The role of the Samurai-dokoro was to take the leadership of gokenin, the shogun's retainers, and to be in charge of the imprisonment of criminals.
[1] During the Kamakura period, the Samurai-dokoro was in charge of calling in and directing the gokenin, the shogun's retainers.
In the Engyobon Heike Monogatari, the Samurai-dokoro was established upon the request of Wada Yoshimori, and it was modeled after the Taira government period office called samurai bettō that Fujiwara no Tadakiyo was appointed to rule over the samurai of the eight provinces of Bandō (present-day Kantō region).
Additionally, after mid-Muromachi period, the kaikō formed its own military by recruiting local Kyoto jizamurai and skilled vagrants.
After the Ōnin War (1467-77), the military power of the shoshi weakened, and the kaikō's hikan and the officials of another Samurai-dokoro took over the public security.