Overview
This guide will walk you through understanding and unlocking the full potential of the Ikko-Ikki, so that Japan may finally be ruled by a Ikko Shogunate!
Introduction
This is my perspective on the Ikko-Ikki as a longstanding TW player (my favourites are the more realism oriented games, i.e. Medieval TW and Medieval II, and obviously Shogun 2).
I have spent more hours than I should have playing TW titles (fortunately many of those were before Steam was even a thing, so at least the numbers seem a tad more normal!! Haha).
The Shogun 2 campaign is very dynamic; as such, every playthrough can and will be different. However, I attempt here to provide general information and strategy that should serve you well in most of your Ikko-Ikki adventures under all circumstances!
Also keep in mind that I refer to other clans and provinces as they are in the very beginning of a campaign. As you probably all know, clans tends to be destroyed by others relatively quickly and unpredictably the more a campaign goes on.
One thing has to be said, too: Shogun 2 is no perfect game.
The diplomacy is not exactly broken, but it is a well-known and established fact that it leaves much to be desired. AI clans usually tend to gang up on the human player, betray him for no reason or act incomprehensibly, and in late game AI “cheating” is usually very evident (coordinated attacks by different clans against the human player, alliances broken and immediately re-established ignoring the reputation malus of breaking treaties, etc.).
All of these problems are exacerbated with the Ikko-Ikki. That is something to be kept in mind.
Why the Ikko-Ikki?
So, why should you play the Ikko-Ikki?
It might be that you are considering purchasing this specific DLC as a veteran player, or maybe you are a rookie that is just getting into Shogun 2 as of recently, after the free give-away of May 2020.
Why this clan and not any other?
Well, The Ikko-Ikki are a very unique faction, with a rich lore and history of its actual counterpart in the history of Japan, something which may spike your interest.
In Shogun 2, however, the Ikko-Ikki are probably the hardest clan to play as! So if you are looking for a challenge, this might be something for you!
If you are new to Shogun 2, I do recommend getting a good understanding of the base game mechanics with any of the other standard clans, however. But if you feel confident in your abilities, you may just become a new member in the Ikko appreciation club. They are all things considered my favourite faction in the game, and most of the hours spent playing this game are with the Ikko-Ikki.
Rhetorics aside, the Ikko have a set of peculiar characteristics which render them unique in Shogun 2.
Advantages:
– Excellent starting location.
– Access to katana Ashigaru.
– Boosted religion spread rate.
– Devout generals can spread the Jodo Shinshu faith (also known as Ikko faith).
– Access to superior warrior monks units.
– Ronin units are generally superior to their Samurai counterparts.
– High morale troops.
Disadvantages:
– Their units have lower defence.
– Unable to access mid-to-late game Samurai units (there are no Nodachi Ronin nor Naginata Ronin in the game, for example).
– Massively impaired diplomacy due to religious differences with all other clans.
– Massively impaired trade due to religious differences with all other clans.
– Somewhat arduous expansion, owing to their geography around their starting location.
As you can see, their advantages hardly make up for their numerous disadvantages.
They are definitely the hardest clan to play with, as I have said already!
If this does not scare you off, let us continue!
Early game economy and trade
Both Kaga and Echizen have very fertile soil, which dictates that literally one of the first few clicks you do after you have started as the Ikko-Ikki should be upgrading your farms to “Improved Irrigation” standard (and to “Terrace Farming” asap).
They also both have their own industries; Kaga gets a Blacksmith and Echizen gets an Artisan.
Both should be also upgraded as soon as possible; I usually upgrade the Blacksmith to Armourer (one nice way of partially offsetting the inherent deficit in defence that Ikko troops have), and upgrade the Artisan to Paper Mills (which compared to the Fletcher provides a little extra profit per turn).
In the end, you can also decide to upgrade them with the other options, or maybe not to upgrade them at all, but this are the best options, in my opinion.
