Most of Okinawa’s magiri had no stake in the island's tributary transit trade being conducted out of Tomari Port, Naha. As such, Satsuma's assumption of control had no direct effect on the average, particularly rural, household. Indirectly, of course, the Shuri Ofu would be looking to recoup some of its losses by placing heavier demands on agrarian communities. The new era of, technically at least, being a vassal state of both Japan and China (nisshi ryozoku), produced significant changes in areas far from Shuri. Whereas Ming China had not interfered in the island's affairs Satsuma adopted a hands-on approach. An insistence on greater efficiency in resource management and the need for increased agricultural productivity resulted in a more visible Ofu involvement in village affairs. Ofu personnel from various agencies arrived in the rural magiri in ever greater numbers throughout the 17^th and 18^th centuries. At the same time, only a few of the northern districts still possessed pristine forest areas. The decision to carefully manage and protect these dwindling resources led to a shift in the lives of northern villagers who had hitherto simply felled whatever they required for lumber or fuel.

As previously stated, population increases, the relocation of the anji to Shuri, advances in Okinawan ship construction, and increased production of wood-based items, all had the cumulative effect of placing severe pressure on the island's timber resources. Given that Okinawa Island had once been thick with woods and forests the degree of depletion in the southern and into central parts of the island during the 16^th and early-17^th century was astonishing. The first Ryukyu King to be invested in the post-Satsuma invasion era, Sho Ho,[1] attempted to put the brakes on rampant felling in the southern part of Okinawa, expanding the functions of government by establishing a Soyamabugyo:[2] effectively a forest administration, in 1628.[3] For whatever reason, though poor management and a lack of compelling punishments for offenders seem likely, this proved ineffective. When Haneji Choshu (or Sho Joken) became Sessei, or Chancellor[4] in 1666, he took the matter more seriously, banning outright the felling of certain trees and issuing forest protection directives, including the establishment of Nakagami and Kunigami (central and northern districts, respectively) Yamabugyo in 1679.[5] Again, however, this failed to stem depletion. Haneji Choshu actually allowed clearing and reclamation for cultivation of a certain amount of somayama to boost the island's food productivity.[6]

Only a century after Sho Ho established the Soyamabugyo was the problem realistically addressed. When Sai On became a member of the Sanshikan, or 'Council of State'[7] in 1728, most of the forest areas of central Okinawa Island were near to depletion and the process was underway in the five northern magiri of Kin, Onna, Nago, Motobu, and Nakijin. Only in the four northern magiri of Haneji, Ogimi, Kushi, and Kunigami, were there any pristine forest areas. Although known for many practical policies during his membership of the Sanshikan, Sai On is probably best remembered for his somayama, or timber forest, projects. Within only a 15-year period Sai On had passed seven pieces of somayama-related legislation (two in 1737, two in 1747, one in 1748, and two in 1751).[8] Collectively, these are known as the Rinsei shichisho, or Seven Writings on Forest Administration,[9] and covered methods of forest protection and reforestation, a precise outline of the duties of Yamabugyo, or 'forest magistrates,' and penalties for those breaking the laws.[10] Sai On surveyed forest areas and created beautiful maps and sketches of them.[11] What is quite remarkable is that his somayama initiatives remained standard Ofu, and thereafter Okinawa Prefectural Government, practice long after he had died.

