14. The smallpox epidemic of 735-737 decimated the Japanese islands, reinforcing negative perceptions of the outside world and causing major political upheavals
Affecting much of Japan, the smallpox epidemic of 735-737 devastated the insular Asian nation. Inflicting adult mortality at rates as high as thirty-five percent upon the Japanese population, with some regions suffering even worse casualties, the disease, originating on the island of Kyushu, quickly spread to the capital at Nara. Affecting all classes of society equally, the rigid hierarchy of Japanese culture was laid bare, with all four brothers of the powerful Fujiwara clan killed in 737 by the outbreak. This event precipitated a major political reorganization of the state, with longstanding rival Tachibana no Moroe instead able to leverage himself into a position of power.
Believed to have been introduced to Japan by fishermen who had contracted it during time on the Korean peninsula, the pandemic was assisted by official dignitaries returning from the court of Korea in 736. Triggering significant shortages in labor, in particular concerning rice cultivation, the Japanese state was forced to take unprecedented action to rectify the damage. In the years after the epidemic, attempts were made to stimulate dangerously low agricultural productivity by offering land to commoners on the condition they work said land; this generous offer resulted in the births of many future households that would emerge into prominence centuries later.