Japanese shoens started when the private ownership of newly cultivated land was allowed to increase the farmland under the Ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code) during Nara period (shoki shoen (early shoen)).
日本の荘園は、奈良時代に律令制下で農地増加を図るために墾田私有を認めたことに始まる（初期荘園）。