by the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Officially, the gokenin in each province were supposed to serve the shugo, but in practice, the relationship between them was fragile, as the gokenin were vassals of the shogun as well.

Shugo often stayed for long periods in the capital, far from their province, and were sometimes appointed shugo for several provinces at the same time. In such cases, a deputy shugo, or shugodai (???), was