Before that, Japan had been ruled by the ritsuryo system of governance (a constitutional form of governance) built on an ancient family register system, tax book, handenshuju-no-ho (law on the distribution and collection of farmlands) and so on, but at that time, vagrancy, elopement, false family registration of the people dramatically increased and the ritsuryo system of governance ran into an impasse.
それ以前は、古代の戸籍制度・計帳・班田収授法などに立脚した律令制統治が行われていたが、この頃には、人民の浮浪・逃亡・偽籍が著しく増加したため、律令制統治が行き詰まりを見せていた。