In ancient times, in addition to shinden (also referred to as kanda; land held by a shrine) and jiden (also referred to as terada; land held by a temple), fuko (households of temples and shrines) granted by the Ritsuryo state (state based on ritsuryo code in the seventh century) and the early time shoen (estate) which was established by konden (development of fallow land or creation of new rice paddies) were the main source of income for the temples and shrines (Some big temples and shrines had systems such as zojishi (officials responsible for building temples, and shingun - also referred to as kamikoori; deity district).
古代においては自前の神田・寺田に加え、律令国家によって給付された封戸や墾田開発によって成立した初期荘園が寺社の大きな収入源であった（一部の大寺院・大神社には造寺司や神郡の制度もあった）。