In Yoshisada's era, however, the head family of the Nitta family owned only a few districts out of 60 in Nitta-no-sho, and Yoshisada himself was a low-profile figure who had neither a court rank nor an official post.
しかし、義貞の時代には新田氏本宗家の領地は広大な新田荘60郷のうちわずか数郷に過ぎず、義貞自身も無位無官で日の目を浴びない存在であった。