Sengoku Japan · 1467-1590

Sengoku: Japan's age of warring states

After 1467 Japan broke apart into domains ruled by warring lords. Portuguese guns arrived in 1543, and Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi fought their way to unity by 1590. Students follow a century of war and the rise of a new order.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1530 to AD 1576
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

After 1467 Japan broke apart into domains ruled by warring lords. Portuguese guns arrived in 1543, and Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi fought their way to unity by 1590. Students follow a century of war and the rise of a new order.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain why Japan broke apart into warring domains after 1467.
  • Describe how firearms and Europeans changed Sengoku warfare and politics.
  • Explain how Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunited Japan by 1590.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1530

A land in pieces

Open the map in 1530. What does the map call Japan? Imagine the islands split among dozens of rival lords, the daimyo. Why would each lord build a castle?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1543

Guns arrive

Zoom in on Tanegashima, a small island south of Kyushu. Portuguese traders landed here in 1543 with guns. Turn on Trade Routes: by which route did European ships reach Asia?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1576

Toward unity

Find Kyoto and Lake Biwa. Oda Nobunaga built his great castle at Azuchi on the lake shore in 1576. Why build between the capital and the eastern provinces?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Why did the Onin War in Kyoto lead to a hundred years of fighting all over Japan?
  2. Sengoku lords were sometimes overthrown by their own retainers. Why is this time called the age of "the low overcoming the high"?
  3. How did guns change the way battles were fought in Japan?
  4. Oda Nobunaga was brilliant and ruthless. Was ruthlessness needed to unite Japan?
  5. Hideyoshi was born a commoner and rose to rule Japan, then made it harder for others to change class. Why?
4

Game round

10 min

Play Rule History as Tokugawa Ieyasu, who fought beside Nobunaga and served Hideyoshi before ruling Japan himself. Let students take turns ruling. Discuss: which lessons from the Sengoku wars would help Ieyasu keep the peace?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.