In the 17th century samurai were elite warriors, members of Japan's ruling class. They were born, not made; you had to come from a samurai family to be considered samurai. Their exalted status was proclaimed by the daisho, or matching pair of swords, each samurai proudly wore. The samurai were justly famous, but the backbone of any Japanese army was the ashigaru or foot soldier. The foot soldier was generally of peasant stock, but his status subtlety changed over the course of the 16th century.
The great warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi was the catalyst for much of this change. Before Hideyoshi took power the average ashigaru was called “ji-zamurai,” or “samurai of the land.” A part-time soldier, most of his life was spent in the fields or in the rice paddies. A peasant farmer, the ji-zamurai would take up arms only at his lord's command. Since agriculture consumed much of his time, the peasant ashigaru was usually poorly trained for military life. This would change with the advent of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
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