Kokujin-ryoshu sei (国人領主制)
Kokujin-ryoshu sei was a thesis concerning the structure of Japan during the late medieval period (the period of the Northern and Southern Courts (Japan), the Muromachi period, and the Sengoku period - period of warring states) -- accordingly, the structure should be comprehended through research of movement of kokujin-ryoshu (local samurai lords) who directly ruled the farmers. It was compared with shugo-ryogoku sei (the system where shugo [a provincial military governor] dominates a manor).
It asserted that it was the kokujin-ryoshu, who had been raised from the classes of jito (manager and lord of manor) or shokan (an officer governing manor) to the local lord, that directly ruled the farmers class in those days, and that it was the kokujin-ryoshu, who, by becoming low-level bureaucrat of the shugo daimyo (Japanese feudal lords), supported their military power and came to define the movement of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) and the shugo daimyo.