Senmin as a slave disappeared in an early period, but Senmin as a discriminated class (so-called "Eta" [one group comprising the lowest rank of Japan's Edo-period caste system, people whose work usually involved handling human bodies or animal carcasses] and "Hinin" [one group comprising the lowest rank of Japan's Edo-period caste system, often ex-convicts or vagrants]) started appearing obviously in the medieval period, survived throughout the early-modern times, and existed until Kaiho Rei (Emancipation Edict) was promulgated in 1871.
奴隷としての賤民は早い時代に消滅したが、被差別階級としての賤民（いわゆる“穢多”“非人”）が中世の頃から顕著に見られ始め、近世を通じて存続し、明治4年(1871年)の解放令まで残っていた。