In the "Teikin-orai" (Epistolary for Home Instruction) completed from the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan) to the Muromachi period, many names of merchants and workmen are described as 'people who should stay in the castle town' including masters of fusuma-shoji such as kami-shi, kyo-ji, paper making, craftsmen of lacquer ware and handiworks, and craftsmen of gold and silver handiworks, which shows that fusuma-shoji was widespread in the samurai class and they required specialized craftsmen.
南北朝時代(日本)から室町初期に完成した『庭訓往来』には、「城下に招き居えべき輩」として多くの商人、職人の名を列挙しており、襖障子に関係するものとして唐紙師、経師、紙漉き、塗師、金銀細工師などが挙げられており、襖建具が分業化された職人を必要とするほどに、武士階級に相当普及していた事とが知れる。