FUJIWARA no Hidesato, TAIRA no Takamochi, MINAMOTO no Tsunemoto and so on are considered as the first generation of bushi; in the local lands they signed contracts for farming the koden (field administered directly by a ruler) with kokuga in the similar way as wealthy farmer class (tato fumyo [cultivator/tax manager]) did and got an economic base as warriors.
藤原秀郷、平高望、源経基らがこの第一世代の武士と考えられ、彼らは在地において従来の富豪百姓層（田堵負名）と同様に大規模な公田請作を国衙と契約することで武人としての経済基盤を与えられた。