During the Sengoku Jidai what was the relevance of ones clothing. Did clothing show rank or status for example. Were certain colours used for certain occasions or classes of people. Also with armour did certain crests of colours have any significant meaning?
Also did any Daimyo ever outfit there troops with any kind of uniform I know many didn't and troops in Japan did not tend to be uniformly equipped and clothes. I have read lots of Daimyo would provide their Ashigaru with armour but Samurai tended to wear their own. "Red Fire Unit" of Yamagata Masakage wore red armour to strike fear into their opponents Ii Naomasa later did the same thing with his "The Red Devils." inspired by Yamagata. That could be considered a uniform I guess but are there other examples.
I realise this is quite a broad question so please be as broad as you want with your answers. Anything about what people wore both on and off the battlefield would be intresting to me. Also if you wish to expand beyond the Sengoku Jidai and go into other periods such as Edo or Heian that would be great too.
Thank you
During the Sengoku period some daimyo did outfit their troops with a kind of uniform. As you noted, Yamagata and Ii used the color red. Sanada Yukimura also used the color red. Date Masamune used the color black and made his troops wear black colored body armor, the Sendai-do (仙台胴). You can google image this word and it will show you some examples.
The Hojo clan of Odawara used 5 colors: white, black, red, blue, and yellow. Troops under the command of Hojo Tsunashige famously used the color yellow and the banner of Earth Yellow Hachiman. Troops under a different samurai leader would use another color.
But this was rare. Samurai came out of a very individualistic honor culture, and one of the ways to stand out was to wear unique and eye-catching clothing. Thus uniforms in the Sengoku period was rare, particularly among the higher ranking samurai.
Many foot soldiers tended to borrow the lord's armor and these armors had the lord's crest emblazoned on them, so that was another way to tell which side a soldier was on.