Life in the warring states

Life in the warring states

Starting in the second half of the 1400's, violence became a way of life in Japan. Peasants in the countryside were forced to take up swords to protect their communities. Temples with large landholdings trained their own armies of warrior-monks to protect their assets. Some estate owners gathered private armies of samurai to guard their lands. Samurai without masters roamed the country offering to fight for pay.

The most powerful samurai became regional lords called daimyo. They exercised control over many armed warriors and governed large areas of farmland. They fought each other for military supremacy during the 1500ís. Japan sank into an era of civil war, called the warring states period. Although this period ended about 1600, it had an impact on Japanese civil and political life until the mid-1800's.

Excerpt adapted from the "Japan" article, The World Book Encyclopedia, © 1999