[4] Some people became nobi as legal punishment for committing a crime or failing to pay a debt.
However, some people voluntarily became nobi in order to escape crushing poverty during poor harvests and famines.
[1] Household nobi served as personal retainers and domestic servants, and most received a monthly salary that could be supplemented by earnings gained outside regular working hours.
[8] Nobi were considered an extension of the master's own body, and an ideology based on patronage and mutual obligation developed.
In order to gain freedom, nobi could purchase it, earn it through military service, or receive it as a favor from the government.