By the sixth century, Japan faced new and difficult problems. Old
forms of government were breaking down. The simple clan rule, based on
blood ties, was being upset by migrations within, and immigration from
without. New leaders were faking their family trees, in order to claim
divine descent. The clan chieftains found their priestly control over
the people slipping, and had to try the use of political and military
power instead.
Special difficulties arose when new areas were conquered, or large
numbers of immigrants arrived. There were disputes between clans, some
of which favored “guilds” and some a freer order of serfs. The Imperial
clan proved able to get the richest of the new areas, and to extend
the lands and increase the people under its control. But this did not
settle the problem. For the leading clans tried to control the Emperor,
and fought over rival claimants to the throne.
These bitter quarrels threatened to tear the new state apart. A more
effective centralization, both of economic and political power, had
obviously become necessary. The groundwork had been laid, and the
times called for a drastic change. The model was sought in China, then
flourishing under the T’ang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.).