Appointed by the shōgun, jitō managed manors, including national holdings governed by the kokushi or provincial governor.
The term jitō (literally meaning "land head") began to be used in the late Heian period as an adjectival word.
Jitō were officially established when Minamoto no Yoritomo was appointed to oversee their ennoblement by the Imperial court following his successful usurpation of power.
[3] After the Jōkyū War in 1221, the shogunate appointed many jitō in Western Japan to the land that the people of the losing side and imperial court had possessed.
The elimination of the jitō caste removed Imperial recognition and support from dozens of small warlords and weakened the intense rivalries that had fueled centuries of civil conflict, thus enabling the more easily controlled and reliable daimyo to consolidate ownership of the land.