The word "jito," which began to be used around the mid-Heian period as a word meaning "boundaries" or "territories," came to mean influential people that ruled territories, officials that managed manors, or local government officials (variously called "gunji," "goji" or "hoshi") that managed imperial territories on the ground.
地頭は元々、平安時代中期頃から、土地のほとり、すなわち「現地」を意味する語として使用され始めたが、そのうち、現地で領地を支配する有力者、又は荘園を現地管理する荘官職、公領を現地管理する郡司、郷司、保司職を表すようになった。