Later, the higher ranking samurai families such as the Minamoto clan or the Taira family, which had relationships with persons of noble birth were entrusted to warrant the local nobles their developed lands, and a system was established in which middle and lower ranking samurai were called 'kyunin' who offered military services to the lord not only in peacetime but also in wartime in exchange for the land which the lord granted them as stipend.
やがて彼らの土地の保証は源氏、平家といった、貴種に連なる上級武家に委ねられ、下級、中級の武士は「給人」と呼ばれて、主君から恩給された土地の見返りに、平時、戦時における主君への軍事的奉仕を行う構造が出来上がった。