Under shoen koryo sei (The System of Public Lands and Private Estates) in the early medieval period (from the late Heian period to the mid-Kamakura period), the 'myo' (rice-field lot under the charge of a nominal holder), which was managed by a lord of public land qualified as Gunji (a local government official), Goji (a local government official under the Ritsuryo system) or Hoji (an officer governing public land), shokan (an officer governing a shoen (manor)) often overlapped that of a lord of public land or some powerful myoshu (owner of rice fields) who was concurrently a peasant (they instead officially held peasant status in the early age) was mixed in a mosaic-like manner.
中世初期（平安時代後期～鎌倉時代中期）までの荘園公領制においては、郡司、郷司、保司などの資格を持つ公領領主、公領領主ともしばしば重複する荘官、一部の有力な名主百姓（むしろ初期においては彼らこそが正式な百姓身分保持者）が管理する「名田」（みょう）がモザイク状に混在していた。