As we shall see time and again, kinship in the form of headship ties (soryo), looms large as a recruiting mechanism at all levels of Muromachi society: here too, the "shugo" lords of the highest standing were mostly branch families of the Ashikaga. However, these kinship ties did little in the way of mediating between the semi-independent "shugo" lords and the regime. It was rather the effective participation of the "shugo" lords in governing through the "kanrei" council system which bound their interests more firmly than before to the regime.