The Sengoku period: the unification of Japan, 1560–1615

Timeline

Layers

Oda (Nobunaga and his heirs) · Oda allies, vassals and generals · Akechi Mitsuhide (June 1582) · Hashiba / Toyotomi (Hideyoshi, Hideyori) · Daimyō under Toyotomi rule · Tokugawa (Matsudaira until 1566) · Eastern army 1600, then allied outside lords · Western army (1600) · Takeda · Uesugi (Nagao until 1561) · Late Hōjō · Imagawa · Saitō of Mino · Asai · Asakura · Miyoshi · Hongan-ji and the Ikkō-ikki · Mōri · Amago · Ukita · Chōsokabe · Ōtomo · Ryūzōji (Nabeshima) · Shimazu · Date · Ashina · Mogami · Nanbu · Satake · Satake (moved to Akita in 1602) · Satomi · Smaller lords, leagues and temples · Imagawa Yoshimoto's army (1560) · Oda Nobunaga's army (1560) · Uesugi Kenshin's army (1561) · Takeda Shingen's army (1561) · Oda Nobunaga's march on Kyoto (1568) · Oda and Tokugawa at Anegawa (1570) · Takeda Shingen's western campaign (1572–73) · Tokugawa Ieyasu's army (1572–73) · Takeda Katsuyori's army (1575) · Oda Nobunaga's relief army (1575) · Oda Nobutada's invasion of Shinano (1582) · Takeda Katsuyori's flight (1582) · Akechi Mitsuhide's army (1582) · Hashiba Hideyoshi's Great Return (1582) · Ieyasu's flight through Iga (1582) · Shibata Katsuie's army (1583) · Hashiba Hideyoshi's army (1583) · Tokugawa Ieyasu's army (1584) · Hashiba Hideyoshi's army (1584) · Ikeda Tsuneoki's raid on Mikawa (1584) · Shimazu Iehisa's army (1584) · Hashiba Hidenaga's Shikoku invasion (1585) · Ukita and Hachisuka in Sanuki (1585) · Kobayakawa Takakage in Iyo (1585) · Shimazu armies in Bungo (1586–87) · Hideyoshi's Kyushu campaign (1587) · Hidenaga's column through Hyūga (1587) · Hideyoshi's army against Odawara (1590) · Tokugawa Ieyasu at Odawara (1590) · Maeda and Uesugi: the northern army (1590) · Date Masamune comes to Odawara (1590) · Japanese invasion army (Korea, 1592–98) · Tokugawa Ieyasu's army (1600) · Tokugawa Hidetada on the Nakasendō (1600) · Eastern vanguard: Fukushima and Ikeda (1600) · Ishida Mitsunari and the Western army (1600) · Tokugawa army: winter siege of Osaka (1614) · Tokugawa army: summer campaign (1615)

