The shōen or landed estates were private, tax-free, and autonomous feudal manors which arose with the decline of the ritsuryō system.

The earliest shōen developed in the Nara period to encourage land reclamation and provided for the succession of the right to cultivate reclaimed fields in perpetuity.

In either case, as these estates grew, they became independent of the civil administrative system and contributed to the rise of a local military class.

At the end of the 13th century, during the Shōō era (1288–93), Tōji was involved in a conflict with its jitō, the Komiya clan, over ownership of Yugejima shōen.

The cost of the lawsuit was therefore enormous for both parties, and written records the remittances between Kyoto and Kamakura are noteworthy as an early example of money transfer.