Daimyo flags, 15th - 17th century (Japan)

During 1467-1614 there were lots of wars for state's unification among Daimyos who ruled in Kuni (state) . Japan was composed of 68 Kunis in those times and the names are totally different from current name of Japanese prefectures.

The daimyos divided into two groups: West Japan and East Japan. At both battles, the West was defeated by the East led by Tokugawa Ieyasu who became Shogun for the victory and his Tokugawa family ruled Japan without serious civil war till 1868 when Meiji Emperor restored political power from Shogun. In the Tokugawa era about 250 years daimyo flags were not often used and developed due to lack of chance (little war). Images of some flags Tokugawa era are rectangle flags with simpler design than flags in warring period (1467-1614).

The daimyo flags were mainly used as banner at war and basically father/sons/brothers even in a same family used different flags. This is why we will see so many Daimyo flags.

The three most famous daimyo are:

Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) the prime mover of Japan's 16th century reunification after a hundred years of strife.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) the warlord and he could for the first time truly claim that he had extended his regime nationwide into which provincial lords were integrated.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) the Shogun warrior chieftain who outwitting many of his major contemporaries and outliving and out-procreating the rest, survived Japan's late 16th century wars of unification with victories at the battles of Sekigahara (1600) and Osaka (1614).

The Daimyos tried to march in to old capital Kyoto where the Emperor lived.

The Daimyo flags particularly during warring period were used in one Kuni and also more than one Kunis from time to time. The daimyo fought against each other starting with fight with neighbor to rule the next Kuni. If he succeeded he expanded his territory (Kuni).

This is just like World Cup, the grand champion being a Shogun who controls whole Japan as the best player (Daimyo of Daimyos).

The vertical flag called Nobori-hata is, I believe, War Flag in English which belongs to an organization always placed in the center of camp in battle field and the square flag called Uma-jirushi is a kind of rank flag which is a General 's flag at war, basically personal flag.

Uma means horse; jirushi is sign or mark. There were no other rank flags basically.

The Japanese mon is too complicated to distinguish it from other mons if they were used in a flag at war. In order to tell who is an enemy and an ally at war the simple flag was required. Japanese warriors did not have shield to protect themselves like European knights. That's why they used much more flags at war for identity.

The size of vertical flag is around 4m x 0.7m and square one