Around the eleventh to the thirteenth century when shoen koryo sei (the system of public land and private estates) was established, jiden fields were dealt with in the same way as that for joden fields (fields for which tax was exempted) of manors or Kokugaryo (territories governed by provincial government offices).
その後、11世紀～13世紀ごろに荘園公領制が成立すると、荘園や国衙領の除田（じょでん、免税田を意味する）の一つとして寺田が位置づけられた。