After the decay of the ritsuryō system, a feudal system of manors developed. Landowners or nameholders commended shares of the revenue produced (called "shiki") to more powerful leaders often at the court, in order to be exempted from taxes and to subvert the Chinese-style "equal fields" system, whereby land was redistributed after certain periods of time. In the Kamakura period a hierarchy of nameholder, manor stewards ("jitō"), "shugo" (military provincial governor), and the "shōgun" in Kamakura had evolved. These "shōen" were completely free from interference from the government, which therefore had no say or control of what occurred within the "shōen"s boundaries.