In particular, Oda Nobunaga, one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, organized a professional army by creating a class of full-time samurai soldiers made up of jizamurai and mercenaries, who were removed from their peacetime agriculture.
After the 1588 sword hunt ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the following heinōbunri policy, a clear distinction between the peasants and the samurai was made, which paved way to a more organized kashindan of the daimyo.
[5] The kashindan held significant power in relation to the ruler; they made him swear to rule justly, to promote them in accordance to actual merit and to not assassinate them based on the suspicion of treason without telling them beforehand.
Although there were generally no laws regulating inheritance, social rules discouraged the division of heritage, and the obedience from the children and wives to the judgement of the parent was paramount.
[7] The members of the Tokugawa clan and fudai daimyo were appointed to posts at the top of the ruling structure, such as karō and bugyō.
Furthermore, the military units were all organized into separate kumi, and the lower-ranked samurai, including the rōtō, chūgen, and komono, were commanded by a kumigashira ("group head").
Its abolition led to a financial crisis among the low and middle-ranking samurai, who no longer had access to their traditional income and privilege.