Events

• 12 Jun 1560, Battle of Okehazama: In a thunderstorm Oda Nobunaga's 2,000–3,000 men surprised Imagawa Yoshimoto's camp, many times their number, and killed him. The Imagawa never recovered, and Matsudaira Motoyasu (the later Tokugawa Ieyasu) went home to Okazaki as his own master.
• 18 Oct 1561, Fourth battle of Kawanakajima: The bloodiest of five clashes between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen on the plain south of Zenkōji. Both sides lost heavily; neither won the northern Shinano districts outright, which stayed contested until the Takeda took them over in the mid-1560s.
• 8 Jan 1567, Gassan-Toda Castle surrenders: After a long siege Amago Yoshihisa surrenders his mountain fortress to Mōri Motonari. Izumo, Hōki and the Iwami silver mine pass to the Mōri, who now rule most of western Honshu.
• 27 Sep 1567, Inabayama falls: Gifu: With the three Mino commanders gone over to him, Nobunaga takes the Saitō stronghold on Mount Kinka, renames it Gifu and starts using the seal 'Tenka fubu' (the realm under arms).
• 9 Nov 1568, Nobunaga enters Kyoto: Nobunaga drives the Rokkaku out of southern Ōmi (Kannonji, October), marches into the capital and installs Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the 15th shogun. The Miyoshi fall back to Settsu and Awa.
• 30 Jul 1570, Battle of Anegawa: Oda and Tokugawa beat the combined Asai and Asakura on the Ane river in northern Ōmi. Not decisive: Asai Nagamasa held Odani for three more years.
• 28 Sep 1570, Ishiyama Hongan-ji rises: Kennyo, abbot of the Jōdo Shinshū temple-fortress at Ishiyama (modern Osaka), calls the Ikkō-ikki to war against Nobunaga. The siege lasted ten years.
• 30 Sep 1571, Burning of Enryaku-ji: Nobunaga's men burn the Tendai monastery complex on Mount Hiei, which had sheltered the Asai and Asakura, and kill thousands of monks and lay people.
• 25 Jan 1573, Battle of Mikatagahara: Takeda Shingen lures Ieyasu out of Hamamatsu and routs him on the Mikatagahara plateau. Shingen's march west stopped at Noda; he fell ill and died in May 1573.
• 15 Aug 1573, Yoshiaki expelled: end of the Ashikaga shogunate: Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who had called the daimyō to rise against Nobunaga, is driven out of Kyoto after the siege of Makishima. The Muromachi shogunate effectively ends.
• 26 Sep 1573, Fall of Ichijōdani and Odani: In one month Nobunaga destroys the Asakura (Yoshikage dies, Ichijōdani is burned) and then the Asai at Odani (Nagamasa commits suicide). Echizen and northern Ōmi are his.
• 20 Oct 1574, Nagashima Ikkō-ikki destroyed: After three campaigns, Nobunaga starves out the Ikkō fortresses in the Kiso delta and burns those still inside; some 20,000 people died.
• 28 Jun 1575, Battle of Nagashino: Oda and Tokugawa arquebusiers behind palisades at Shitarahara cut down the charging Takeda cavalry. Katsuyori escaped, but the Takeda lost many of their best commanders.
• 3 Nov 1577, Battle of Tedorigawa: Uesugi Kenshin, having just taken Nanao in Noto, catches Shibata Katsuie's army crossing the Tedori river and beats it. Kenshin died the next spring, before he could march on Kyoto.
• 10 Dec 1578, Battle of Mimigawa: Ōtomo Sōrin's invasion of Hyūga ends in disaster on the Mimi river; the Shimazu become the leading power of Kyushu, and the Ryūzōji take the Ōtomo lands in the north-west.
• 10 Aug 1580, Hongan-ji surrenders Ishiyama: Ten years after the war began, Kennyo leaves Ishiyama under an imperially brokered peace; the temple burns. Hideyoshi later built Osaka Castle on the site.
• 3 Apr 1582, Battle of Tenmokuzan: Abandoned by most of his vassals as the Oda and Tokugawa invade, Takeda Katsuyori kills himself on Mount Tenmoku. Kai, Shinano, Suruga and western Kōzuke fall to Nobunaga.
• 21 Jun 1582, Honnō-ji incident: Akechi Mitsuhide, ordered west to help Hideyoshi, turns his army on Kyoto and attacks the Honnō-ji temple at dawn. Nobunaga dies in the burning temple; his heir Nobutada falls at Nijō the same day.
