THE RISE OF THE SAMURAI


Following the Battle of Dan no Ura in 1185 Minamoto Yoritomo became Japan’s fi rst Shogun or military dictator.


apan, the home of the samurai, had been no stranger to war since the time of the rise of the samurai warriors as a distinctive social class and their establishment as a ruling elite during the 12th century, when the Battle of Dan no Ura in 1185 concluded a bitter time of clan rivalry and reduced the emperor to being a mere figurehead. In his place now ruled the Shogun or military dictator.


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Several rebellions did take place against the rule of the Shogun over the next few centuries, but all were quelled successfully until 1467, when a quarrel between two samurai houses developed into a military and political disaster. The resulting Onin War, named from the conventional year period in which it happened, was fought largely around Kyoto, Japan’s capital city, and even in its streets of Kyoto itself, which were soon reduced to being vague boundaries amid a smoking wasteland. The Shogun at the time was Ashikaga


Yoshimasa, who was totally unable to prevent the slide into anarchy. Instead, Yoshimasa contented himself with artistic pursuits, and was in fact one of the early devotees of the tea ceremony. He also built the Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) in an attempt to emulate an illustrious ancestor who had built a pavilion of gold, but such was the current poverty of the Shogunate that it was never covered in silver.


Yoshimasa’s cultural achievements were many, but the power of the Shogunate declined as never before.


A TIME OF OPPORTUNITY With such a vacuum lying at the heart of Japanese politics, many samurai took the opportunity provided by the Onin War to develop their own local autonomy in a way that had not been seen for centuries. It was as if the powerful pre-Shogun landowners of ancient times had been reborn, and throughout Japan there was a scramble for territory.


Some ancient families disappeared altogether and were replaced by men who had once fought for them but now sought their own local power through war, intrigue, marriage, or murder. Other ancient lines prospered anew, but found themselves having to share Japan with vulgar upstarts who may have started their careers as ashigaru (foot soldiers) but who now owned a considerable amount of territory, which they defended using wooden mountain-top castles and a band of loyal followers.


These petty warlords, whose only claim to fame was skill at fighting, called themselves daimyo (great names), and were constantly being challenged by neighbours. Literally scores of battles took place, leading to the century and a half between 1467 and 1600 being


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dubbed the Sengoku Jidai (‘Period of Warring States’), by analogy with a similar turbulent period in ancient China.


FIVE BATTLES – ONE BATTLEFIELD


A good example of this trend was to be found in north-central Japan where the territories of the Takeda and Uesugi families were located. They were at war for half a century. Their most famous members, Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, ruled like princes in their own provinces, and led thousands of fanatically loyal samurai. Takeda Shingen is customarily credited with being the finest leader of mounted samurai in Sengoku Japan.


A group of samurai led by the loyalist hero Kusunoki Masashige


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