Mt. Chokaizan is one of the mountains where year-round snow remains at the low elevation of 1,500m. The reason is because of the plentiful amount of cold water that the mountain stores underground. Also, from the summit of the mountain to the sea is only 16km. This is the closest in all of Japan except on certain islands. “Yuza is on a plain, which lies at the foot of a steep slope. Floods rarely happen, but when they do, the water disappears in half a day,” Mr. Murai explained.
Having soil capable of holding such a good amount of water, and a cold aquifer to use for our spring water, certainly influences rice farming. “According to one theory, using cold water for rice farming results not only in a yield decrease, but also disease. But in this region, we think the cold is better for growing rice that’s even tastier,” Mr. Murai said. Yuza is known for rice, but also melon production. There is a dune, spanning 30km nearby a pine forest that runs along the seashore, where tree planting had started in the Edo period. That well-drained sandy soil was chosen for melon cultivation once the Showa period began. People thereby also took advantage of the ground water, one of Yuza’s natural resources. “Farm products made in Yuza seem to be on a higher level among Shonai produce,” according to a man from Sakata, the next town from Yuza.
Additionally, let us tell you one more story about something special to Yuza related to farmers. There are about 150,000 fish that spawn upstream on the Gakko and Nikko rivers in Yuza. The number accounts for, indeed, 95 percent of the running fish in Yamagata prefecture, Mr. Murai explained. “For the cultivation of salmon, we use a special and rare method called, “Shonai technique”, which uses a large hatching vessel layering two eggs. Although it is a hatchery, this method is led by farmers, not fishermen. We catch salmon running upstream after the reaping of rice, extract the eggs, let them hatch, and release the fry into the rivers. Currently, 3 unions operate hatcheries in Yuza, but dating back to the Edo period, the origin of the project was started by a feudal lord of Sakai. He designated the Gakko River as a “tanegawa", a place where salmon naturally hatch, in order to protect them.” Fish cultivation by farmers impressed us. We should also emphasize the fact that the aim for nature conservation started in the Edo period.
