Jokan is, as the name suggests, were regarded as localized lower-ranking kokushi descendants such as jo or sakan, and jokan often attained official ranks such as ikan and so on in emonfu (bureaucracy in the ritsuryo system of governance) and seemed to have been in a position of leadership within the kokuga.
掾官はその名の通り掾や目といった下級国司の子孫が土着したものと見られ、衛門府の尉官などの官位を得ていることが多く、国衙で指導的立場にいたと思われる。