Daimyo, any of the largest and most powerful landholding magnates in Japan from about the 10th century until the latter half of the 19th century. The term came about to refer to military lords exercising territorial control as the military class became increasingly empowered.

A daimyo was a feudal lord in shogunal Japan from the 12th century to the 19th century. The daimyos were large landowners and vassals of the shogun. Each daimyo hired an army of samurai warriors to protect his family's lives and property.

The daimyo (大名, daimyō) were powerful feudal rulers from the tenth century to the nineteenth century in Japan. Like feudal Europe, Japan was divided into a number of autonomous territories controlled by feudal lords, with the support of samurai.

For more than a century, between 1467 and 1603, rival feudal lords known as daimyo fought for control of the Asian archipelago, attempting—with varying degrees of success—to unite the warring states.

Oda Nobunaga (織田 信長, [oda nobɯ (ꜜ)naɡa] ⓘ; 23 June 1534 – 21 June 1582) was a Japanese daimyō and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the Tenka-bito (天下人, lit. 'person under heaven')[a] and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.

Japan - Feudalism, Shogunate, Edo Period: In the 1550–60 period the Sengoku daimyo, who had survived the wars of the previous 100 years, moved into an even fiercer stage of mutual conflict. These powerful daimyo were harassed not only by each other but also by the rise of common people within their domains.