It was considered that the first example of keryo was of the early shoen which were owned by koshin (the Imperial family) or court nobles who ordered Ie no tsukasa (house stewards) and the like via order documents using a kacho (tag), kafu (code), and iejirushi (house mark showing ownership by the family) to operate the holding from the end of the Nara period to the early Heian period; they were called 'XX keryo' (XX family's holding) or 'XX kaden' (XX family's paddy field).
奈良時代末期から平安時代初期に皇親・貴族が所有して家牒・家符・家印などを用いた命令文書で家司などに命じて経営させた初期荘園を「○○家領」「××家田」などと呼称したのが最初と考えられている。