<P> Nevertheless, the Fujiwara were not demoted by Daigo but actually became stronger during his reign . Central control of Japan had continued to decline, and the Fujiwara, along with other great families and religious foundations, acquired ever larger shōen and greater wealth during the early tenth century . By the early Heian period, the shōen had obtained legal status, and the large religious establishments sought clear titles in perpetuity, waiver of taxes, and immunity from government inspection of the shōen they held . Those people who worked the land found it advantageous to transfer title to shōen holders in return for a share of the harvest . People and lands were increasingly beyond central control and taxation, a de facto return to conditions before the Taika Reform . </P> <P> Within decades of Daigo's death, the Fujiwara had absolute control over the court . By the year 1000, Fujiwara no Michinaga was able to enthrone and dethrone emperors at will . Little authority was left for traditional institutions, and government affairs were handled through the Fujiwara clan's private administration . The Fujiwara had become what historian George B. Sansom has called "hereditary dictators". </P> <P> Despite their usurpation of imperial authority, the Fujiwara presided over a period of cultural and artistic flowering at the imperial court and among the aristocracy . There was great interest in graceful poetry and vernacular literature . Two types of phonetic Japanese script: katakana, a simplified script that was developed by using parts of Chinese characters, was abbreviated to hiragana, a cursive syllabary with a distinct writing method that was uniquely Japanese . Hiragana gave written expression to the spoken word and, with it, to the rise in Japan's famous vernacular literature, much of it written by court women who had not been trained in Chinese as had their male counterparts . Three late tenth century and early eleventh century women presented their views of life and romance at the Heian court in Kagerō Nikki by "the mother of Fujiwara Michitsuna", The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu . Indigenous art also flourished under the Fujiwara after centuries of imitating Chinese forms . Vividly colored yamato - e, Japanese style paintings of court life and stories about temples and shrines became common in the mid-to - late Heian period, setting patterns for Japanese art to this day . </P> <P> As culture flourished, so did decentralization . Whereas the first phase of shōen development in the early Heian period had seen the opening of new lands and the granting of the use of lands to aristocrats and religious institutions, the second phase saw the growth of patrimonial "house governments", as in the old clan system . (In fact, the form of the old clan system had remained largely intact within the great old centralized government .) New institutions were now needed in the face of social, economic, and political changes . The Taihō Code lapsed, its institutions relegated to ceremonial functions . Family administrations now became public institutions . As the most powerful family, the Fujiwara governed Japan and determined the general affairs of state, such as succession to the throne . Family and state affairs were thoroughly intermixed, a pattern followed among other families, monasteries, and even the imperial family . Land management became the primary occupation of the aristocracy, not so much because direct control by the imperial family or central government had declined but more from strong family solidarity and a lack of a sense of Japan as a single nation . </P>

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