Something you also want to do is start trading as soon as possible; the Jinbo should be willing to trade with you early game, just like the Asai. The Hatakeyama should be uninterested in trade at the beginning, while the Anegakoji further to the east have no way to either send or receive goods, as they are landlocked, so any trade deal with them early game is going to be of little use. They will also usually go to war with the Jinbo, so there’s a further problem.
Sometimes the Honma will also be available to trade, if you happen to “discover” them, as will the Sakai to the west of Echizen.
One more option is trying to race some merchant boats to the trading post to the east, but usually clans closer to there will beat you to it.
Diplomacy
As a rule of thumb, everyone will come to hate your guts, sooner or later.
Early game, the Asai in Omi province will be on friendly terms with you, and will usually seek an alliance with you. I strongly advise against allying with anyone early game, but I especially recommend avoiding anything that isn’t a trade deal with the Asai.
They start off in probably one of the weakest strategic locations on the entire map, with few resources and defensive mindset. All other clans bordering them, but most importantly the Oda in Owari and the Hattori in Iga, are very aggressive.
Thanks to whoever made this map!
The Hattori especially probably have the best starting location in the entire map, and their expansionism combined with good resources will probably put you at odds with them very soon.
Anyway, the Asai are to be ignored in their demands for military alliance. Either the Oda (Owari province)or the Hattori (Iga province) – sometimes the Hatakeyama – will soon obliterate them, and these are the clans you should fear the most. You do not want to be bogged down in useless wars with powerful clans because of an ally who can’t pull their own weight and who will probably be destroyed very soon.
The Sakai in Wakasa will also declare war on you relatively soon early game; Wakasa also is a tricky one to hold, as it will require an above-bare-minimum garrison to keep order (even by turn 100 I often still get “Resistance to invaders” as a malus to public order, so it’s not really worth it by itself). The Hatakeyama do little to hide their contempt for you and might declare war on you, as well.
Beyond early-game, there is very little in the way of diplomacy for the Ikko-Ikki. In all actuality I advise against sending any ships on world exploration routes (something which is on the other hand very advisable for all other standard clans), for one simple reason: clans who have not “discovered” you, can’t declare war on you!!
As a matter of fact, most of the time (with the exception of very late game) you will have no allies.
The Ikko-Ikki, because of the ever-decreasing reputation they have with other clans, are quite prone to being ganged up on by multiple clans at the same time, since it carries little in the way of retribution to other clans.
Establishing vassals is a possibility, but that is not a realistic options until late game, and it also comes with the chance of being dragged in useless wars.
The fact that your profits from trade will fluctuate massively (making them unreliable) and trading routes will often by raided by enemy fleets makes you even more dependent on farms for profits than other clans; any vassal established thus means one less farm to reap profits from.
Military Economy & Military operations
I will not enumerate here the sundry differences that Ikko units present, compared to their standard counterparts, nor will I talk extensively about their unique units. If you are interested in that, there are other guides who go into more detail, or you can even browse the Shogun 2 Encyclopedia on your own.
My intention in writing this section is providing you with insight in what I consider to be the most realistic approach to Ikko military economy and operations.
If you intend on following the advice I gave in the ,,Early game economy” section, you should focus your production of ranged units in Echizen, owing to the precision bonus they will gain when trained there. You should mainly focus your efforts on fielding adequate numbers of Bow Ronin and Bow Ashigaru, as well as a couple of Bow Warrior Monks. Forget about all the other unique ranged units (mainly matchlock units) the Ikko-Ikki have access to; the way the campaign economy and the study of the Arts work, you will not realistically be able to ever field these units, on pain of wasting massive amounts of money and suffering the consequences of that.
Kaga should be specializing in melee units, thanks to its blacksmithing tradition.
Unlike all other clans in the game, the Ikko-Ikki can produce by default Katana Ashigaru in any settlement they control. This means that it is unnecessary to build a Katana Dojo until mid-to-late game, as the Katana Ashigaru can very well serve in the Katana Samurai/Ronin’s stead as jack-of-all-trades unit.
