The population in rural Heian Japan increased moderately and with it the area of land under cultivation. Additionally, by putting pressure on agricultural resources, growth in population stimulated a search for means of increasing crop yields. This chapter discusses the changes in agrarian technology, social structure, taxation, and landholding of the Heian Japan. Heian peasant households were larger than those of more recent times, maintained a larger and steadier supply of labor within the household, and generally maintained a greater degree of independence one from the other. Two major changes in land tenure marked the early Heian period: the cessation of the distribution of household fields, and the reorganization of farmland to meet the changes in tax structure. Starting in 749, the government actively assisted the major temples, most especially Tōdaiji, in finding land that could be developed into estates of reclaimed fields. These estates were the first to be called shō, or shōen.