This article attempts to clarify conditions surrounding largescale land holding in ancient Japan up through the early 8th century through an investigation of the origins and characteristic features of the land designation known as jiden 寺田 (lit., temple paddy field) using the case of Gufukuji 弘福寺 Temple in the province of Yamato. Gufukuji's land holdings during the early years of the 8th century comprised an organically integrated system of multi-functional land types, such as cultivated land (both paddy and dry fields), land left fallow, wilderness and building sites. "Jiden," which made up merely a portion of temple land holdings, did not define all the paddy cultivated within the temple's territory and also existed as a land designation beyond temple boundaries, meaning that jiden was a concept of cultivated land created by the Ritsuryo state. That is to say, the term jiden was reserved for cultivated paddy within the temple's territory that was defined as space in terms of the Ritsuryo system. Historically speaking, prior to the Taika Reforms, Gufukuji's holdings were limited to land attached to the manors of paramount chieftains (okimi 大王) and their families, which was most likely firmly established by the latter half of the 7th century. Therefore, the institution of jiden was a later development in the management of temple land holdings, dating back no earlier than the beginning of the 8th century. While temple land holdings took on the same managerial pattern as the holdings of local powerful clans, during the reign of Emperor Kotoku (645-654), temple land was surveyed as one fact of the state's regulation of religious institutions, resulting in registries listing holdings according to land type. During the reign of Emperor Tenmu (673-686), temple's were forbidden from owning wilderness, and the land holdings of those which had been recognized by the state were limited to "jiden." From the reign of Emperess Jito (690-697) on, jiden came to be understood within the context of the development of the public land allotment (handen 班田) system. It was in 709 that a land record, called denki 田記, was issued to make the final determination of the extent of jiden. From that time on, the territory of each temple was strictly regulated based on jiden holdings, through attempts to implement the determinations contained in denki; however, the previously diversified land holding portfolios of temples were not immediately eliminated as a result of such effort. It was in this way that temple proprietorship as a pre-Taika Reform managerial entity was incorporated into the Ritsuryo land system; however, the fact that established amounts of jiden did not comprise all the territory held by a temple remained an issue. The same problem no doubt existed in the case of secular powers with respect to land allotments based on rank (iden 位田) and office (shikiden 職田). In other words, through the 8th century, large-scale land holding demanded that the actual managerial entity that had actually taken shape be reconciled with or adjusted to contemporary land institutions.

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