• 2 Jul 1582, Battle of Yamazaki: Hideyoshi beats Akechi Mitsuhide between the Tennōzan hill and the Yodo river. Mitsuhide is killed by villagers while fleeing, 13 days after Honnō-ji.
• 11 Jun 1583, Battle of Shizugatake: Hideyoshi rides his army 52 km from Ōgaki in an afternoon and evening and smashes Sakuma Morimasa at dawn. Shibata Katsuie kills himself in Kitanoshō three days later.
• 4 May 1584, Battle of Okitanawate: Shimazu and Arima troops kill Ryūzōji Takanobu near Shimabara. Ryūzōji power collapses and the Shimazu push north.
• 18 May 1584, Battle of Nagakute: Ieyasu catches Ikeda Tsuneoki's raiding column and destroys it, killing Ikeda and Mori Nagayoshi. The Komaki campaign ended in a draw and a negotiated peace; Ieyasu submitted to Hideyoshi in 1586.
• 20 Aug 1585, Chōsokabe submit: Attacked from three sides by over 100,000 men, Chōsokabe Motochika gives up Awa, Sanuki and Iyo and keeps Tosa.
• 20 Jan 1587, Battle of Hetsugigawa: Shimazu Iehisa routs the vanguard Hideyoshi had sent to help the Ōtomo, including Chōsokabe and Sengoku troops. Funai falls; the Shimazu hold almost all of Kyushu.
• 13 Jun 1587, Shimazu submit at Taihei-ji: Facing two armies totalling some 200,000 men, Shimazu Yoshihisa shaves his head and submits. The Shimazu keep Satsuma and Ōsumi; Kyushu is shared out among Hideyoshi's men.
• 17 Jul 1589, Battle of Suriagehara: Date Masamune destroys the Ashina below Mount Bandai and takes Aizu. A year later Hideyoshi took it off him.
• 4 Aug 1590, Siege of Odawara: After three months of siege by more than 200,000 men, Hōjō Ujinao surrenders; Ujimasa is made to kill himself. The Hōjō lands go to Ieyasu, who moves his seat to Edo.
• 7 Sep 1590, Ōshū settlement: At Aizu Hideyoshi settles the north: Date Masamune loses Aizu to Gamō Ujisato, the Kasai and Ōsaki are abolished. The Kunohe rising of 1591 was the last resistance.
• 23 May 1592, Invasion of Korea: landing at Busan: Konishi Yukinaga's first division storms Busan. Seoul fell on 12 June and Pyongyang in July, but Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin's navy, guerrillas and a Ming army forced the Japanese back to forts on the south coast by 1593.
• 28 Aug 1597, Second invasion (Keichō war): Peace talks fail and Hideyoshi sends 140,000 men back. After Chilcheollyang the Japanese push inland, but are held at Jiksan and fall back to the south-coast forts.
• 18 Sep 1598, Death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Hideyoshi dies at Fushimi, leaving a five-year-old heir, Hideyori, under a council of five regents headed by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The armies in Korea are recalled.
• 8 Sep 1600, Siege of Fushimi Castle: Torii Mototada holds Fushimi for Ieyasu for eleven days against the Western army and dies with his garrison.
• 21 Oct 1600, Battle of Sekigahara: In fog and rain Ieyasu's Eastern army meets Ishida Mitsunari's Western army. Kobayakawa Hideaki's defection at midday decides it. Ishida, Konishi and Ankokuji were executed in Kyoto on 6 November.
• 24 Mar 1603, Tokugawa shogunate: The emperor appoints Tokugawa Ieyasu shōgun; he governs from Edo. In 1605 he passed the title to his son Hidetada to show it was now hereditary.
• 19 Dec 1614, Winter siege of Osaka: About 190,000 Tokugawa troops surround Osaka Castle, defended by Hideyori and some 100,000 rōnin. Sanada Nobushige beat off an attack at the Sanada-maru barbican; a truce in January 1615 made Osaka fill in its outer moats.
• 3 Jun 1615, Battle of Tennōji: Sanada Nobushige's charge nearly reaches Ieyasu's headquarters before he is killed. The next day Osaka Castle burns and Hideyori and his mother Yodo-dono kill themselves.
• 4 Jun 1615, Fall of Osaka Castle: The end of the Toyotomi. The Laws for the Military Houses (Buke shohatto) and the one-castle-per-province rule follow within weeks: the age of war is over.