29 participants enjoyed harvesting and drying rice under the sun in Tochikubo, Minamiuonuma on October 17th 18th,
A Villager taught how to bind straw in sheaves to a participant.
The 5th class of ABC in a Rice Paddy in this year was held on October 17th 18th with 29 people, including students, business persons and families from metropolitan area. This time, university students occupied a half of the group.
On the 1st day, participants listened to the lecture by villagers and joined Tochikubo ecology research. On the 2nd day, they harvested, bound, and hung rice under the blue sky.
Traditional rice harvesting work was done and rice was drying naturally in traditional way. This is set for high scholl students from city but most part of the work was done by local elders.
Tochikubo has a beautiful scenery looking down entire Minamiuonuma area over its own terraced rice paddies.
Opposite side of the valley from Shimizu, over 60 families are living in this mountainous village.
At this elementary school, only 10 children are being taught by 7 teachers. This place is also covered by over 4 meter of snow.
Next to the village, there are skying slopes and close to the town, many villagers commute to their work place. Rice paddies are continuously spreading along the slope of the hills and people use snow-free season fully for rice growing.
Rice under \”hasa\” or drying rudder. \’The taste is definitely better than modern machine technique,\’ villagers say.
Beech forest are covering the mountains and mountain goats and endangered butterflies are easily observed. Salamanders are found in fresh streams.
Number of children is decreasing and aging of the community is proceeding, so villagers are wondering about the future of their community.
