There were two facts which triggered toji; firstly Zen-emon KONOIKE developed a technique of large-sized preparation barrels in 1600, which can be said to be the industrial revolution of Japanese sake, and secondly the shogunate and domain system was established and it settled a relation between peasants and their lord in each region.
杜氏の発生の前提として、まず日本酒の産業革命ともいうべき、鴻池善右衛門による大量仕込み樽の技法が慶長5年（1600年）に開発されたこと、さらに、幕藩体制が敷かれ、各地方において農民と領主の関係が固定したことの二つが挙げられる。