Double-entry bookkeeping is believed to have originated in medieval Italy and, as it developed, writers on the subject such as Lucapacioli helped spread the system to the rest of Europe in the paths of Italian trade. In those countries there were practically no indigenous bookkeeping methods to impede the adoption of the new system. In Japan, however, a quite adequate method had long been firmly established and was continued in use by most merchants long after double-entry bookkeeping was introduced.