We lived in Shonai- or what was called the Shonai plain of Japan. That was just the name of the geographical area- a large, flat area. It was an agricultural area- growing mostly rice and soy beans. The locals believed ( and we definitely agreed with them) that the best rice in the world is grown right there in that area. It truly was delicious. We noticed right away that the people rarely put anything at all on their rice. They loved it plain. When you asked people their favorite food, often the answer would be, simply, "Rice."
We were fascinated with the rice-growing process. So fascinated, in fact, that we started taking pictures as we witnessed the different steps. Ken was especially good about taking pictures through the spring, summer and fall. Our plan all along was to do a blog post about growing rice. But we never got it done while we were in Japan. I will attempt to do it now:
The process started with them putting sacks of rice seed in warm water (onsen or hot spring water) to swell the seeds. I thought Ken took a picture of this, but I couldn't find it. Then they plant the seed and start it growing. Then, much like sod, they cut the seedlings into squares, or a machine does. They load these squares onto a planting machine. Here a man and his daughter (rice growing is a family affair) are loading the machine. You can see the baby seedlings being planted in the very wet mud.
Here you see flats of seedlings waiting in the flooded, prepared field to be planted. The fields stay flooded or very wet all summer.
The flooded rice fields are beautiful- especially at sunset. Photo credit: Brother Kobayashi
Soon the tufts of grain come up out of the water and grow and grow.
Isn't it beautiful?
This is one of my favorite pictures we took in Japan. I don't know why, but it just represents the area we lived in to me. Ken talked to the man and he said he was making the furrows deeper for the water to run down with this machine.
At first the rice grows straight and tall, but as it develops it gets yellower and yellower and the tops start to bend with the weight of the grain.
Amber waves of grain!
You can see soy beans planted between rice fields
This was a sight we saw a lot- the beautiful fields. We never got tired of it.
Close-up of the bent stalks
When it is tall, yellow, and bent, the harvest begins
We stopped and watched these men harvest for quite some time.
The machine separates the stalks from the rice and the harvested grain is loaded in these huge sacks.
Ken made friends with the workers and asked them questions. Here they are closing the bags of the harvested grain while they chat. We even gave them a plate of my homemade cookies and left them as friends.
Before there were machines to do the work, rice was cut with a scythe and then hung to dry before it was harvested. We saw some still doing it the old fashioned-way.- hanging it over homemade fences to dry. I took a picture, but I can't find it.
There is an old tradition that one should carefully, with chopsticks, eat every single grain of rice one is served. The reason is that it was so difficult to get the rice, one should honor those who worked so hard by not wasting a kernel.
There are different grades of rice. The price varied greatly by which grade it was. It all tasted delicious to us.
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