Hideyoshi was brought up from a nameless peasant to be one of Nobunaga's top generals. Hideyoshi defeated Mitsuhide, the Army General who had turned upon Oda Nobunaga and slain him, within a month and was regarded as the rightful successor of Nobunaga by avenging the treachery of Mitsuhide.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who became a grand minister in 1586, himself the son of a poor peasant family, created a law that the samurai caste became codified as permanent and heritable, and that non-samurai were forbidden to carry weapons, thereby ending the social mobility of Japan up until that point and the dissolution of the Edo Shogunate by the Meiji revolutionaries.

It is important to note that the distinction between samurai and non-samurai was so obscure that during the 16th century, most male adults in any social class (even small farmers) belonged to at least one military organization of their own and served in wars before and during Hideyoshi's rule. It can be said that an "all against all" situation continued for a century. (Wikipedia.org)

Handpainted cold cast resin.

10 1/2" high.

Item #YTC6690