Editing Nara period (section)

==Economic, livelihood, and administrative developments==
[[File:Gokishichido.svg|thumb|Gokishichidō system showing ancient regions and provinces during the Nara period after the introduction of the Yōrō Code (720)
{|  style="„border: 1px solid #F9F9F9; background: #F9F9F9”"
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #FFC109; width: 25%;"| [[Kinai]]
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #FF9D9D; width: 25%;"| [[Tōkaidō (region)|Tōkaidō]]
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #FFDDBB; width: 25%;"| [[Tōsandō]]
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #EAEAEA; width: 25%;"| [[Hokurikudō]]
|-
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #DFDFFF; width: 25%;"| [[San'indō|San’indō]]
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #F5FD95; width: 25%;"| [[San'yōdō|San’yōdō]]
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #DCE0C0; width: 25%;"| [[Nankaidō]]
|align=center style="BACKGROUND: #F0E1E1; width: 25%;"| [[Saikaidō]]
|}]]
[[File:Daigoku-den at Heijō Palace under repair 2010.jpg|thumb|left|The primary building, i.e. the Daigoku-den at the [[Heijō Palace]] (In the center of the photograph: this is a modern version built for the 1300th anniversary of Nara becoming Japan's capital).
[[Tōdai-ji]]'s [[Daibutsuden]] and Wakakusayama can be seen in the rear (January, 2010).]]

Before the [[Taihō Code]] was established, the capital was customarily moved after the death of an emperor because of the ancient belief that a place of death was polluted. Reforms and bureaucratization of government led to the establishment of a permanent imperial capital at [[Heijō-kyō]], or [[Nara, Nara|Nara]], in AD 710.
The capital was moved shortly (for reasons described later in this section) to [[Kuni-kyō]] (present-day [[Kizugawa, Kyoto|Kizugawa]]) in 740–744, to [[Naniwa-kyō]] (present-day [[Osaka]]) in 744–745, to Shigarakinomiya (紫香楽宮, present-day [[Shigaraki]]) in 745, and moved back to Nara in 745. Nara was Japan's first truly urban center. It soon had a population of 200,000 (representing nearly 7% of the country's population) and some 10,000 people worked in government jobs.

Economic and administrative activity increased during the Nara period. Roads linked Nara to provincial capitals, and taxes were collected more efficiently and routinely. Coins were minted, if not widely used. Outside the Nara area, there was little commercial activity, and in the provinces the old [[Prince Shotoku|Shōtoku]] land reform systems declined. By the mid-eighth century, ''[[shōen]]'' (landed estates), one of the most important economic institutions in prehistoric Japan, began to rise as a result of the search for a more manageable form of landholding. Local administration gradually became more self-sufficient, while the breakdown of the old land distribution system and the rise of taxes led to the loss or abandonment of land by many people who became the "wave people" (''[[wiktionary:浮浪者|furōsha]]''). Some of these formerly "public people" were privately employed by large landholders, and "public lands" increasingly reverted to the ''shōen''.

Factional fighting at the imperial court continued throughout the Nara period. Imperial family members, leading court families, such as the [[Fujiwara clan|Fujiwara]], and Buddhist priests all contended for influence. Earlier during this period, [[Nagaya|Prince Nagaya]] seized power at the court after the death of [[Fujiwara no Fuhito]]. Fuhito was succeeded by four sons, [[Fujiwara no Muchimaro|Muchimaro]], [[Fujiwara no Umakai|Umakai]], [[Fujiwara no Fusasaki|Fusasaki]], and Maro. They put Emperor Shōmu, the prince by Fuhito's daughter, on the throne. In 729, they arrested Nagaya and regained control. As a [[735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic|major outbreak of smallpox]] spread from Kyūshū in 735, all four brothers died two years later, resulting in temporary reduction in the Fujiwara dominance. In 740, a member of the Fujiwara clan, Hirotsugu, launched a rebellion from his base in Fukuoka, Kyushu. Although the rebellion was defeated, there is no doubt that the emperor was shocked and frightened by these events, and he moved the palace three times in only five years from 740, until he eventually returned to Nara.

In the late Nara period, financial burdens on the state increased, and the court began dismissing nonessential officials. In 792 universal conscription was abandoned, and district heads were allowed to establish private militia forces for local police work. Decentralization of authority became the rule despite the reforms of the Nara period. Eventually, to return control to imperial hands, the capital was moved in 784 to [[Nagaoka-kyō]] and in 794 to [[Heian-kyō]] (literally Capital of Peace and Tranquility), about twenty-six kilometers north of Nara. By the late eleventh century, the city was popularly called [[Kyoto]] (capital city), the name it has had ever since.