After the Satsuma invasion the Ofu became involved more heavily in the affairs of agrarian communities. There were many reasons for this. In the first part, rapid population growth, combined with the regular occurrence of natural disasters, meant the Ofu had to pay particular attention to food-producing areas. Tied with this was the need for better overall resource management. We know that more efficient sugar cultivation techniques were introduced and supervised by the Ofu in the 17^th century, and that relatively drought- and typhoon-resistant imo were planted extensively as the island's main food crop. Such macroeconomic policies could not be left in the charge of the individual village. The Ofu sent overseers into the communities. They would receive salary, however, not from the Ofu but from the community to which they were assigned, which in turn highlights a reason for the burgeoning bureaucracy in agrarian areas from the 17^th century. With Shimazu's assumption of control over Ryukyu trade there was now less money circulating in Shuri itself, yet still a large number of people receiving various stipends. As such, there was a need to create positions so as to, if you will, offload some of them. Under Sai On's administration the Ofu may have run a tight ship, but this was not always the case. When the bureaucracy in rural areas is examined one will find a number of positions that are more honorary than practical.

Isolating how and when the land systems found in operation in Okinawa came together is somewhat difficult in the absence of historical resources.[1] Methods of distributing and cultivating the land would logically have evolved indigenously over the centuries, influenced at one time or another by technical knowledge acquired from other communities, from China, Japan, and beyond. It is written in the Kyuyo that a particularly harsh period in the mid-13^th century saw droughts, famines, illness, and violent typhoons take the lives of half of the population.[2] This was followed by almost a half-century of positive development under King Eiso.[3] It was apparently Eiso who introduced some form of the Chinese jingtian, or 'well-field,'[4] system of communal land cultivation into Okinawa[5] in order to boost agricultural productivity and systematise tax collection. It appears to have been successful on both counts. The most significant event in terms of land use systems in Ryukyu prior to the Meiji reforms, however, came in 1610, just after the Satsuma invasion. While King Sho Nei was 'entertained' in Kagoshima, Satsuma officials descended on Ryukyu to conduct a comprehensive survey of all lands (kenchi) by specific grade, assessing productivity for tax purposes. Fourteen magistrates, known as saoire bugyo, and a staff of 168 took more than a year to complete the project.[6] Although subsequent kenchi were conducted,[7] there was surprisingly no significant upward reassessment by Shimazu of Ryukyu's total koku value.[8] Land areas were divided into different categories in the post-1611 kenchi period[9] Descriptions vary depending on the text one consults, but there is unanimity on the division between kanyuchi, or government lands,[10] and shiyuchi, or private lands.

In the former category fell hyakushochi, jitochi, oekachi, and norokumoichi. The hyakushochi was the land in the use of peasant farmers and, based on the kenchi completed in 1750, constituted over 67% of land under cultivation in Ryukyu.[11] Since all lands were owned by the King, peasant farmer use of these lands was effectively a privilege. Accordingly, the hyakushochi were also known as goukechi, or 'lands received as gift.'[12] Most important was the way hyakushochi was divided and cultivated. Farmers were subject to a periodic land redistribution system known as chiwari (jiwari or jiwaki).[13] As such they were only temporary residents (kiryumin). Lands were assessed down to the very last tsubo by autonomous local community assemblies and leaders[14] in terms of fertility and productive capacity and divided up into smaller parcels and allotted to families. If a farmer was adjudged to be making poor use of a good piece of land it would be redistributed since the village community constituted a single tax unit collectively responsible for keeping productivity up.[15] Land was distributed to individual families via a complex system taking into account land type, family size, member's ages and, of course, sex. There were several variations in land distribution systems between communities. Enough to make generalisations foolish. A common misconception about pre-Meiji land ownership in Ryukyu that must be challenged, however, is that lands were communally owned by villages.[16] While they certainly were communally worked, ownership by the King or aji was never in doubt.

In terms of the other kanyuchi categories, the jitochi was technically a part of the hyakushochi, but was apportioned to the highest level of Shuri-residing district administrators with rank of Ajijito, Sojito, and Wakijito, who received approximately one-third of the profit derived from cultivation as income, or jitosakutoku. Of the remainder, one half went to the farmers and the rest in Ofu taxes and other necessary outgoings. Jitochi made up 13% of cultivated lands on Okinawa. The oekachi (or yakuchi) was land allotted to the next level down of high public administrators in the magiri and village. Much of the oekachi was also technically part of hyakushochi, with profits divided in a similar way to the jitochi. Okinawa-wide, oekachi constituted 7% of cultivated lands. The norokumoichi (nuruchi) was land given to the local noro priestesses.[17] The noro used a different system of land administration, contracting in farmers to cultivate the land and then managing the profits there from in business like manner. Norokumoichi constituted about 1% of lands under cultivation. What is of most importance in terms of the distribution of profits from cultivation, with the sole exception of norokumoichi, is that the farmers always ended up with one-third of the yield. As has been mentioned, if one takes into account Ryukyu's actual agricultural productivity increased from the 17^th into 18^th century: with more lands brought under cultivation, the modernisation of processes, and diversification of crops, yet Satsuma did not significantly increase productivity assessment from the 1611 kenchi, the life of the average farmer improved rather than worsened. As Sakihara Mitsugu points out, since the hyakusho could "supplement their food needs and income with non-rice, and therefore non-taxable, products like sweet potatoes, their life may have been at subsistence level but they did not starve."[18]

In the category of shiyuchi, there were three main classifications: shiakechi (shiakeukechi or sekiji), ukechi, and shiakechigyo. The shiakechi were lands privately owned by individuals or groups[19] who had physically cleared wooded areas or reclaimed land from the sea as a direct result of the policy initiated by Haneji Choshu in 1666 to boost the island's food productivity. The system was rather short-lived, lasting 21 years until 1687, when new forest protection initiatives were introduced under Sho Shitsu. The shiakechi remained privately owned, however, throughout the Ofu period and beyond into the post-Meiji period. Owners could pass shiakechi onto the next generation if a tribute payment of 20% of annual production was paid to the Ofu. In 1750, shiakechi made up just less than 6% of all lands under cultivation in Okinawa. Ukechi was hyakushochi that had been returned to the Ofu as a result of the sickness or death of a farmer and was therefore not being cultivated. This land was sold on by the Ofu to someone of shizoku class[20] who would ensure the land was put to productive use. These lands made up just less than 4% of the total lands under cultivation. Finally, there were the shiakechigyo which was the name given to lands first brought under cultivation by those of shizoku class or village heads. This made up less than 4% of the total land. The cost of reforestation projects at this time was shared by the Ofu and local community. If farmers needed to obtain timber they had to get permission but were not required to pay compensation.