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1560 CE
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1568 CE - 1582 CE: Oda Nobunaga seizes Heiankyo (Kyoto) and is the dominant military leader in central Japan.
1568 CE - 1600 CE: The Azuchi-Momoyama Period in Japan.
1571 CE: Oda Nobunaga attacks the Buddhist Enryakuji monastic complex near Kyoto.
1573 CE: Oda Nobunaga exiles the last Ashikaga shogun, Yoshiaki.
1575 CE: Oda Nobunaga wins the Battle of Nagashino.
1576 CE: Oda Nobunaga instigates a 'sword hunt' to confiscate all weapons from the Japanese peasantry.
1579 CE: Oda Nobunaga establishes a new headquarters at Azuchi castle.
1580 CE: Oda Nobunaga attacks the Buddhist temple-fortress of Ishiyama Honganji in Osaka using ship-mounted cannons.
1581 CE: The first version of Himeji Castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
1582 CE - 1598 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi is the military leader of Japan.
1582 CE - 1598 CE: Oda Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi conduct an extensive land ownership survey across Japan.
1582 CE: Death of Oda Nobunaga.
1586 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi builds the huge Osaka castle.
1587 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi passes his first edict to banish Christian missionaries from Japan.
1588 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi prohibits commoners from carrying weapons, including swords.
1588 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi rules that only full-rank samurai may carry two swords.
1591 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi builds the massive Odoi ("Great rampart") fortification wall around Heiankyo (Kyoto).
1591 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi redefines the class system of Japan.
1591 CE: Samurai are no longer permitted to farm their own land making them dependent on their lords for income.
1592 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends an army to invade Korea. It is not successful.
1594 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi builds the Fushimi Castle outside Heiankyo (Kyoto).
1597 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi passes his second edict to remove Christian missionaries from Japan and executes 26 Christians in Nagasaki.
1597 CE: Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends a second army to invade Korea. It is not successful.
1598 CE: Death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the military leader of Japan.
1600 CE: Tokugawa Ieyasu wins the Battle of Sekigahara against those generals who supported Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son. End of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period.
1603 CE - 1868 CE: Edo period. The Tokugawa Shogunate rules Japan.