Sakaori Tanada

Terraced paddy fields in Sakaori district

Sakaori Tanada is the terraced paddy fields in Nakanoho-cho, Ena City, Gifu Prefecture, which was selected as a one of the best 100 terraced paddy fields in Japan.

It has a long history, had begun to be made in the early Edo period (early 17th century) and almost the current landscape had completed in the early Meiji period (mid-19th century), I hear. The stone masonry as Tanada's foundation seems to had been built by craftsmen of the masonry group "Kurokuwa" that built also the stone masonry of Nagoya Castle. Various other ideas have been applied to Sakaori Tanada, thereby the environment of Satoyama (the mountainous areas with villages involved in agriculture and forestry), which coexist with the original natural environment, had been built and kept.

And now, it is maintained by Sakaori Tanada Preservation Society, and maintained and managed to be able to be preserved for posterity while retaining its traditional features and landscape.

paddy fields lined in step on a steep slanting surface : 急斜面に階段状に並ぶ水田

There is an observatory place in Sakaori Tanada, we can overlook the entire Tanada from there. My most impressive part of that landscape is a part down from the side of the road that continues to the observatory place. Each paddy field there has narrow width and slightly large step, so there exactly looks like a staircase.

paddy field with footprints of a person who weeded : 草取り作業の足跡が残る水田

In some paddy fields of Sakaori Tanada, especially in the elongated paddy fields on the upper level, rice seedlings are planted not by rice transplanters but by the hands of the preservation sociaty staffs and volunteers. The same applies to subsequent works such as weeding, large agricultural machineries are not used there.

Scenery of weeding in paddy fields : 除草作業風景

weeding is done each in every between rows of rice each in all paddy fields : 田んぼごとに１列１列草取り作業をしていきます

The day when I visited to take photos for this post was a time of weeding after rice planting. Only rice seedlings were lined up in paddy fields on upper level, and there were footprints between the rows, so it was obvious that the weeding work in there had been completed.

When looking at the lower paddy fields, I found a person weeding work. That person was pushing a compact tool called a paddy field weeder in a paddy field, plowing shallowly between rice seedlings rows, filling the grass beginning to grow there into the paddy soil. Plowing shallowly by human power is a work that requires strength, and it has to be done in every space between the rice seedling rows of every paddy fields, so it goes without saying that that work is really a very hard hardship.

there was also a bundle of rice seedlings for reserve at a corner of a paddy field : 田の隅には予備の苗もありました

During weeding, work done by a weeding worker is not only weeding. If the weeding worker finds a weak seedlings, she/he will replant it with healthy seedlings. So, a bunch of seedlings left over from rice planting is also placed as spares in a corner of the paddy field.

Because such ingenuities and hardships are done also in other work, delicious rice is harvested. Every time I recognize that, I realize once again that it's no matter how much I thank the farmers and that I can't waste even one grain of rice that I usually eat.

it's only in early summer to be able to see the scenery of paddy fields reflecting trees in : 水田に木々が映る景色を楽しめるのは初夏だけ

At Sakaori Tanada, we can see and feel not only the beautiful landscape unique to the mountainous area of Gifu Prefecture, but also history and tradition unique to this district, and also the value of the ingenuities and hardships that have been accumulated in the rice cultivation.

Click here for the official website.

＊＊＊ in Japanese ＊＊＊

坂折棚田

　坂折棚田は、岐阜県恵那市中野方町にある棚田で、日本の棚田百選にも選ばれました。
　その歴史は古く、江戸時代初期（17世紀初め頃）からつくられ、明治時代初期（19世紀中頃）にはほぼ現在の景観になったそうです。その土台である石積みは、名古屋城の石垣も築いたという石工集団「黒鍬」の職人たちによるものだとか。他にもさまざまな工夫が施されることで、本来の自然の環境と共存する里山環境が築かれ、保たれてきました。
　現在は、坂折棚田保存会によって維持されており、坂折棚田の昔からの特徴と景観を残しつつ、後世に残せるよう整備・管理されています。

　坂折棚田には展望所が設けられており、そこから棚田全体を眺められます。特に印象的なのは展望所までの道路のすぐ下付近で、田の１つ１つの幅が細く、段差もやや大きめで、まさに階段のように見えるところです。

　棚田の一部、特に上段の細長い田にはトラクターは使わず、保存会のスタッフ諸氏と有志の方々により手で田植えされます。その後の草取りなども同様で、大型の作業機械に頼らない作業が行われます。

　この記事用の写真を撮りに出かけた日は、田植え後の草取り作業が行われている時期でした。上の段のほうは稲の苗が綺麗に並んでいるだけでしたし、その列の間に足跡が残ってもいて、草取りが完了していることは一目瞭然でした。
　麓に近い水田を見遣ると、ちょうど草取り作業をされている方がおられました。水田中耕除草機というコンパクトな道具を田の中で押し、稲の苗の列と列の間を浅く耕し、生えている草を土中に埋めるのです。人力で耕すのは力仕事ですし、それをすべての田においてすべての畝の間で行うのですから、とても大変なご苦労なのは言うまでもありません。

　草取り作業は、ただ草を取るだけではありません。途中、弱って育たない苗があれば、丈夫な苗と植え替えることもします。そのために、田の隅には田植えで残った苗の束が予備として置かれています。
　他の作業においてもこうした工夫とご苦労があるからこそ美味しいお米が収穫されるのだと思うと、農家の方々には頭が上がりませんし、普段いただくご飯の１粒も無駄にできないと改めて感じます。

　坂折棚田では、岐阜県の山間部ならではの美しい景観だけでなく、この地区ならではの歴史と伝統、米作りにおける積み重ねられてきた工夫と労苦のありがたさなども同時に感じられます。

公式サイトはこちらからどうぞ。