun, the Hōjō clan remained a major power in the Kantō region until its subjugation by Toyotomi Hideyoshi late in the Sengoku period. Other notable examples include the supplanting of the Hosokawa by the Miyoshi, the Shiba by the Oda, and the Toki by the Saito.
Well organized religious groups also gained political power at this time by uniting farmers in resistance and rebellion against the rule of the daimyo. The monks of the Buddhist True Pure Land sect formed numerous Ikkō-ikki, the most successful of which, in Kaga Province remained independent for nearly 100 years.
After nearly a century and a half of political instability and warfare, Japan was on the verge of unification by Oda Nobunaga, who had emerged from obscurity in the province of Owari (present-day Aichi Prefecture) to dominate the region surrounding Kyoto, when in 1582 Oda himself fell victim to the treachery of one of his own disaffected generals, Akechi Mitsuhide. This in turn provided Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had risen through the ranks from footsoldier to become one of Oda's most trusted generals, with the opportunity to establish himself as Oda's successor. Hideyoshi eventually consolidated his control over the remaining daimyo, and although he was ineligible for the title of Seii Taishogun because of his common birth, ruled as Kampaku.
When, in 1598, Hideyoshi died without leaving a capable successor, the country was once again thrust into political turmoil, and this time it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who took advantage of the opportunity.
Hideyoshi had on his deathbed appointed a group of the most powerful lords in Japan—Tokugawa, Maeda, Ukita, Uesugi, Mōri—to govern as the Council of Five Regents until his infant son, Hideyori, came of age. An uneasy peace lasted until the death of Maeda Toshiie in 1599. Thereafter, Ishida Mitsunari accused Ieyasu of disloyalty to the Toyotomi name, precipitating a crisis that led to the Battle of Sekigahara. Generally regarded as the last major conflict of the sengoku-jidai, Ieyasu's victory at Sekigahara marked the end of the Toyotomi reign. Three years later, Ieyasu received the title Seii Taishogun, and established Japan's final shogunate, which lasted until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
NEXT POST: The the three leaders who contributed most to Japan's final unification :
Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu |
Last edited by davedim on Dec 27, 2006 10:09 am; edited 1 time in total |
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| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 25, 2006 10:40 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
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Ooo very good, i know alot about sengoku too, though i know mostly about the Ashikaga.
My niche is heian. |
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| +Fumi |
| Posted: Dec 26, 2006 1:19 am |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 12 Nov 2006
Posts: 339
Location: southern California
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I am very much surprised that two very young people know so much about Japan history, especially you are not Japanese! How did you learn this? Why did you learn this? Are you study this in high school? Anyway, when you are discussing Sengoku period you must explain that Toyotomi was very much connection to my home town Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, or I will do, if you wish!
P.S. You should know that you are very compatible according to tradition of Chinese astrology, because davedim is Dragon Year and Ito is Monkey Year, you are exactly very much proper for each other... |
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| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 26, 2006 1:44 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
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Except he in scotland and im in the suburbs of greater vancouver. *sigh*
After the eastern provinces, alberta and manitoba, Suburbians are reagraded as the next in the "line of hicks"
No we are not taught in highschool. All high school here stresses "canadian history" and "greco-roman history" , HMPH! i know about 73 greeks gods while the teacher knows 3!!!!! Why must i learn from idiots!!!!!
At the moment, im trying to bring my self up to day on 奈良時代 And 大和時代 |
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| davedim |
| Posted: Dec 27, 2006 10:06 am |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 934
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Oda Nobunaga - "One Realm Under One Sword"
The Decline of the Ashikaga Shogunate
At the end of the 15th century, the Ashikaga shogunate had lost control over the country. Powerful feudal lords had ravaged Japan for decades. It was a period without law and order. Marauding warriors terrorized the farmers who began to arm themselves in self-defense.
The Rise of "The Demon King"
Oda Nobunaga was born into the family of the daimyo of Owari. He began his rise to power by establishing his rule over his own family. He defeated his younger brother twice - the second time ultimately by forcing him to commit suicide. Then he slowly increased his sphere of influence over neighboring provinces - supported by an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu, the daimyo of Mikawa province, and by the use of sheer brutality. In 1568, Oda Nobunaga marched into Kyoto and violently drove the last Ashikaga Shogun out of town.
Gaijin and Firearms
Oda Nobunaga is one of the better known Japanese leaders in the West because of his close ties with Christian missionaries. Around 1543 the Portuguese Mendez Pinto came to Japan as the first European and with him the Jesuit missionaries. Nobunaga who had a dislike towards Buddhism, welcomed the Christian missionaries. Impressed by the firearms of the Westerners, he embraced the European technology and swiftly implemented it for his own advantage.
