Japan took inspiration from the Tang Dynasty, sending envoys to study the Tang's land equalization system and taxation policies, and implemented the rice field allocation system locally, establishing its own land distribution system. However, as the imperial family and aristocrats exploited loopholes in the law, relying on their power to engage in large-scale land annexations, within a few generations, Japan's self-cultivating farmers were driven to bankruptcy.
By the mid-tenth century, the land nationalization system had completely collapsed, and the court had no land left to distribute, yet Japan's Sixty-six Countries saw a dramatic increase in private estates.
