Samurai status - Sengoku

Two phrases sum up the Sengoku era:

gekokuji — "the low overthrow the high"
jakuniku kyoshoku — "the weak become meat; the strong eat."

In the wake of the Onin Wars, everything was up for grabs.

I would hazard a guess that anyone who could lay hands on a sword and
defend himself might declare himself samurai, but once order begins to
emerge from the chaos, it's natural that the strong sought the means
to make sure that no-one else achieved what they did, to limit by
whatever means the aspirations of those below them.

The promulgation of house codes, etc, all point at this, but they all
imply an authority which I would guess was not quite as extensive as
the author would like to think. Thus we have, in retrospect, the idea
of strictly delineated class boundaries, but I suggest the actuality
was a lot more fluid.

I would also suggest that Hideyoshi's edicts, for example, was to some
degree inspired by his desire to prevent the emergence of another
Hideyoshi. On the other hand, Hideyoshi elevated non-samurai to
samurai status, as has been mentioned. Ieyasu did likewise. Who was
going to stop them?

The one abiding fact seems to me that a samurai's survival depended on
his ability to sustain and defend himself, and then later, it depended
upon the grace and favour of his superiors. Only then did the status
become seriously fixed.

Another view is that some samurai formed democratic councils with
farmers and artisans, exchanging services for food and goods, and all
having a say in the affaris of the han. This proto-democracy was
quickly stamped out as the larger daimyates subsumed the lower.

Thomas