following completion of the famous
toyotomi hideoshi instituted the kokudaka land tax and holding system which was carried over into the Edo Period and continued by the tokugawa Shogunate essentially unchanged for over 250 year the tax base was the estimated value of rice for specified area of land as indicated by the land surveys and experience factor the land suveys wewe reviewed and updateed occasionally though not frequently enough during the Edo Period Land measurements remained litt;e changeed after the end of the seventeenth century inherent weaknesses in the system were the inability to make accurate measurements calculate the estimates growing costs and timely review and update the surveys and calculation In addition as with most laxing systems throughout the waord and time much obstruction and evasion was practiced by false reporting bribery of goverment afficials