Vassalage ties between the "shugo" lord and "kokujin" often took place on the estates in a three way intermediary tie called the "shugo" contract ("shugo-uke"): a noble proprietor would give the responsibility of managing his estate to the "shugo" in exchange for a guaranteed year end ("nengu") income delivered to the proprietor residing in the capital. The "shugo" lord then enfeoffed vassal samurai (hikan) on those estates as managers. Supposedly, "shugo" contracts tied the interests of the "shugo" lord, the samurai kokujin and the noble together, but were not based on equality of interests. They were truly instruments of "shugo" encroachment on the estates. There is no doubt as to the intermediary nature of the contract, because it connected the interests of three groups of people, but it was most favorable to the "shugo" lord who used this instrument to expand his ties of vassalage with the local samurai (kokujin), and at the same time to expand his land base at the expense of the nobles.