planting rice by hand
every grain matters!
Hello reader, thanks for being here! I’m Kana and this is Tending Gardens, which you can read about here. If you like it and want more like it in your inbox, consider subscribing.
every grain of rice matters
I grew up on bowls of white and (later in life) brown rice. A meal wasn’t a meal without rice. When I was studying abroad or far away from home, it was a bowl of sticky, white rice that I would miss the most. I also grew up being reminded to eat every grain of rice. Each grain of rice mattered, it was important not to waste anything.
Living in Kamikatsu, I’ve gained a much more intimate relationship with my food and how & where it’s grown. While I’m familiar with how most produce is grown, rice is a much more distant concept. Growing up in Canada, I didn’t see rice fields—it wasn’t part of my daily landscape. I think a lot of Japanese people who moved to big cities feel immense nostalgia when they see rice fields—reminding them of their childhood in rural Japan.
When I first came to Kamikatsu in October 2020, I helped a friend harvest her rice field. In autumn, the heat of summer subsides and the fields are shimmering with long and golden grains. Harvesting is done by using a knife to cut the rice stalked, dry them, and hulled to remove the seeds.
Having had this experience of harvesting, I was so excited to revisit my friend’s farm to plant for a new season!
spring, a new season for rice begins!
In Japan, spring signals a season of new beginnings. The new school year starts in April and most companies also start a new fiscal year. Spring is the time for new beginnings, including the start of rice planting.
Growing rice in Japan is favourable because of the abundance of rain. The warm humid weather is also well suited for the rice to grow.
Most rice today is planted using machines. It’s a very laborious job to tend to rice fields, but my friend’s rice is planted by hand—one stalk at a time.
First, the farmer raises strong seedlings in a nursery by taking unhulled grains of seed rice from last year’s harvest. The planted seeds grow roots and then once they’re big enough, they are transferred to the field to grow into large stalks.
To plant rice by hand, we took a portion of the seedlings in a shallow container and walked towards the fields. We took off our boots and socks and climbed into the nearly knee-deep muddy waters.
I can see how some might be turned off by the idea of dragging your feet through the mud, but it is an incredible sensation to “feel” the earth. We bend low toward the ground and take a couple of stalks of rice and push it into the mud until it stands on its own. At first, we used a wooden device that looks like a grid to measure out the distances between the stalks, but as we got more used to the spacing we could eyeball where to plant. Having only done it for half a day, I could already understand and appreciate the effort it takes to plant rice by hand. It’s not easy on the body but there is something so rewarding to see the efforts of your labour.
寺川農園 teragawa noen
Our friend, Satoko, was born and raised in a neighbouring village called Sakamoto. She is helping her family’s farm and she has reimagined the farm space as a gathering and event place called “寺川農園 teragawa noen” (teragawa farm). Each season she invited people in the village and their family and friends to help her on the farm.
Being outside, moving our bodies, eating good food… I feel so connected to myself and the people around me. In rural areas, fields such as this one is a place where people can farm together and eat together. The joy of being together.
It doesn’t just take a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to grow rice. The physical labour needed to grow rice has decreased due to mechanization, but the connection to the land itself has not changed. Farmers have to protect nature in order to produce delicious rice. It’s our responsibility to take care that not a single grain goes to waste.
I can’t wait to see the rice grow and to harvest the rice once again come autumn.
Happy Sunday dear friends.
Wishing you all a wonderful week ahead.
Take care,
Kana
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