However, from the original meaning of shinsen, a voluntarily supply of local marine products to the gods, it became a ritual to display the dominance of the land where offerings were caught by supplying it to a chief (an emperor) and having the chief eat it.
しかし神饌の意味する本来の自発的に土地の海産物を神々に貢進したというものから、首長（天皇）に贄を奉じこれを首長が食べることで贄の取れた土地を支配していることを誇示する儀式となった。