Glossary: Ikkou-ikki

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Ikkou-ikki (一向一揆)

Lit.: "Single-minded Revolt", largely disorganized mobs of peasant farmers, monks, Shinto priests and local nobles who rose up against samurai rule in the 15th and 16th centuries following the ideologies of the Ikkou School. Rennyo, the head abbot of the True Pure Lands School at Hongan Temple might be called their nominal leader, but the revolt continued after his death in 1499. Kennyo, who became head abbot of Hongan Temple in 1554, led the Ikkou Sect and directed the Ikkou-ikki in the late 1500s.