|
|
|
|
Rice Paddy Ponds
A farming couple stand in front of their rice paddy pond 99.11.2/Temperature: 3C/ Weather: Partly cloudy / Wind Direction: NW
Start: Sennodai, Futatsui / Latitude:40 08 31 N / Longitude:140 120 57 E
Destination: Kado, Kotooka / Latitude: 40 02 21 N / Longitude: 140 05 37 E
Distance Traveled: 22 kmThe narrow valley stretching from Sennodai to the Kotooka Plain was full of signs that people have altered and lived off of the land. In all parts of the world people have shaped the landscape to the needs of their daily lives. The scenery before me today is no exception.
Thin, curved rice paddies rested in the narrow space between the road, a small creek, and the valley walls full of the green of cedar and the red and yellow maple. A few buna beech were also mixed in the forest-scape. Unlike the large open fields that have created a living for many farmers in America, the small farming mountain village, Yachinotani, I passed through today, is confined to a limited amount of space.
Rice paddy pond sits slightly above a rice paddy below it, cedar and beech trees in the background. Several of the rice paddies were terraced. Long ago the mountain valley was turned into a staircase of rice paddies in order to expand farmable land area and to grow as much rice as possible. The terraced paddy itself is a remarkable innovation which I'll try to find out more about, but my discovery today focused more on the 'rice paddy ponds' which were mixed in with the staircased landscape.
"This is a rice paddy pond," said the 78 year-old woman with a gleaming smile. She and her husband were out near the pond stacking firewood for next year. "Since water from the creek along with the rain isn't enough to get us through the harvest, from long ago we have used these ponds as a source of water." The ponds are shaped similarly to the surrounding rice paddies. One farmer told me that the ponds are dug out and lined with clay-like soil, which prevents the water from leaking out.
Thin rice paddies stretch along the Yachinosawa Valley. My elderly woman friend explained how the ponds are used. "Water from the creek is trapped here in the pond. If the pond gets too full we open a floodgate which directs water back into the creek. Come springtime we continue to fill the pond at the same time we send water out to the paddies. We couldn't get by without the ponds."
The ponds still fulfill this function and have given this area's rice a more natural flavor. At the local Farmers Coop I was informed that the entire valley area is designated as a region specializing in 'natural rice.' This means that all of the rice grown here is raised with natural spring and rain water. "Our rice is particularly delicious," commented the gentleman at the coop. Lucky to have tasted some of this rice this evening, I agree that it is delicious. When pounded and rolled into soft rice balls, "damakko" , it is even more so.
Damakko! Pounded rice is mushed into balls and boiled in soup. So tasty! The simple technology of the rice paddy pond dates so far back that no one could even give me an estimate. Innovations such as these ponds reflects the ways humans have shaped the landscape in a way which benefits human living and doesn't harm the natural environment significantly. I think utilizing the natural features of the mountain to collect water and create a living off the land is a rather clever innovation.
How has the landscape around you been shaped by human hands? Are there clever uses of land and nature?
Greg
PS. I have already passed through Aomori Prefecturec How many steps do you think I took?
to Top News Page of Wisdom
< >
Copyright World School Network & ECO-CLUB, 1998-99. No reproduction or republication without written permission.
Send feedback to info@wschool.net
