Mapping Violence in Medieval Japan

How do we make sense of a violent, fragmented period? Many histories treat the Warring States era of Japanese history as a formless and chaotic swirl of violence, almost a natural disaster, that swept away older structures in medieval Japan to make way for a new early modernity. Others make it the stage upon which the heroes of countless novels, dramas, or video games battled their way to power. Conflict has a logic to it that we can map and understand.

The aim of our project was to map this logic and understand it. In other words, we examined the causes, origins, and connections which existed within the Sengoku Period. Through the utilization of digital tools, such as MapHub and ClioVis, you will be able to visually understand the continuation of institutional power (i.e. the court and the shogunate).