page_title: Military history of Japan
section_title: Sengoku period (1467–1603)
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of Japan / Feudal Japan / Sengoku period (1467–1603)
caption_attribution_description: Takeda Shingen deflects Uesugi Kenshin's stroke in a battle during the Sengoku period. Old Japanese painting.
context_page_description: The military history of Japan chronicles a vast time period over three millennia from the Jōmon 1000 BCE into the modern day. It is characterized by a long period of clan warfare until the 12th century CE. This was followed by feudal wars that culminated in military governments known as the Shogunate. Japanese history is distinguished by that the military class with the Shōgun ruled Japan for 676 years from 1192 until 1868 CE. The Shōgun and samurai warriors were near the apex of the Japanese social structure. Only the aristocratic nobility were nominally above them. The sakoku policy closed Japan from foreigners for 212 years from 1641 to 1853. Feudal militarism transitioned to imperialism in the 19th century after the arrival of Admiral Perry and the elevation of Emperor Meiji. Japan was influenced by western colonial powers and Western imperialism in Asia. This led to Japanese colonialism and rampant imperialism until Japan's defeat in World War II. The 1947 Constitution prohibits Japan's ability to offensively use war against other nations. This led to the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
context_section_description: The Sengoku Period is marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict. Less than a century after the end of the Nanboku-chō Wars, peace under the relatively weak Ashikaga shogunate was disrupted by the outbreak of the Ōnin War (1467–1477). This was a civil war between the Ashikaga shogunate and numerous daimyō. The ancient capital of Kyoto was converted into a battlefield and a heavily fortified city that suffered severe destruction.
  The authority of both the shogunate and the Imperial Court had weakened, and provincial Governors (shugo) and other local samurai leaders emerged as the daimyōs, who battled each other, religious factions (e.g. the Ikkō-ikki), and others for land and power for the next 150 years or so. The period has come to be called the Sengoku period, after the Warring States period in ancient Chinese history. Over one hundred domains clashed and warred throughout the archipelago, as clans rose and fell, boundaries shifted, and some of the largest battles in all of global pre-modern history were fought.
  A great many developments and significant events took place during this period, ranging from advances in castle design to the advent of the cavalry charge, the further development of campaign strategies on a grand scale, and the significant changes brought on by the introduction of firearms. The composition of the army changed, with masses of ashigaru, footsoldiers armed with long lances (yari), archers, and, later, gunners serving alongside mounted samurai. Naval battles likewise consisted of little more than using boats to move troops within range of bow or arquebus, and then into hand-to-hand fighting.
  The long-standing rivalry between the daimyo Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province are legendary. The Battles of Kawanakajima between the armies of Shingen and Kenshin (1553–1564) are one of the most cherished tales in Japanese military history and the epitome of Japanese chivalry and romance. They're mentioned in epic literature, woodblock printing and movies.
  In the first conflict between Shingen and Kenshin they were very cautious, only committing themselves to indecisive skirmishes. There were a total of five engagements at Kawanakajima . Only the fourth battle was a serious, all-out battle between the two. During the fourth battle, Kenshin's forces cleared a path through the Takeda troops and Kenshin engaged Shingen in single combat. Kenshin attacked Shingen with his sword while Shingen defended with his Japanese war fan (tessen). Both lords lost many men in this fight, and Shingen in particular lost two of his main generals, Yamamoto Kansuke and his younger brother Takeda Nobushige. After the death of Shingen, Tokugawa Ieyasu borrowed heavily from Shingen's governmental and military innovations after he had taken leadership of Kai Province during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rise to power. Many of these designs were used by the Tokugawa shogunate.
  The Hōjō clan, in and around the Kantō region, were among the first to establish networks of satellite castles, and the complex use of these castles both for mutual defense and coordinated attacks. The Takeda, under Takeda Shingen, developed the Japanese equivalent of the cavalry charge. Though debate continues today as to the force of his charges, and the appropriateness of comparing them to Western cavalry charges, it is evident from contemporary sources that it was a revolutionary development, and powerful against defenders unused to it. The Battles of the Sengoku period of particular interest or significance are too numerous to list here. Suffice to say this period saw a myriad of strategic and tactical developments, and some of the longest sieges and largest battles in the history of the early modern world.
caption: Depiction of the legendary personal conflict between Kenshin and Shingen at the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima (1561)
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