As such, I advise building a Yari Dojo in Kaga. Yari Ronin will be necessary in making up for the regular Ikko Yari Ashigaru low defence stats; all things being equal, you should always choose the Yari Ronin over the regular Yari Ashigaru for all tasks other than garrisoning non-frontline settlements. That is true for all clans in the game, but even more so for the Ikko-Ikki.
You can also later upgrade the Yari Dojo to a Naginata Dojo, which combined with a tier 2 Jodo Shinshu Temple will allow you to recruit Naginata Warrior Monks.
Forget about all other units other than those mentioned; the massive costs of building the infrastructure and recruiting them makes them (in addition to time constraints) unit you should not strive to produce in the campaign. 
As I have already said, the Ikko-Ikki are after all a faction of insurgent paesant, so massive numbers of fanatic Ashigaru, a few Ronins and Warrior Monks is what you should make do with!! Embrace the Ikko spirit!
Ikko monks have the ability to cause uprisings, as all other monks in the game do.
The difference is in the fact that successful Ikko uprisings (whereby the rebels are able to conquer their province’s settlement) will automatically swear loyalty to you. That means that you can cause targeted uprisings in poorly-defended provinces and, hopefully, you might add that province to your dominion.
A pleasant side-effect of this is that naturally all the Ikko rebel troops will be at your disposal once the uprising has been successful. In area where provinces are tightly packed, a successful uprising in a province can spawn a much-needed relief army for a besieged or threatened Ikko province in an very unpredictable manner.
That said, all advantages of regular uprisings apply to Ikko uprisings, too: they disrupt enemy operations and delay enemy troops in rear-guard actions, and they ransack local productive structures.
At the same time, however, Ikko uprisings are relatively expensive due to the Ikko Monk’s expenses. As such, they should be used sparingly and in a targeted manner, or in dire circumstances.
On Jodo Shinshu Buddhism
The Ikko-Ikki are staunch believers in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, which puts them at odds with all other clans believing in a more traditional blend of Shinto and Buddhism, and obviously with christians, too.
This means that you, as a devout leader of the Ikko, should be prepared to coherently and constantly invest into spreading the faith; this is achieved by the following means:
- Building and upgrading Jodo Shinshu Temples.
- Recruiting and managing Ikko Monks.
- Posting your generals carefully.
Starting from the first point, Temples are key buildings for the Ikko-Ikki. Every major settlement should have at least a tier 1 Jodo Shinshu Temple.
Temples are the basic means through which you can convert the general population to Jodo Shinshu, thus decreasing unrest.
These religious buildings also provide Naginata Warrior Monks as guarnison units whenever the settlement is besieged or under direct assault, regardless of a Naginata Dojo existing in the settlement or not.
Naginata Warrior Monks are very powerful.
They can make short work of pretty much all units they will realistically encounter, and even top tier units such as Nodachi Samurai and Naginata Samurai will struggle to overcome them. The fact that you get a number of these (between 1-4 according to how much you upgraded the basic Temple), and that you can use these as expendable units thanks to them being regenerated every time the settlement is attacked – makes them a major asset, while also providing them with a fitting death for their religious ideals!
Thus, Jodo Shinshu Temples should be the default building you should build in rear-line provinces, or just when you don’t know what to build (as opposed to Taverns or Markets for all standard clans).
This further boosts the Ikko-Ikki’s general defensive attitude, but this will be further expanded upon later on in the guide.
Ikko generals are very devout and are all faithful adherents to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. This enables them to directly influence the conversion rates in all provinces where they happen to be located. As such, it is inadvisable to “blitzkrieg” your way through enemy territory, conquering more than one settlement in one single turn.
The better option is going one settlement at the time, and entrenching yourself there if you fear an enemy counterattack while the Jodo Shinshu faith spreads thanks to your generals.