The Slaughter at Mt. Hiei
During the civil wars the Buddhist monks had become an influential and powerful force in the country. The monks sympathized with the common people in the countryside and they restrained themselves by no way to prayers. In those times the Buddhist monks were feared warriors. From the monastery of Mount Hiei near Kyoto the warrior-monks were a permanent menace to Nobunaga who had established his residence in the old capital.
In 1571 Nobunaga besieged the monastery of the Buddhist Tendai sect on top of Mount Hiei and set the woods around the cloister on fire. Those who tried to escape were slaughtered without any mercy - including women and children. The temple was razed and approximately 30000 monks, nuns and children were massacred by Nobunaga's ruthless troops.
Death of the Tyrant
Nobunaga had two capable military leaders, Akechi Mitsuhide and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1582 Akechi Mitsuhide turned himself against Nobunaga and overwhelmed him. Nobunaga was forced to commit suicide.
Now an important time for Hideyoshi had come. When he heard about the assassination, he immediately established an armistice with the Mori family. Thus he could return with his army to Kyoto. He attacked the troops of Akechi Mitsuhide and defeated him in the battle of Yamazaki. Mitsuhide tried to flee but was killed by a peasant.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the new strong man in Japan. His career was more than unusual for the period. He had risen from a humble family and a nameless foot-soldier in Nobunaga's army to the most powerful leader in Japan. Hideyoshi continued the process of unifying Japan. But he did it in a different way. His strength were diplomacy, shrewdness and only if necessary the use of military power.
NEXT TOPIC: Toyotomi Hideyoshi |
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| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 27, 2006 4:36 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
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He killed Buddhist monks, nuns and children?
Well toyotomi did kill ALOT of christian , sort of like an eye for an eye thing. Or was that Ieyasu? oh, well either way totally horrible.
I wonder what they would of done to people of other religons, like me
EDIT: Ah here it is:
As the Sengoku period drew to a close in the late 1500s, the reigning kampaku Hideyoshi Toyotomi became concerned with the Christians on account of a number of perceived offenses. These included the slaughter of cows for meat, incitements to rioting and the involvement of the Portuguese and Spanish in the slave trade. Moreover, Hideyoshi was of the opinion that those Christian feudal warlords (daimyo) had more favourable trading conditions with Europeans and perceived this as a threat to his authority. In the end, he decided to drive out the missionaries and killed 26 Christians as an example. [19] Still, the trade continued. Japanese Christians were allowed to keep their faith but preaching and foreign missionaries were banned. Later, the Tokugawa shogunate inherited the policy. However, the Tokugawa Shogunate decided to close off Japan from foreign contact except for government sanctioned trade. As a part of this policy, in 1614 Shogun Ieyasu issued an edict of persecution and ensured its implementation: churches were destroyed, any foreign missionaries caught were expelled. Also all Japanese were required to register with a Buddhist temple as Buddhists. Japanese Christians modified statues and icons in Buddhist fashion to continue their faith. The defining moment was the Shimabara Rebellion (ja: 島原の乱, shimabara no ran), a massive uprising of Japanese peasants in Shimabara, many of them Christians, in 1637-1638. Tens of thousands of rebels were killed, many being burnt alive or crucified. While the main cause of the uprising was protesting against a harsh taxing policy, the Shogunate suspected that Western Catholics had been involved in spreading the rebellion and Portuguese traders were driven out of the country. The Dutch were allowed to continue trading because they assured the Shogunate that they had no interest in spreading Christianity. An already existing ban on the Christian religion was then enforced strictly. The punishment of being a Christian was now execution. |
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| davedim |
| Posted: Dec 27, 2006 6:37 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 934
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Toyotomi Hideyoshi - ''Why isn't anybody laughing?''
Born in a Thatched Hut
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born as the son of a poor farmer in a village in Owari province. When he was eight years old his father had died. His step-father sent him to the local temple and later to a blacksmith for instructions. But the young Saru Matsu (monkey pine) as he was nicknamed, was a real trouble-maker, who sought adventure.
Hideyoshi finally found service with the young Oda Nobunaga, then a minor warlord in war-torn Japan. The clever and courageous lad soon got the attention of Nobunaga and moved the military ranks up to the position of general.
The Winner Gets It All
Hideyoshi won battle after battle and gained quite a reputation in the service of Nobunaga. During this period he amassed great wealth. Each conquest of enemy castles was encouraged by a simple incentive system - the winner gets it all.
By around 1580 Hideyoshi had risen to one of the top generals of Nobunaga. But not everyone could stand the often insulting pranks of the cruel tyrant Nobunaga. In 1582 Akechi Mitsuhide, another top general under Nobunaga turned against his lord, defeated him and forced him to commit suicide.
When loyal Hideyoshi got news about the assassination of his lord, he rushed back with his army to Shoryuji Castle in four days and defeated the traitorous Akechi Mitsuhide in the battle of Mount Tennozan.
