Sengoku Wars; A Sengoku Jiidai of Japan rp, Samurai Warriors

[SWRP]

Link: sengokuwars.jcink.net/index.php

Introduction

Prior to the Sengoku Jidai, the ruling body of Japan was the Ashikaga Shogunate. Although the Ashikaga had retained the original structure of the previous Kamakura Shogunate and instituted a warrior government based on the same social economic rights and obligations established by the Hōjō Clan with the Jōei Code in 1232, it failed to win the loyalty of many daimyo, especially those whose domains were far from the imperial capital of 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 trading, 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 earthquakes and famines often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt and taxes that were choking the life out of them.

In 1464, the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, still had no heir. He persuaded his younger brother, Ashikaga Yoshimi, to abandon the life of a monk, and so Yoshimi was named the heir. In 1465, the unanticipated birth of Yoshimasa's son made the earlier plan questionable. The infant, Yoshihisa, caused much friction between the two brothers. As a result of the confusion, war broke out in the city of Heian-Kyō between supporters of Yoshimi and Yoshihisa. This was regarded by the Shogun as an act of rebellion, and thus the Ashikaga and their supporters were forced to try to stop it. The Ashikaga tried to prevent the outbreak of war over the next heir, but the situation escalated and caused vicious conflicts fought to decide who would be the next Shogun.

During the war, the "eastern" army led by the Hosokawa Clan and its allies fighting for Yoshimi clashed with the "western" army led by the Yamana Clan fighting for Yoshihisa. By July 1467, the fighting had become serious, and this was when the Ōnin War is said to have begun. By September, northern Kyoto were in ruins, and everyone who could flee from Kyoto had already done so. Both Yamana Sōzen and Hosokawa Katsumoto, the leaders of their respective sides, had already died in 1473, but even then the war continued with neither side figuring out how to end the war. However, eventually the Yamana Clan lost heart as the label of "rebels" started to demoralize them. In 1475, Ōuchi Masahiro, one of the foremost Yamana Clan generals, burnt down the section of Kyoto he had occupied and left the city. By 1477, ten years after the fighting had begun, the Ōnin War had ended, and Kyoto was nothing more than a place for mobs to loot and move in to take what was left. Neither side had won. Even worse, during the whole ordeal, the Shogun was not very instrumental in alleviating the situation. While Kyoto was burning, the Shogun spent his time writing poetry and planning Ginkaku-ji, a Silver Pavilion to rival Kinkaku-ji, the Golden Pavilion that his grandfather had built.

The Ōnin War, and the shogun’s complacent attitude towards it, "sanctioned" private wars and skirmishes between the other Daimyo. No part of Japan escaped the violence. Although the battles in Kyoto had been abandoned, the war eventually spread to the rest of Japan. This led to the Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States era; now, rival daimyo fight each other for the sake of supremacy. Great castles are put to the torch, rivers are choked with stagnant bodies, tattered banners flap limply in battlefields strewn with corpses and abandoned weapons, the peasantry live in constant fear of violence and corruption, and thousands of warriors rise to take up their swords and fulfill their destiny in an age of war.

In the midst of all this chaos, various Daimyo backed by their clans prepare to fight each other to the bitter end in order to occupy the rich and fertile lands. It is here, in a land about to be thrown into complete and utter turmoil, where our story begins...