Sengoku

Review from Stephenson about the Sengoku Era, otherwise known as the warring states period.

               Despite having read about how dangerous the warring states period was in textbooks and learning about it in class, I decided to have a gander at what it was like. I was pleasantly surprised at how similar this period is compared with what I've read about in my studies.

               I went around 1520AD, and Daimyo have just began to emerge to try and claim their share in this warrior ruled period. I'm sure most people don't know, but there's something like 200 daimyo who have put their name out there! Before, Daimyo were actually just commanders before but are now war lords who are dominating Japan. I was fortunate enough to stay at a Daimyo's castle as an honoured guest, and learned a bit the life of a Daimyo.  They issue their own laws within their houses, called Kaho（家法）, their warriors live with them. Since the warriors live with the Daimyo, the villages are now independent and tax themselves. (If you know a thing or two about the warriors in Japan's history, you'll remember that they used to be tax collectors)

               Compared with the Muromachi period, it's very obvious that this Sengoku era is extremely de-centralized. Everyone's fighting for power, and it's all one really big gongshow.  There's an emperor, but no one really pays attention to him it seems. My friends all think the emperor was always some sort of powerful ruler but it's 100% clear he's just a figurehead in all of this.

               One thing I want to throw out there for anyone looking to come on a trip to Japan, if you want to see ninjas your best bet is during the Sengoku period as there's no real historical infromation about them outside of the warring periods. I say Ninjas here, but they're really just spies or assassins. If you're coming to this period for that, don't waste your time. Just buy a good fiction book and delve into that instead.

               Anyways yeah, overall pretty good experience! Daimyo are fightin', emperor's doin' nothing, samurai are fighting all over the place. I'm still kind of wondering where this whole bushido code comes from though, I've never heard a single person utter it since I had arrived. (´・ω・`)