Kokujin is a general term used for the shokan (an officer governing shoen), gunji (district chief), goji (hamlet chief), and hoshi (chief of imperial fief) ranks who became managers of shoen (manor in medieval Japan) and kokugaryo (territories governed by provincial government office) under the late dynasty state system established in the middle of the Heian period, and the feudal lords in the province who belong to the family tree of the jito since the Kamakura period who often originated from there, and is a term used for documentation at that time.
国人は、平安時代中期に成立した後期王朝国家体制の下で荘園と国衙領の管理者となった荘官・郡司・郷司・保司の階層や、そこに出自することの多かった鎌倉時代以降の地頭の系譜を引く在国の領主の一般的呼称で、同時代的に使われた資料用語である。