Why did provincial landowners commend their land to the Fujiwara family?

Provincial landowners commended their land to the Fujiwara family primarily to secure significant economic advantages. By placing their land under the protection of this powerful clan, landowners were able to achieve greatly reduced tax burdens, and in some cases, they were able to eliminate their tax obligations entirely.1

This practice allowed the Fujiwara to divert public revenues into their own family coffers, while the landowners benefited from the exemption from the so—a land tax levied by the central government that was typically paid as a portion of the rice yield. However, this economic strategy eventually contributed to the decline of Fujiwara power, as the landed gentry later began commending their lands to rising military families instead.12