The above-mentioned headmen (nanushi or shoya) were often rich farmers who had owned their own land for a long time, or descendants of samurai who had settled there, and many of them were privileged to adopt a surname and wear a sword and excused from various levies and taxes as well as titled as country samurai (goshi).
この名主、庄屋は昔から土地を所有している有力農民や土着した武士の末裔などがなる場合が多く、苗字帯刀あるいは諸役御免の特権を持つ者や郷士に列せられるものも多かった。