In the 16th century, Japan was going through a period of endemic civil war in what is now called the Muromachi period (up to mid 16th century) and the Azuchi-Momoyama period (later 16th century). In this time period, many daimyo (regional lords that served under the shogun) were beginning to fight one another in order to install the individual they supported as the new shogun. This infighting though, fractured the power structure of the shogun and had basically resulted in the shogun losing all control over the various daimyo. However, over the course of the 16th century, Japan began to see the decline of civil war and eventually would become a stable political system under the Tokugawa shoguns by the beginning of the 17th century (known as …show more content…
After becoming the new daimyo, Toyotomi would go on to unify the entire country after winning decisive victories in Kyushu, Shikoku, and finally taking the lands in the eastern parts of the country from the Hojo clan; these victories and the resulting unification of the country finally brought the Warring States period to a close. During his reign over the country, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began implementing ideas which would set the groundwork for the social stratification of society and political stability during the Tokugawa period. One of these ideas implemented was the banning of weapons in regards to the peasants in society. This weapon roundup (known as a sword hunt) was essentially Hideyoshi’s way of reinforcing political stability (specifically in order to prevent insurgencies from happening by those who would seek to overthrow him); these hunts also greatly reduced the power of other daimyo as they could no longer legally arm their peasant populations to bolster their forces. Hideyoshi would stay in power until his death during his campaigns on the Korean Peninsula; afterwards, his son (who was five years old) was to become his heir. However, his reign was short lived as soon the Toyotomi line was overthrown by Tokugawa Ieyasu at the battle of