Question

A major difference between Japanese samurai and European knights during the Middle Ages is that only knights:

Answer 1

Could choose whether they wanted to become knights or not, it was a legal contract they went into by choice.

Explanation: Japanese samurai were born into the position.

Answer 2

The difference was that only knights had an optional choice on whether they would actually become a knight during their lifetime; or said in other words - if your father was a knight, you could choose if you would decide to be a knight as well, whereas if your father was a samurai, you had to become a samurai as well.