As you can see, I have spent most skill points on the left-most branch of the skill tree, which is the one centering on Study of the Arts/spreading Jodo Shinshu. Other than the first two points, which I spent on the Strategist, which is a significant boost on armies’ mobility and a must have, all others have gone there.
Monks are extremely important to the Ikko-Ikki. They are the prime movers of paesants’ mobilization in enemy provinces.
You also have to keep in mind that the Ikko-Ikki cannot recruit Metsukes. This means that Ikko Monks are also your primary anti-Ninja and anti-Metsuke agents.
This is a maxxed out Ikko Monk. Admittedly, this Monk is more specialized in spreading Jodo Shinshu and causing uprisings, rather than being full on anti-Ninja/Metsuke. I recommend specializing 2 Ikko Monks in proselitism and uprisings, and two more in anti-Ninja/Metsuke operations. You can spec the last Ikko Monk however you want. I usually dedicate him to full Study of the Arts to get a nice little boost there, but all variants are decent.
Ikko-Ikki Grand Strategy
So, what are the best ways for the Ikko-Ikki to solidify their power and establish a Ikko Shogunate in Kyoto?
Ikko grand strategy is very much contingent on windows of opportunity opening and closing relatively quickly more than pre-planned strategies and plans (which, as we have seen in the ,,Diplomacy” section, can be quickly turned on their heads); as such, you must be able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances.
Let’s take a look at the map.
As I was hinting at in the ,,Introduction”, the Ikko-Ikki have an excellent starting position. Echizen and Kaga have strong economic output, but they are also both chokepoints for invading armies. Hence, I strongly recommend upgrading both provinces up to ,,Fortress” standard (tier 3) as soon as you can afford to do so.
The Ikko-Ikki are very apt at defending their lands, and you should be prepared to play defensively until you have fulfilled all economic strengthening plans and built sufficient military infrastructure.
After that, there are various strategic options.
Your core provinces, which you must never lose control of lest you seriously jeopardise your campaign, are marked in green.
Circled in blue, you can see the provinces involved in a strategy focussing on the East. This strategy thus entails entrenching in Echizen while moving from Kaga.
Noto makes for a nice addition early on in the game, which should put you at oods with the Hatakeyama (its starting owners). However, this province is isolated from the rest of the Hatakeyama dominions and it should be easy to take without problems. The Hatakeyama are also likely to declare war on you no matter what you do, as explained in the ,,Diplomacy” section, so do not hesitate to strike them pre-emptively.
East of Kaga also lay Hida and North/South Shinano.
Hida provides you with Wood Mills, a nice industry which should also reinforce your autarchic economy. North and South Shinano are also both excellent provinces, although you will generally find the Takeda in the way. They are usually a strong, aggressive clan, so prepare yourself properly if you are going to go at war with them. A minor bonus with attacking the Takeda is that they are generally going to be perpetually at war with any number of their neighbouring clans, so you should generally be able to attack them while they are also dealing with at least one other front.
Notice I have not mentioned Etchu; I have not forgotten about it. This province however is definitely sub-par all things considered; it has a massive coastline which is going to invite Honma aggression, and obviously will put you at odds with either the Uesugi or the Date prematurely. As such, I suggest requesting safe passage to whoever owns it, and implement plan East as illustrated so far.
After you have secured North/South Shinano, you can loop back around to Mino (which is part of the victory conditions for the short campaign). At that point, it would be sensible to take both Wakasa and Omi to secure your position to the West and start pushing towards Kyoto and the provinces south of Kyoto. To this end, you might also want to secure Owari and even Mikawa (which provides a significant economic bonus by virtue of its superior stables), but I would not suggest going farther than that. To further secure the East, as you prepare for Realm Divide, you might also want to take Kai, which provides for a nice chokepoint if you feel threatened from the are around Izu.
This is a somewhat tricky one to pull off, but it can be done.
But do prepare for perpetual warfare.
This strategic option requires that you immediately suppress the Sakai in Wakasa and start entrenching (building a tier 2+ Temple and upgrading the fortifications) there to secure that chokepoint.
