It asserted that it was the kokujin-ryoshu, who had been raised from the classes of jito (manager and lord of manor) or shokan (an officer governing manor) to the local lord, that directly ruled the farmers class in those days, and that it was the kokujin-ryoshu, who, by becoming low-level bureaucrat of the shugo daimyo (Japanese feudal lords), supported their military power and came to define the movement of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and the shugo daimyo.
当時、農民層を直接支配していたのは、地頭・荘官などの階層から在地の領主として成長していった国人領主層であり、彼らが守護大名の被官となることでその軍事力を支え、室町幕府や守護大名の動向を規定していったとするものである。