Let me set the stage. This is Japan, 16th century. It was an age of power, ambition and, yes, a great deal of chaos. The Sengoku period — when everybody was out fighting, plotting and backstabbing for that piece of the pie. 
It was a dog-eat-dog world, people, and the stakes were high. They were vying for control of provinces, armies clashing, alliances changing like the wind, they were lords,  or daimyo. It was a wild time. Unpredictable. Dangerous.