When it comes to exploring the economies of the Japanese islands there are few better ways to begin than with the Shoen estate (荘園) systems. The estate systems lasted for roughly 800 years and represented the primary ways in which the Yamato court touched the lives of people throughout the islands. Beginning in the 8th century the history of Shoen would come to become the largest legally recognized producers of wealth in Japan as well as the primary target of wealth redistribution.