Kishi (Joshi) were upper class bushi who were allowed to ride horses and, for example, in the case of the Hiroshima domain, bushi who were given more than one hundred koku were considered to belong to this class.
騎士（上士）は騎乗を許された上層武士であり、例えば広島藩の場合、百石以上の知行を与えられた武士がこれに当たるとされた。