Could a peasant in feudal japan move up in class?

Answer 1

Yes. Prior to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Edict on Changing Status in 1592, it was entirely possible for someone to advance themselves in Japanese society. Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself was a great example of this.

Answer 2

Prior to the Separation Edict of Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued in 1591, it was entirely possible for someone to move up in class. As a matter of fact, Toyotomi Hideyoshi himself had rose through the ranks due to his military service to Oda Nobunaga. He initially was a peasant, and would eventually become one of the three "Great Unifiers of Japan." (Along with Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu).

After this edict, however, it was impossible for anyone to change their station in class.

Answer 3

Yes, people could change their social positions in the feudal system.

It was possible for a serf to buy freedom. I cannot provide any examples of this, but in theory, it could be done.

Serfs became free by running off the manor and staying away for over a year, under some systems.

Occasionally, kings who wanted certain areas populated guaranteed freedom to runaway serfs who moved there. There were English ports built in this way.

People of all classes joined church organizations, such as monasteries. This changed their status.

Meritorious service to a king, or sometimes to a member of the nobility, could get a person into a new social status. For example, a soldier who did well in a battle could be knighted. There was one example of this in Catalonia where a large number of women fought in a battle while the men in the army were away. A special order of knights was created, the Order of the Hatchet, which consisted of women who had been knighted, and they came from all classes.