In the Muromachi bakufu, the families who mediated for Seii taishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians"), were limited to several specific families called Moshitsugishu (a civil servant post in Muromachi Shogunate).
室町幕府においては征夷大将軍に取次を行う家は特定の数家に限定され、申次衆と呼ばれた。