Sword Hunt

• Date: 1588
• Japanese: 刀狩り (katana gari)

Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered a "sword hunt" in 1588, ordering that weapons be taken from all the peasants of all the provinces. Along with a few other policies, this was a key element in the creation of a more fixed class structure, in which individuals were strictly peasants, or samurai. This division between samurai and peasants is known in Japanese as heinô bunri (兵農分離, lit. "soldier farmer division.").

Hôjô Yasutoki during the Kamakura period, and Shibata Katsuie much more recently, had undertaken sword hunts as well, but Hideyoshi's was unprecedented in its scale. The order itself, known as the "Sword Hunt Order," or katanagari rei, was issued on 1588/7/8.