In order to control (so that daimyo (Japanese territorial lord) in the middle of their Sankinkotai (a system under which feudal lords in the Edo period were required to spend every other year in residence in Edo) could not enter Kyoto without permission and contact the imperial court) Fushimi-juku and the banks of the Yodo-gawa River, which are the entrance to Kyoto, this was the only post among the Ongoku Bugyo that was filled by a daimyo.
京都への入口である伏見宿及び淀川河岸を監督（大名が参勤交代の途中で勝手に入京して朝廷と接触しないように）するため、遠国奉行の中では唯一大名が就任することがあった役職である。