permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Satoyama: Japan's Amazing Rice Fields and Farms : TreeHugger

(use the You Tube version and avoid the obtrusive veoh player install
promoted by the other site)

Watch Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden on You Tube:

Part 1: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ipcfo2FMi2c
This part is unavailable, copyright blocked

These are all viewable:
Part 2 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=5Is0Z1ROkVY
part 3 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=KyKC48zPaAs
part 4 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=jGa5zALz3ns
part 5 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZfwDDoioA
part 6 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=qqyvdpbJ_Tc

There are many other videos on You Tube about Satoyama to watch, see
the list beside each of the
Attenborough-narrated versions.

Satoyama is an amazing place. We should address ourselves to the task
of creating such Edens on our own land and in our communities.
The environmental buck stops at places like Satoyama. How it would be
to live there. LL
comments welcome
<><>

http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/satoyama-japans-amazing-rice-fields-and-farms.html

Satoyama: Japan's Amazing Rice Fields and Farms

greenz.jp
Technology / Clean Technology
January 30, 2009


(Photo from Ataru's blog Tokai no Inaka)

Satoyama is a word that describes the farming landscape near the hills
and mountains in Japan, where water is abundant and farmers for a long
time have maintained the soil for rice and vegetables. The NHK
documentary, Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden was aired on BBC
and PBS, and you can now see it on Youtube (links below the fold),
narrated by David Attenborough. Welcome to the paddy fields and local
communities near Lake Biwa, Japan.

Japan's Ministry of Environment wants to restore satoyama, the part of
the territory located on the outskirts of villages that formerly
provided rural Japan with food firewood, coal, water and diverse
cultures, somewhat equivalent to the french bocage. Hiromi Kobori and
Richard B. Primack describe one particularly successful program where
conservation efforts and fund-raising are linked to Totoro, an
imaginary forest animal featured in the popular animated film!

(Part 1/6 of Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden)

There are many attempts at defining just exactly what satoyama means:


Satoyama consists of a mosaic of mixed forests, rice paddy fields, dry
rice fields, grasslands, streams, ponds, and reservoirs for
irrigation. In this system, each habitat is considered essential for
the agricultural economy. Grasslands were maintained to feed horses
and cattle, which were then used as sources of power in agricultural
activities. Streams, ponds, and reservoirs were managed to adjust
water levels in the paddy fields and to supply fish to eat.

(Tabata H. 1997. The Nature of Satoyama)

Satoyama are not really wild forests or nature left to itself, but are
the result of careful human intervention in natural systems over the
centuries. And frankly, there isn't really anything "secret" about
them - they are perhaps more like the commons in the UK and northern
Europe, where people have managed communal lands over a long period of
time. Hiromi Kobori and Richard B. Primack note that the total size of
satoyama for a village depended on the number of people living in the
village and the area of rice fields:

    In many areas, the cultivation of rice was carried out next to and
even inside satoyama. This constant collection of leaves and wood kept
the forest open, and prevented succession to forest with large trees
and dense shade. In the late Edo era and Meiji era (1868 to 1912), the
size of the satoyama occupied by one family became smaller because
farmers could buy commercial fertilizers and no longer needed leaves
for fertilizing, resulting in less intensive forest management.



(Image from the Totoro Forest Project)

Near where I live there is an example of successful habitat
preservation thanks to the efforts of the "Totoro Hometown Fund
Campaign" to save areas of satoyama located in the Sayama Hills on the
outskirts of Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture. The project started in 1990
by local residents and a private environmental conservation
organization concerned with maintaining examples of the Japanese
landscape. The campaign uses as its mascot "Totoro," the central
character from the popular animated film by Hayao Miyazaki called My
Neighbor Totoro. An important element in the Totoro Hometown Fund
Campaign is that local citizens operate the management programs and
volunteer programs, resulting in a strong sense of local control of
the project.


(Photo from the Totoro Forest Project Blog)

In San Francisco, you can visit the art exhibition with works
celebrating forests at the Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission Street, San
Francisco, CA 94105 US (between Second Street and Third Street).

Satoyama: Japan's Secret Water Garden
Part 1: http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=ipcfo2FMi2c
Part 2 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=5Is0Z1ROkVY
part 3 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=KyKC48zPaAs
part 4 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=jGa5zALz3ns
part 5 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=0JZfwDDoioA
part 6 : http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=qqyvdpbJ_Tc
More biodiversity:
Alternative Economy Needed for Biodiversity?
Agriculture Needs a Fundamental Rethink in the 21st Century
Agriculture Sustainability Metrics Need Work: Can You Help?
Nagoya To Host UN Biodiversity Conference In 2009, Facing Protests

Brought to you by Martin Frid at greenz.jp

Tags: Agriculture | Farming | Japan | Local Food