Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/140

 came into the possession of the great governing families, and remained their property until the fall and virtual extermination of the last of these families in the early part of the seventh century. The Emperor then becoming, for a time, the repository of complete authority, resumed possession of all private estates, and exact rules for the distribution and control of land were embodied in the new codes. The basis of the system then adopted was the general principle that every unit of the nation had a natural title to the usufruct of the soil. It was therefore enacted that to all persons, from the age of five upwards, "sustenance land" should be granted in the proportion of two-thirds of an acre to each male and one-third to each female. These grants were for life, and the grantee was entitled to let the land for one year at a time, provided that, at his death, it reverted to the Crown. Redistribution every sixth year was among the provisions of the code, but the difficulties of carrying out the rule soon proved deterrent. Lands were also conferred in consideration of rank. Imperial princes of the first class received two hundred acres; those of the second class, one hundred and fifty acres; those of the third, one hundred and twenty-five acres, and those of the fourth, one hundred acres. In the case of the ten grades into which officialdom had now been divided, the grants ranged from twenty to two hundred acres, and females belonging to any of