Once you have done this, you must immediately turn to the soouth before long. In the context of this strategy, it makes sense to ally with the Asai, as that will grant you military transit; this will enable you to swiftly take on the Oda in Mino and Owari.
Usually by then, the Hattori will already have secured significant resources and will start posturing aggresively towards the Asai, forcing you into a bitter war. At the same time, the Hatakeyama will probably have started moving against you in Kaga, so make sure you have it reinforced and ready to take on an invading force.
This strategy is rather precarious, but it can yield significant results, owing to the geography around Kyoto. If you have neutralised the Oda and taken Mino and Owari, your position to the South-East should be secured. Same goes for Kaga and Wakasa.
At that point, if you can overcome the Hattori, provinces south of Kyoto should be ripe for the taking, which allows you to significantly strengthen your autarchic economy.
Taking Settsu (and perhaps even Tamba) will secure you the other chokepoint to the West.
By then, you should be at odds with the Kyushu clans (Chosokabe/Kono/Sogo), but you can either play it defensively and build up for Realm Divide, or land an army on Kyushu and take very fertile land. It is up to you, but at this point any option is valid.
Okay, I will admit this is kind of a meme option, but it can work surprisingly well.
The basic idea is pushing through Wakasa all the way along the coastline as far as you wish.
Adopting this strategy will allow you to advance in one single direction, and most provinces wil lbe chokepoints that will force enemy forces to fight you on your terms, mostly.
Securing Mimasaka and Hoki will decisively strengthen your autarchic economy (thanks to the Iron Mines and Artisans located in those provinces), but going even further to Iwami will even grant you control of the local Gold Mine. It’s up to you really.
You can also use your ports on the coast to dispute the trading post north of Izumo. Taking Tamba allows you to attack Kyoto whenever you feel ready.
On the Eastern side, taking Noto is an option, but again, taking Etchu isn’t a great idea; it will just escalate tensions with whomever owns Hida, and with the Honma/Date/Uesugi, so I advise against that.
One option however is taking on the Honma early game (preferably if you see them busy with landing troops around Echigo). This should secure a Gold Mine very soon, which will put you in a very good position economically.
This strategy has a few disadvantages.
Stretching your dominions so thin will increase administration costs, which means less income from taxes. It will also require you to significantly invest in infrastructure (roads mostly) to keep reinforcements coming, while it will leave you open from the south in Wakasa and Echizen, which you both will need to reinforce to defend (in addition to Kaga, obviously).
You will also be forced to build a lot of ships to defend your coastline.
It is a very expensive strategy.
A variation of this involves stopping at Tajima and taking on Tamba, and from then one moving to Settsu and looping back all the way around Kyoto, in what would be a hybrid of the South and the “Chile” strategies.
Bushido/Chi
Owing to the peculiar characteristics of diplomacy as an Ikko player, I recommend immediately boosting your ability to convert populations to Jodo Shinshu.
This is a very late game (turn 100+) Bushido/Chi tree, and as you can see many Bushido skills are still missing.
That is fine.
As an Ikko player, you should focus on the Chi (“civil development”); after achieving Zen and the following Art, you should immediately switch to studying farm-enhancing and tax-boosting Arts. Sometimes boosting exports if you have some allies/vassals can also be a good choice.
Regarding Bushido Arts, the only thing you realistically will need from early to mid game are Fire Arrows. Once you have done that, you can boost your spear/sword infantry, and go on as you please from there.
Conclusion
I hope you have enjoyed reading this guide, I tried to include allmost important details to leading a successful campaign as the Ikko-Ikki.
If you think something is missing, let me know down below.
I also hope this has convinced you to get the Ikko-Ikki DLC in order to try playing Shogun 2 on a whollly different difficulty level.
If not, perhaps you just found it interesting.
In any case, please do remember to follow Master Rennyo’s every word and never let your faith in Jodo Shinsu be shaken!