Major conflict1467 – 1615 · 148 years
Sengoku Period (Japan)
Japan
A century of Japanese warlord warfare created the conditions for national unification and samurai dominance.
Estimated casualties
100K – 500Kestimated dead
HEADLINE500K — the single figure used on the map
1467-1615 CE; warring daimyo
SOURCEJapanese sources; Clodfelter
What happened
The Sengoku Period (1467-1615) saw Japan fragment into competing domains (daimyo) fighting for supremacy. Major power centers included the Takeda, Uesugi, Imagawa, Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa clans. Innovations included early firearms (introduced 1543), castle warfare, and conscripted peasant armies. Three towering figures emerged: Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582), who unified much of Japan; Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598), who completed unification; and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), who established a dynasty. Famous battles included Sekigahara (1600), where Tokugawa defeated the Toyotomi. The period's warfare was brutal, involving sieges and mass casualties.
Why it mattered
The Sengoku wars unified Japan politically and militarily. The Tokugawa Shogunate (1603-1868) provided unprecedented stability and isolation. The period elevated the samurai class and established bushido (the warrior code). The adoption of firearms transformed Japanese warfare. The period's unification created the conditions for Japan's rapid modernization in the 19th century.
Belligerents2
- Various Japanese daimyo
- Warlords
Conflict graph
SUB-CONFLICTS · 28
- Battle of Kawagoe1545
- Battle of Sezawa1545
- Battle of Oshikibata1554
- Battle of Miyajima1555
- Battle of Kawakajima1561
- Battle of Anegawa1570
- Battle of Ishiyama Honganji1570
- Battle of Mikata ga hara1572
- Battle of Nagashimo1574
- Battle of Kozuki1577
- Battle of Mimikawa1578
- Battle of Minamata1581
+ 16 more in the atlas.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Sengoku Period (Japan)
- Clodfelter, Warfare and Armed Conflicts (4th ed., 2017)
- Wikipedia — text reused under CC BY-SA 4.0
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1467 and opens this record.
Cite as: Sengoku Period (Japan) (1467 – 1615). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/c/sengoku-period · Sources & methodology