Han started when shugo daimyo (Japanese territorial lords) dismantled manors and employed local lords-grade samurai who had owned a territory in each farming village and the village headmen who had become local samurai as their vassals, firmly building a system to rule the whole region in their territory.
藩は、守護大名が荘園を解体し、各農村に所領を持つ国人級の武士や、武士化した名主層（地侍）を被官化し、一円的領域支配を築いていったことに始まる。