During this period, when the Fujiwara clan and the Minamoto clan started to occupy the political nucleus, the middle and lower class nobles who had no hope for fame, competed for assignments in the local official (Zuryo, the head of the provincial governors) or specific bureaucrats.
政治の中枢を藤原氏と源氏が占有し始めたこの時期、栄達の望みがない中下流貴族らは地方官（受領）や特定官庁への補任をきそって求めた。