Hideyoshi's father, Yaemon was said to be a 'Hyakusyo', but it is a later way to see 'Hyakusyo' as a farmer and there is an opinion that his main business was 'Ashigaru' (conscripted foot-soldiers) of ODA clan (there is an another opinion that Hideyoshi was a peddler of needles before serving warlords and had a origin of merchant class, judging from his different ideas which a farmer could not hit).
秀吉の父・弥右衛門は百姓であったとされるが、百姓＝農民とするのは後代の用例であり、弥右衛門の主たる生業は織田家の足軽だったとする説もある（一説には百姓では思いつかないような発想などから秀吉は武家へ仕官以前は針の行商人で商人出身であったという説がある）。