Planting of rice seedlings start after the Golden Week holidays at the beginning of May.
As the snow on top of the mountain starts to melt in this season and the settling snow on Mt. Chokaizan takes the form of an old farmer as it is melting, there is an old saying that this is the time for planting rice.
Shortly before planting season starts in the Shonai region of Yamagata Prefecture, on the first day of May, farmers begin shiro-kaki (soil puddling).
Shiro-kaki keeps the surface of the rice field flat and the water level and depth is adjusted to facilitate planting and prevent water leakage.In the old days, a harrow was drawn by a horse to flatten the surface of the field but nowadays, they mount the harrow on a tractor. Incidentally, some people believe “shiro” means mud.
Once soil puddling is done, farmers can start planting rice from the middle of May. Rather than saying Mid-May which sounds vague, farmers make a strict plan on the day to start planting. In the past, when people planted rice manually, it took one person a whole day to finish planting a 10 are field but now, it`s possible for two people to cover 200 ares a day. In short, productivity has multiplied 10 times because of mechanized work.
Within a week after planting, the new roots start coming out. During this time, farmers keep the water in the field quite deep to protect the rice seedlings in the paddy from cold temperature and strong winds.
One day, a representative of an agricultural corporation who is a farmer licked the soil of his organic farming rice field and told me that good soil is sweet.
He seems to have struggled with delays in getting the rice seed this year so the process was behind schedule however he was not impatient.
The name Dewa Shonai Tokusan (which means specialty of Shonai district in Dewa region) has more than 80 paddy fields around Shonai area. All their staff plant rice seedlings in their fields. Each field has its own policy about the kind of rice to grow such as Tsuya hime, Koshihikari and Sasanishiki; as well as the method of farming such as organic, chemical reduced and so on.
The father of the representative is over 80 years old but is still very healthy, active and looks very dependable. Once I was taking photos of the paddy field and he came up behind me, gave me a cold canned coffee and smiled. I was worried about delays in the schedule but I was relieved to see his smile.
Agriculture doesn’t only make crops.
This year the farmer hosted an event for the first time with the help of a local company, where residents of the city can experience planting rice seedlings. Dozens of adults and children enjoyed planting rice with their hands in the mud the old fashioned way. They have refrained from using agricultural chemicals such as pesticides and chemical fertilizer in this paddy field so visitors/guests could enjoy the activities without worries.
After planting in the mud, they washed off the dirt with a water hose beside a warehouse, then the farmer hosted a barbecue party and a mochi tsuki event (pounding steamed rice into a cake like dough)
People in the city rarely have a chance to do mochi-tsuki these days. Participants enjoyed the thrill of mochi tsuki using a mallet. The mallet was heavy as expected and pounding was tough but after struggling with the mallet, the rice cake appeared perfect in the mortar. We made small dumpling rice cakes with sweetened bean paste and ate as much as we wanted, feeling hungry after working in the field and pounding mochi.
After the mochi-tsuki event, they held a barbecue party in the farmer’s warehouse, with special pork famous in this region.The farmer prepared an oil drum which he split lengthwise in two and made a fire pit with coals and a wire grill on the fire. Everyone gathered around the fire pit and the atmosphere was very warm and friendly. Even children were having fun playing with each other.
Recently a CEO told me that agriculture doesn’t only make crops. I suddenly remembered his words. Not only does agriculture make crops but also other things such as experience, hobby, way of life, education, welfare, diet and health consciousness, establishing friendships/long term relationships. Agriculture offers more to life than crops and vegetables.
Furthermore, if the industrial society was a society that excludes a person against them, it’s a bit different here. A high tolerance and capacity still remains in this area.
The day after the event, Dewa-Shonai Tokusan was back to the usual routine. They planted rice seedlings in the paddy field which had some unplanted spaces left by the visitors. All the staff continued to plant for the year’s harvest. The water hose, the mortar and mallet, the drum used the day before were all packed up and put away by the staff. The special event is over and it’s back to normal. This is how the work this year has started.
In this clean air and crystal clear water in Shonai plain, I feel an immense circulation of elements such as oxygen and nitrogen, not visible to the eye. In the same way, rice and people are in circulation and all these elements come together and goes through the natural force for some time before they are dispersed into the huge invisible eternal circulation. I feel it.
Farmers who grow the rice in the paddy fields know the consumers in the same way that consumers know the farmers. That being said, I am convinced of a natural force, an invisible cycle that exists.
