🎎 Samurai Japan | c. 1580 | Oda Nobunaga, Azuchi Castle What you’re seeing: Inside a warlord’s pavilion below Azuchi Castle on Lake Biwa (near Kyoto). Attendants prepare the black-lacquered armor of Oda Nobunaga, Japan’s most powerful daimyō (大名, “great name”) — a feudal lord commanding samurai retainers under the authority of the shogun (将軍, “military commander”), who ruled Japan in the emperor’s name. Where and when: Late 16th century — the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573–1600). This was the turning point between centuries of civil war and Japan’s unification. Historical context: Japan was emerging from the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States Period) — a century of rival daimyōs fighting for control. Nobunaga led the effort to centralize power, crush religious armies, and expand commerce. His castle at Azuchi symbolized the new political order. After his death in 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued his campaigns, and Tokugawa Ieyasu later unified the country at Sekigahara (1600), foundi...