Sengoku Period Timeline

戦国年表

The events of the age of war, in order, with links to the full story of each.

Dates in this period can be confusing. Japanese sources use lunar calendar dates and era names, so an event in the twelfth month of one Japanese year often falls in the following year by the Western calendar — the Battle of Mikatagahara is the standard example, dated to both 1572 and 1573 depending on which calendar is used.

The dates below are Western-calendar equivalents where a specific day is known.

The collapse of central authority (1467–1550)

1467 The Onin War breaks out in Kyoto
1477 The Onin War ends with no victor; the capital is in ruins
1493 Ise Sozui (Hojo Soun) takes Izu Province, the classic first act of a Sengoku daimyo
1543 Portuguese traders reach Tanegashima; matchlock firearms enter Japan
1546 Hojo Ujiyasu breaks a much larger coalition at the night battle of Kawagoe
1549 Francis Xavier lands at Kagoshima; Jesuit missions begin

The age of the great rivals (1550–1570)

1553–1564 Five campaigns between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin at Kawanakajima
1555 Mori Motonari destroys the Sue at Itsukushima
1560 Oda Nobunaga kills Imagawa Yoshimoto at Okehazama
1562 Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu form the alliance that lasts twenty years
1568 Nobunaga enters Kyoto and installs Ashikaga Yoshiaki as shogun

Nobunaga's wars (1570–1582)

1570 Battle of Anegawa against the Azai and Asakura
1571 Nobunaga destroys the temple complex on Mount Hiei
1573 Nobunaga expels the last Ashikaga shogun, ending the shogunate
1573 Takeda Shingen defeats Ieyasu at Mikatagahara, then dies on campaign
1575 Oda and Tokugawa destroy the Takeda army at Nagashino
1581 Nobunaga devastates Iga Province
1582 Akechi Mitsuhide kills Nobunaga at Honnoji
1582 Hideyoshi defeats Mitsuhide at Yamazaki thirteen days later

Hideyoshi's unification (1583–1598)

1583 Hideyoshi defeats Shibata Katsuie at Shizugatake
1584 Hideyoshi and Ieyasu fight to a draw at Komaki and Nagakute
1585 Hideyoshi takes the office of kampaku, imperial regent
1587 The Kyushu campaign; the first edict against Christian missionaries
1588 The sword hunt disarms the villages
1590 The Odawara campaign completes the unification of Japan
1592–1598 The invasions of Korea
1598 Hideyoshi dies, leaving a five-year-old heir

The Tokugawa settlement (1600–1615)

1600 William Adams reaches Japan aboard De Liefde
1600 The Sanada hold Ueda against Tokugawa Hidetada
1600 The Battle of Sekigahara decides who governs Japan
1603 Tokugawa Ieyasu is appointed shogun
1605 Ieyasu resigns in favour of his son Hidetada, keeping real power
1614–1615 The winter and summer campaigns at Osaka end the Toyotomi
1615 The era name changes to Genna; the Sengoku period ends

Related battles and events

Onin War

1467–1477

Kyoto

The ten-year war in Kyoto that started the Sengoku period.

Battle of Okehazama

1560

Aichi Prefecture

The upset that made Nobunaga and freed Ieyasu.

Battle of Nagashino

1575

Aichi Prefecture

Firearms, palisades and the end of the Takeda army.

Battle of Sekigahara

1600

Gifu Prefecture

One day of fighting that decided the next 265 years.

Siege of Osaka

1614–1615

Osaka

The last battle of the samurai wars, and Sanada Nobushige's final charge.

Explore more

Keep reading in English.

Sengoku PeriodThree UnifiersFamous Samurai