Ikki

Ikki is a league or alliance. During the Muromachi Period, warriors and/or peasants would form pacts and band together for their own protection, especially in the chaotic Sengoku Period. Some of these sects were religiously based, usually formed around a Jôdô sect, called an ikkô-ikki. These leagues--some sources refer to them as mobs--challenged the authority of the local daimyô, often resulting in armed conflict.

References

• Sansom, George. A History of Japan 13334-1615. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1963.
• Hall, John Whitney. Government and Local Power in Japan 500 to 1700: A Study Based on Bizen Province". Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.
• Hall, John Whitney and Toyota, Takeshi. Japan in the Muromachi Age. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1977.