Since legal ownership or a permit by Kokuga was required to cultivate a domain, they became the Zaichokanjin of Kokuga, or were military aristocrats that shifted from ryuju (the place they stayed) to dwellers, children of former governors, descendants of imperial families and nobles, and a few local clans connected to governors, in order to become the kaihatsu-ryoshu.
誰が開発領主となったのかと言えば、その領域そのものの法的所有、または国衙による開発の承認が重要なテコとなったため、自ら国衙の在庁官人となったか、あるいは国司と結びついた、留住から土着へと至った軍事貴族や前司の子弟など王臣子孫、そして一部の土豪だろう。