Rice transplanting

[2011/05/02  Inzai, Chiba-ken]
Rice paddy with rice plants transplanted.
A farmers' family working on the field.



[2011/05/02  Inzai, Chiba-ken]
A rice-transplanting machine on the paddy



[2011/05/02  Inzai, Chiba-ken]
Before the advent of this machine, rice plants were
transplanted one by one by hand.



[2011/05/02  Inzai, Chiba-ken]
Rice plants have been raised on cassettes like this
in the green house.



[2011/05/02  Inzai, Chiba-ken]
Before setting the cassettes on the machine, extra roots
of the plants have to be scraped off. If not, even the wise
machine couldn't pull out the plants smoothly.
This 12-year-old boy was helping his father.

Rice transplanting has been, for thousands of years, one of the most important annual events for the Japanese. After the postwar mechanization of rice transplanting, the festive mood of this work is no longer there, but for many Japanese, observing this rite is something never to miss.

Why don't Japanese farmers sow rice grains directly on the paddies?  Well, the climate of Japan doesn't allow this. By raising young rice plants in the hothouse until they become strong enough to resist the cold, the Japanese ancestors have kept on succeeding in expanding rice-growing regions from the south even to Hokkaido island. This system was a great technological breakthrough in rice farming.

Rice could be grown on dry fields too. But water-flooded rice paddies are superior. The flooded rice paddy was another technological breakthrough. In the water of the paddies nitrogen-fixing algae multiply, thus giving extra nutrients to the rice plants. Thanks to this system, farmers need less fertilizer. Further they can continue using the paddies for thousands of years on end without giving them rest time, because of the continuous supply mechanism of nutrients into the paddies by algae. And more, flooded rice paddies won't cause dust problems in the farming areas. And more, because of the water in the paddies, hundreds of species can survive in the environment of the rice growing farms. In short, rice paddies are a highly environment-friendly system.

For me personally, it is a great pleasure doing cycling in the rice paddy farming areas, observing the growth of rice and other seasonal changes until the autumn harvest season.