Hideyoshi was now the actual ruler of Japan, although he never held the official position of shogun. Instead he took the title of prime minister.
Pacifier and Reformer
Hideyoshi was a smart guy and his tactics in achieving his goals were different from those of Nobunaga. While Nobunaga used brute force and did not lose much time in convincing his opponents with nice words, Hideyoshi tried other methods as well - diplomacy and bribery.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi soon introduced reforms in the provinces he had subjugated. He conducted a survey of the farmland to have a better basis for fixing taxes. Taxes were paid by the Japanese farmers in kind - mainly in rice - until the nineteenth century.
Another fundamental reform affected the military system. Until then, the samurai warriors had their own land which they cultivated. And only in war times, the samurai abandoned their principal job as peasants. Hideyoshi introduced a strict separation of farmers and warriors. The samurai had to live permanently in castles. To assure their living, they received a certain amount of rice contributions. The farmers were disallowed to possess any weapons. Hideyoshi sent out his troops to confiscate any weapons from the rural population as a preemptive action against a potential uprise. These were the famous sword hunts, practiced before by Nobunaga.
Another edict from 1591 established a firm and immobile system of classes between peasants, samurai and merchants. Under the new system the affiliation to a class became hereditary and it was impossible to raise into another class.
The Invasion of Korea and China
After Hideyoshi had established his uncontested rule over Japan by circa 1590, he looked out for new adventures outside the island country.
In 1592 an army of 180,000 samurai landed on the peaceful Korean peninsula. After swift initial gains the attack got stuck near Pyongyang. The brave Koreans organized fierce resistance and repelled the Japanese army countless times. The war on the Korean peninsula and the Chinese mainland continued for another 6 years . With the death of Hideyoshi in 1598, his generals abandoned the military venture and so it ended in complete failure.
The Japanese had raged terribly among the Koreans. Hideyoshi himself had never set foot outside Japan. He had left the execution of his attack to his generals and daimyo, the provincial leaders. The speculations why Hideyoshi started this military adventure continue among historians until today. Some say, he had to keep a huge army busy that knew nothing but war. The more probable reason were sheer megalomaniac ambitions.
The Ceramic War
Hagi is probably most famous for Hagi-yaki, its traditional pottery. It is highly appreciated nowadays because it is made by traditional workmanship with a modern sense of the original art.
The Korean excursion was a military fiasco, but it did have a lasting effect on the Hagi area. Historians often refer to the illfated invasion attempt as the "ceramic war", because Hideyoshi's army captured and brought back around 300 Korean ceramic masters, highly skilled in the production of the "Korai" bowls prized in Japan.
Death of "The Monkey Servant"
Hideyoshi died September 18, 1598. With him died the power of his family. He had tried to secure his position for his only son Hideyori. But his old rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu, proved stronger and became the third and last pacifier of Japan and the first Shogun of the Tokugawa family
NEXT TOPIC: Tokugawa Ieyasu |
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| Mansley |
| Posted: Dec 27, 2006 8:13 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 868
Location: Los Angeles, California
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thank you davedim. today i had time to finally read your posts.
i myself have never studied japanese history. along with tatsuka ito's post on the heian period, i am beginning to think i should take the class on japanese history at my school sometime. (unfortunately it fills no graduation requirements for me, so i will wait to get requirements out of the way and see if i have extra room probably in my last year for such a class)
and i am not one who enjoys studying history. i have found i am only really interested in war, maybe because i am male but for whatever reason this was when i could stay most awake in class and read the fastest while learning the most. that being said, it was much easier to read this post than the one on the heian period. (it is not tatsuka ito's fault for that, i am thankful to her for starting that thread too) i look forward to your next post! |
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| davedim |
| Posted: Dec 28, 2006 3:09 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 934
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Tokugawa Ieyasu - ''Life means that I can live to see tomorrow''
The Birth of Ieyasu
Ieyasu was born in 1542 in what is now Aichi Prefecture. As regional warlords were competing fiercely with one another for national domination at the time, he was forced to spend much of his childhood years as a hostage of the Imagawa clan, based in what is now Shizuoka Prefecture.
Rise to Power
He gradually rose to prominence, and by joining forces with the general Oda Nobunaga, who sought to bring the country under unified rule, Ieyasu steadily expanded his territorial holdings.
After Nobunaga's assassination, he watched the development of events closely as one of Nobunaga's top generals, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, carried out his former overlord's goal of national unification. Ieyasu moved his base of operations to the Kanto district and began building a new regional capital in Edo.
The Death of Hideyoshi
In 1600, two years after Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu emerged as the most powerful feudal lord in the country, defeating his biggest rival, Ishida Mitsunari, at the famed battle of Sekigahara and establishing a central government in Edo in 1603.
Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu
As shogun, he ordered the regional lords to destroy all their castles except those where they actually lived and encouraged the warrior class to pursue not only military arts but also scholarly learning. Ieyasu adopted many measures to secure the lords' allegiance to the new government, such as by establishing norms of conduct for the lords and their military retainers.
To strengthen the financial standing of the shogunate, moreover, he pursued an active trade policy with the nations of Southeast Asia.
The Siege of Osaka
The climax of Ieyasu's life was the siege of Osaka Castle in 1614. The last remaining threat to Ieyasu's rule was Hideyori, the son and rightful heir to Hideyoshi. He was now a young man living in Osaka Castle. Many samurai who opposed Ieyasu rallied around Hideyori, claiming he was the rightful ruler of Japan.
Ieyasu used a minor fight between Hideyori supporters and his samurai as pretext to kill the last of Hideyoshi's family. Initially, the Tokugawa forces were repulsed by Hideyori's supporters, but Ieyasu had massive resources to call upon. The Tokugawa, with a huge army led by Shogun Hidetada, laid siege to Osaka castle. The siege dragged on for more than a year.
Eventually, Tokugawa made a deal using Hideyori's mother to stop the fighting. However, as soon as the treaty was agreed to, Tokugawa filled Osaka Castle's moats with sand so his troops could go across them. He then ignored the treaty and attacked Osaka Castle.
Finally in late 1615, Osaka Castle fell and nearly all the defenders were killed including Hideyori, his mother (Hideyoshi's widow), and his infant son. His wife, Senhime (a granddaughter of Ieyasu), was allowed to live. With the Toyotomi finally extinguished, no threats remained to Tokugawa's domination of Japan.
The Death of Japan's Final Unifier
In 1616, Ieyasu fell ill and died in his bed at the age of 73. He was buried in Nikkō Tōshō-gū. The title of Shogun was passed on to his son, thereby establishing it as hereditary among the Tokugawa.
NEXT TOPIC: Early Tokugawa Shogunate |
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| Mansley |
| Posted: Dec 28, 2006 6:01 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 868
Location: Los Angeles, California
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| so much bloodshed to unify japan. turned on hideyoshi's child?...how horrible. i thought ieyasu supported hideyoshi's ideas so he'd stay loyal to hideyori. anyway i probably should not condemn what he did since it did unify japan. |
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| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 28, 2006 9:03 pm |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
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Smart of tokugawa, i would o fchopped off their heads sooner.
So i guess kind of stupid, he should of known to chop off their heads sooner! |
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| Mansley |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 12:10 am |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 868
Location: Los Angeles, California
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| i see...tatsuka ito would rule by fear. |
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| Tatsuka Ito |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 12:20 am |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 918
Location: Surrey,Canada
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well duh, otherwise people start thinking that they re all that and that they own the world.
No simpleton would dare stand up before me! あは～～～～ははっ！ |
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| +Fumi |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 10:41 am |
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上塩タン焼680円
Joined: 12 Nov 2006
Posts: 339
Location: southern California
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To Ito: Okay, you live in "the country" same as I am from "the country" in Japan! I understand attitude everyone has to us! My hometown is Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, most western part of Japan before Kyushu Island. My town has 35 thousands people! but it has added some smaller towns to itself recently so now maybe 45 thousands! Most my relatives live in Hagi or smaller near towns like Asahi, but one group of relatives lives in USA and I live with them! Pasadena in So Cal. Anyway, thank you for interest in Japan history like Nara and Yamato times, Heian times, these are most interesting to me too.
To everyone: davedim mentioned relationship of Toyotomi to my hometown Hagi, this is the port where he gathered his armies and navies to attack Korea. When his armies returned to Japan of course they came to Hagi first, this is where the Korean pottery makers stayed and lived and they made Hagi pottery so famous! but strange idea: perhaps many people from this local area are descendant from these Koreans, yes? maybe even me! Because it is certain they married Japanese people from this area during 400 years of history! This is a very strange idea, I must consider.
P.S. davedim, you should acknowledge your sources, this is proper, you are college student and have practice for this! http://www.answers.com/topic/sengoku-period Also you should introduce yourself to Ito, notice that you are very compatible by Chinese astrological! and you have common interests too.
P.S. Also you should tell about Tokugawa requirement for family hostages from lords, and also he made Japan closed to foreign trade! these policies ruin Japan economy and prepare for later destruction of military government. |
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| davedim |
| Posted: Dec 29, 2006 11:04 am |
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フレンジャー
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
Posts: 934
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Yeah, I included the part about Hagi because you asked me to.
My sources were Answers.com and Wikipedia.
My first post was pretty much a copy-and-paste affair. The rest wasn't. The actual facts are from various sources, mainly Wikipedia.
Tatsuka is cool and all, but I'm not sure my girlfriend would approve of me "introducing myself" to her.
My next post will be about the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate and I'll write about how he closed Japan to foreign trade and how Christians were persecuted among other things. |
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