Rice Planting & Harvesting - My Experience Posted: 07/24/2008

by Ruth Woudstra

When I came from South Africa to Fukuoka a year and a half ago for an English teaching stint in Japan, I expected to have no or little contact with nature. Being an outdoor fanatic, I would give my right hand for a chance at any new and exciting experience. Little did I know that experience would come in the form of wallowing in mud for hours on end!

I met Mio Ikeda, my contact person, over a bowl of green-tea soba in an organic cafe in Hakozaki, and never imagined him to be a web-designer. But then again, web-designing is just to pay the bills. Mio's passion is closer to the earth than to the keyboard. He has studied farming in Italy and has experience working with WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) in New Zealand. WWOOF is a worldwide volunteer network where individuals get the chance to work on an organic farm in return for food, accommodation and opportunities to learn about organic lifestyles. Mio's dream is to have his own organic farm, live off the land, and sell organic produce. But for now, every weekend, save for rainy days, he goes out to his tanada (terraced mountain rice paddy) and hatake (vegetable patch) near Hisayama-town 40 minutes east of Fukuoka to grow soy for miso, veggies, and Japanese-style rice.

Mio is part of an Environment Awareness Group that meets once a month in Nakasu-Kawabata, where they have a workshop to discuss a monthly issue and invite guest lecturers. On weekends in the summer, they take part in planting and harvesting activities, and in the winter the group helps to clear neglected cedar and cypress forests of dead and unhealthy trees that cause erosion and hamper the growth of healthy forests.

Springtime!
Springtime means rice-planting time! In Asia, there are two traditional methods of planting rice. In April, the rice is either planted directly into the soil, or into pallets, from which the 12cm saplings are transferred to the rice field, or tanbo, one month later. In Japan, the latter method is preferred. It is believed that rice-growing, particularly that of the short-grained japonica, came to Northern Kyushu from China and Korea during the Yayoi period (around the third century B.C.E.). Thanks to Japan's ideal climate, it spread to the rest of Kyushu and to the other islands. 'Traditional' implies planting by hand, which differs from the norm today, where machines are used to plant and harvest rice. After the rice has been planted in springtime, the tanbo itself needs to be prepared, and is given plenty of water to create the soggy mud in which rice plants thrive.

The Experience
It's a cloudy Sunday morning, perfect for rice-planting. Mio and his wife Eri, pick me up outside Hakozaki Miyamae Station in his Daihatsu Atrai. Today I will try my hand at rice-planting in their tanada, located in the mountains just behind Hisayama and a 45-minute drive east of Fukuoka. I am especially thankful for the lift when I am told that the nearest bus-stop is a 40-minute uphill walk to the tanada. The drive takes us through spectacular mountain scenery, and into the heart of the mountains, where several other people from the Environment Awareness Group are waiting. The owner of the property has generously allowed interested individuals to use his land for planting without asking for compensation. In return, the group has helped clear away bush to create tanada and hatake since 2003, and make excellent use of the unused land.

Rice-planting is probably the simplest task you will ever have to do, but you have to be prepared to get dirt under your nails, and stand in ankle-deep in mud for hours on end. After casting my rubber boots aside in favor of getting down and dirty barefooted, I am ready. The tanada is a stage, the surrounding trees the audience, and the song of the tireless uguisu (nightingales) provides the perfect soundtrack to an unforgettable experience.


Mio throws several bunches of saplings from the pallet onto the mud, and like sinkers into the ocean, they all land bottoms down. We are each allotted a spot along a horizontal line across a paddy, starting from the far end. A red-beaded string spread along the horizontal line is our guide to where to insert the saplings,. The line is moved along as each row is completed. Eri shows us how to separate the saplings at the roots, and insert one or two deep into the mud with your three middle fingers. This ensures the roots are positioned vertically. After my initial nervousness about doing the right thing (and images in my mind of my area being the only one with dead crops), I relaxed and started to enjoy it. This is a unique way of interacting with nature, I decide. It is not only rewarding and relaxing, but also beneficial to the environment. No chemicals (pesticides and insecticides) are used, and the only fossil fuels used are those for harvesting machinery and reaching the tanada by car.

Where does it go?
The rice from this tanada is not sold, but used by those who help plant and harvest it. Because this is farming on a very small scale, not a large amount of rice is produced. For Mio and his friends, however, it is more about the process than the result, although no one can deny the feeling of eating a bowl of rice that you yourself have planted!
How to get there
As taking a bus to the tanada involves a 40-minute hike up the mountain, going by car is advisable. So... beg, borrow or steal a car, or just get a friend to drive. Mio leaves from Hakozaki Station on Saturday and Sunday mornings. You can either follow him from there, or get directions directly from him beforehand. No mobile phone reception at the tanada means no reminder of city life!

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Next Event
Rice-planting season runs from April to June, but you can try your hand at soy or vegetable planting on any given weekend until the end of August. Or why not join us for harvesting and threshing in September and October? Fukuoka Now will also have a follow-up article on harvesting in September, so watch this space! Finally, from September to April you can do your bit for the environment, and help clear the neglected forests of dead trees.

Contact
Website: http://homepage3.nifty.com/kan-iku/en/
Mio Ikeda email: mio@naturaleyes.org
The Environmental Awareness Group meets every third Thursday of the month from 18:30 - 21:00 at the Riverain Office Site (10F Kokoron Center).
Meetings held in Japanese.