During Sai On's period of administration three Yamabugyo districts of Kazo, Higashi, and Nishi, were established for the northern Kunigami region alone, with a total of twelve staff (yamabisa).[12] Kin magiri, along with those of Haneji and Kushi, fell under the Higashi Yamabugyo. Four staff were designated to each of the large northern Yamabugyo, with Kin and Haneji hosting one each, and Kushi two. The headquarters of the Higashi Yamabugyo was at Sedake Village, Kushi magiri.[13] Those responsible for forest administration locally were the soyama atai, the yama atai, and yamakunin, or Chief Supervisor of Forest Administration, Supervisor, and general staff, respectively. Although rules and regulations varied between villages, the villages of Kin would report somayama conditions to the magiri administration on the 1^st and 15^th day of each month, with the magiri reporting to the bugyo on the first day of each month. Kin magiri had one soyama atai, with yama atai and yamakunin located in each of the seven mura, or village districts of Namisato, Kin, Igei, Yaka, Kanna, Soke, and Ginoza. The bugyo would visit each district twice a year: in spring and autumn, to check on conditions, and then report his findings to the Sanshikan directly. The costs of running the bugyo with its fifty or so staff had to be absorbed by the magiri. In addition, the jitodai was obliged to pay two visits a year to the Kin village districts, in January and May, and the soyama atai every month.[14]

While the administrative structure of the magiri was detailed earlier, the 17^th and 18^th centuries saw greater complexity develop. 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, as was the case with the somayama. 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 magiri such as Kin is examined one will find a number of positions that are more honorary than practical.

Above the heimin, or commoners,[15] in the villages of Kin magiri were several distinct levels of administrators and high ranking, privileged individuals. The highest position in the magiri was the jitodai, or chief administrator, who received a total of approximately 14 koku of rice, beans, and barley in salary (hokyu) and miscellaneous income (zakkyu).[16] Just below was the Shuri ufuyaku and the Nishi ucchi, Hae ucchi, and Ufu ucchi. These four were known collectively as the sabakuri (or sabakui).[17] Although of high position in the magiri none received hokyu and zakkyu of more than 4 koku.[18] Those with the highest income were the ordinary village ucchi who were direct representatives of the Shuri-residing anji. These were receiving more than 26 koku.[19] To put these in perspective, Sai On himself received a stipend of over 80 koku of rice in 1723, some five years before becoming a member of the Sanshikan.[20] Other higher level magiri officials included two Bujito (the Igei and Yaka ufuyaku), a Soyama atai and Sokosaku atai, or 'Chief Supervisor of Agricultural Administration,' with the latter two, along with the ucchi, having a general staff. There were also the noro priestesses of Kin, Igei, Ginoza, and Kanna. As is outlined below, certain officials also received lands from which income was derived.

Isolating how and when the various land systems found in operation throughout Okinawa’s magiri came together is difficult in the absence of historical resources.[21] Methods of distributing and cultivating 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.[22] This was followed by almost a half-century of positive development under King Eiso.[23] It was apparently Eiso who introduced some form of the Chinese jingtian, or well-field,[24] system of communal land cultivation into Okinawa[25] to boost agricultural productivity and systematise tax collection.[26] 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 being '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 persons took more than a year to complete the project.[27] Although subsequent kenchi were conducted,[28] there was surprisingly no significant upward reassessment by Shimazu of Ryukyu's total koku value.[29] Land areas were divided into different categories in the post-1611 kenchi period.[30] Descriptions vary depending on the text one consults, but there is unanimity on the division between kanyuchi, or government lands,[31] and the 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.[32] 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.'[33] 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).[34] As such they were only temporary residents (kiryumin). Lands were assessed down to the very last tsubo by autonomous local community assemblies and leaders[35] 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.[36] Land was distributed to individual families via a complex system taking into account land type, family size, ages and, of course, sex. In as much as Kin is concerned (and as much as given in Kin-choshi, the official history of Kin) an individual portion of land ranged between 4-6 se (5.5 yards sq.). From the age of 7 to 14 a male would qualify for one portion. Upon reaching 60 or 61 land entitlement would decrease relative to one's ability to work the land.[37] In the case of women, a fraction of one portion appears to be common, with a decrease in entitlement between the ages of 50 and 60.[38] There were many 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.[39] 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 including, in Kin, the Bujito, Shuri ufuyaku, Nishi ucchi, Hae ucchi, and Ufu ucchi. 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.[40] 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."[41]

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[42] 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.[43] 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[44] 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.