The rise of the Uesugi to the seat of the Shogunate had not gone unwatched or unnoticed by foreign powers - some of which had ambitions of conquest on the isles. The new Shogun of course, responded to these threats by recruiting several of the brightest minds in construction of fortifications to help one man's ambitious, and successful plans to reenforce his home province's defences. The new Shogun also faced a rather nasty illness. His health had been in decline for years, drained by 20 years of warfare. Noritada Uesugi had accomplished the goals of nearly any ambitious daiymo after an unexpected and well managed fast rise to power. During one of the many feudal wars, after finally throwing his decision behind protecting the independence of a first cousin, he retired to his chambers. His servants found him dead the next morning, having passed in his sleep.
On June 20th, 1472, his son, Uesugi Norihito ascended to the title of Shogun, embroiled in a war with two of the three remaining Japanese Daimyos.
The Yamana possessed lands that the clan desired, while the Shiamazu were getting far too ambitious for their own good. The Hosokawa were also not on the best terms with the Shogun, his fathers rapid expansion angering them beyond the point of reasonable discourse. The same could be said of the Shimazu and Yamana - the new Shogun could easily be said to be the most hated man in Japan! The new Shogun however, was one of the most masterful tactician, administrator, and diplomat the island had seen in years (He was a 5/5/4. And the best ruler I've had. God bless you random number god for him.)
His own son, while not as able, was still a handy administrator.
The Shogun's plan was quite simple - reclaim the Uesugi's rightful land from the Yamana and force the Shimazu to relinquish their control of the Ouchi and Otomo clans - and force those clans to obey only the Shogun.
Time wound down. 13 years into the new shogun's reign, several important new advancements in the future of the Japanese people occurred. First of all, the Ouchi and Otomo clans were quickly becoming the strongest Daimyo's on the island, as the Otomo scavenged the lands of the Shimazu into their domain, and the Ouchi reclaimed the province of Awa from the Hosokawa. The Yamana were reduced to a single small province, and the Shogun was soon planning to war with them to claim the last bit of their lands. But most important of all, was the absorbing of the Date into the Shogun's realm, and with it a small group of traders who petitioned the Shogun with a plan to give him a claim on even more land, and dispose of the ronin that were becoming all too common in this time of peace: Send them to the northern islands.
With this first colonist, I gained a massive advantage over the Ming and Korean's. I could start expanding without warfare and incurring Aggressive Expansion, or through the random chance of personal union. My first target was the southern parts of Hokkado. The island was an important starting point to colonizing the Kuril's and Siberia. Each province added would also increase my base tax and manpower, along with providing trade power in the Nippon Node. Colonization would also add prestiege to my state - needed after my first heir died, and another, much worse (0/1/3) was coming in. Oh, and while the Shogun was reaching his fifties, he was only 3. A regency was coming along.
Sadly, Norihiro would never see his grand ambitions for a unified Japan come to pass - but he'd begun the process, as the Hosokawa clan was finally absorbed into the Ouchi. The stubborn Yamana were forcefully absorbed into the Shogun's lands. The Emperor was a very personal friend, almost in his 60th year. A daughter of his had been Norihiro's wife, and the new heir had been her last gift to the aging Shogun. Finally, surrounded by family and friends, Uesugi Norihiro, second of the Uesugi Shogunate, passed away after 18 years of successful rule. His legacy was left in the restoration of the Imperial Fleet, long neglected by former shoguns, and his system of armories established throughout the land, to allow the faster recruiting of men in any emergency the Shogunate might face, along with several of the most beautiful temples the Isles would ever see - including one dedicated to his first son, who died after an honor duel. Thus began the four year Regency.
Tomohito Uesugi was never expected to become shogun - instead having been trained to be a general, with the Regency council (headed by the Emperor) being more intent on securing their own power and lining their own pockets. The Otomo and Ouchi clans were embroiled in another conflict, with the Ouchi eventually crushing and absorbing the Otomo, the Boy-Shogun rose to his throne. And he had one ambition - unite all of Japan, like his father had begun to.
A magnificent temple was also finally completed, the last of those Shogun Norihito commissioned - and one of his own design.
Marrying a granddaughter of the Emperor, Tomohito soon produced an heir. Rumors said he was a savant, an imbicile incapable of ruling a large country - and in a way they were right. He was a rather socially gullible and in general, incapable of conducting a proper conversation - but put him behind a numbers sheet or at the head of an army, and he was better than any other man alive in the known world.
The Shogun's first four years in power were relatively uneventful, as diplomats and bureaucrats worked on the task of absorbing the Ouchi clan into the Shogunate. He focused more on exploring the Seas around Japan, discovering and mapping out several new island chains that the Japanese people, would likely in time claim as their own. The military was also refunctoned, the old style of mass longbows fading out towards new, more effective tactics. Offense would always be Japan's friend.
Then, six years into the Shogun's reign, four events happened that would rewrite the history of Japan within the span of 8 days, later known as the 8 days of Tomohito's Fortune- first, the Ouchi clan finally accepted their integration into the realm of the Shogun. Second, the emperor's heir apparent died, tragically, in a hunting accident. Third, the Emperor's other sons were disqualified through multiple factors - several had been involved in a plot to kill the Shogun and establish an Ouchi Shogunate instead, and summarily executed. His illegitimate sons were uninterested in family affairs, having been forced to take oaths not to seek to claim their rightful due through blood - leaving no heir aside from the possibility of the current Shogun, and even then he only had an average claim. Fourth, on May 8, 1500, the Emperor passed away.
Nearly immediately, panic broke out among many of the courtiers, the whole system of Japan threatening to come crashing down. There was no alternative to what many of the Kyoto nobles considered the end of days - the Samurai clans overthrowing the emperor - though Tomohito had no such ideas. Instead, he discarded the title of Shogun, sat upon the imperial throne, and prounounced an end to the shogunate - no more would any military ruler be allowed to have the power the Daimyo's had. No more, would the Daimyo's be allowed to war amongst themselves. The Emperor would demand the fealty of all the daimyo, and if they did not submit, his armies, the largest in all Japan, would bring ruin to their lands.
There was no resisting.
The Sengoku Period, marked by 56 years of intercine warfare between the Shogun and his Daimyo, came to an abrupt halt overnight, as only one clan and warlord was left standing. The Uesugi had united Japan under the seal of both their clan and the Imperial Chrysanthemum. The start of a new age for Japan and the Orient had began. The neighboring states of Korea and Ming looked with serious concern at the rising sun to the east. Manchu, an old enemy was desperately trying to repair ties with the islands. The Emperor of Ryuku, the Okinawan island chain, ordered his navy doubled, for fear of twin swallows around a rising sun on the horizon.
It was time for Japan to become the power it was destined to.
