Men who embraced the teachings of Gekokujō and sought to further themselves by wantonly spilling the blood of their enemies.
Castles were burned, cities were levelled, townspeople were slaughtered, and lives were destroyed, for the Sengoku Jidai would breed an entire generation of ambitious killers: people raised on battle and conquest. All across the country, mighty warlords and great armies battled one another for supremacy and power as the Sengoku Jidai officially began. By the beginning of the 16th century, Japan had become something of a ticking time bomb.