(1573-1603)
A thirty-year period following the Muromachi and preceding the Tokugawa. It was named after Nobunaga, Oda's castle at Azuchi on the shore of lake Biwa. Nobunaga was murdered and succeeded in 1582 by Hideyoshi, Toyotomi (died 1598). The period was marked by the first persecution of Christians (see Kakure kirishitan) in 1587. A meeting in 1593 between Ieyasu, Tokugawa and Fujiwara, Seika led subsequently to the adoption of neo-Confucianism as the official cult of the Togukawa shoguns.
A Popular Dictionary of Shinto. Brian Bocking.