What if the sengoku period lasted longer & Japanese unification delayed till mid-1600s

raharris1973

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Nobunaga and Hideyoshi simply do not come into prominence or do not have anything like their successes of OTL, Japan remains in a period of diffused power and civil war.

How much damage would another generation or two of civil war cause for Japan?

Would it create an opportunity for the Europeans to exercise a dominant influence over Japan?

If unification gains steam after 1620-1630, could a latter-generation Hideyoshi type figure have greater success against Korea and/or China intervening in the Ming-Qing transition era and the rebellions of that time?
 
One interesting point is that in later unification Christianity could survive as a major religion in Japan (which would make a third addition to Shinto and Buddhism). Japan is still too far away for Europeans to subjugate it, but without Sakoku policy, their influence would remain significant. Not that Japanese Christianity would help much - it would probably quickly grew out of European norms.
On the other hand, failure of tradition trio of unificators might give Date Masamune a chance to really shine. I'd like to see that :)
I don't see more successes in Korea/China then OTL though, not until XIX century-equivalent. Hideyoshi was a madman to go there at all.
 
Nobunaga and Hideyoshi simply do not come into prominence or do not have anything like their successes of OTL, Japan remains in a period of diffused power and civil war.

How much damage would another generation or two of civil war cause for Japan?

Would it create an opportunity for the Europeans to exercise a dominant influence over Japan?

If unification gains steam after 1620-1630, could a latter-generation Hideyoshi type figure have greater success against Korea and/or China intervening in the Ming-Qing transition era and the rebellions of that time?
It's entirely possible that without the Korean War,the Ming Dynasty could have destroyed the Manchus because it's not exhausted by the war against Japan.
 

raharris1973

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It's entirely possible that without the Korean War,the Ming Dynasty could have destroyed the Manchus because it's not exhausted by the war against Japan.

It's possible that resources not expended defeating Japan help avert the terminal crisis of the Ming.

On the other hand, dynasties don't last forever, the Ming already had a pretty lengthy run, and other factors could still be in play to weaken and crash them by about the same time:

A) During the Imjin War, Ming China was also fighting a major peasant rebellion in the northwest and a major tribal uprising in the southwest. So a China not fighting in Korea has one war less, but is not exactly a country at peace.

B) The ill effects of the silver boom and crash on the economy may still happen. Spanish silver had been flooding in for quite some time, and the Ming may have switched to accepting taxes only in silver before 1592.

C) Other ill effects related to the little ice age which are sometimes cited as contributing causes to Ming failure could still happen.

...and of course there's still considerations of what happens to Japan in a continued Sengoku. It may just give them practice fighting for another generation or two if they don't consolidate until the 1620s or 1630s and leave this them with an ass-kicking army at that time.

Or it may wear them down more as a society and leave them more vulnerable to foreign predation, at least around their periphery. A Japan not consolidated until the 1620s, 1630s or 1640s won't be getting around to a Sakoku policy until the 1660s or so. Could it be too late by then?
 
What effects would this have on Korea itself? It was after all Korea that bore the brunt of the damage during the Imjin war.
 
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