Hey guys! It's me again.
Two weekends ago I met up with the Kome Kome Club and headed back to Yoshikawa. It was the beginning of autumn in Japan, and the barren terraces I remembered from my trip in February were filled with golden stalks ripe for harvest.
Nowadays, harvesting is mostly done with combine harvesters, but we got the chance to harvest one field the old-fashioned way. An old farmer showed us how it's done.
The farmer used a small hand scythe; the inside of the curved blade was serrated with tiny teeth. He first grabbed several stalks and used a quick flick of the wrist to cut them. After cutting a handful of stalks, he laid the stalks neatly behind him, cut another handful, and laid those stalks diagonally across the previous handful.
Once we finished with our scythes, the field was filled with cut grain laid out in rows of X's. The farmer then showed us how to tie the cut grain into bundles using dried straw. With several strands of straw held firmly between his hands, he picked up a bundle of grain and spun it in the air to start the knot. He finished the knot by twisting the straw together three times and pushing one of the free ends under the knot to hold it close.
Making the bundles was definitely harder than cutting the grain. One of the guys who was skilled with the procedure walked me through it, but I kept messing up and starting over. The farmer had a good laugh.
After loading the bundles in the farmer's truck, we headed over to a large rack. It was like a wide ladder, with long bamboo rungs tacked to a row of tree trunks. Each bundle was parted in two at the top and hung upside down over a rung, again forming X's. The grain was left out to dry, and we went to get cleaned up.
We slept in the old schoolhouse that night. The following day, we had the chance to watch a combine harvester in action. At break time, we were treated by the farmers to tea, apples, pickled vegetables, and sweets.
It wasn't quite autumn yet -- it felt like more like the end of summer. The hills were green and the sky was clear blue overhead.
That's all for me. Until next time,
James Li
Two weekends ago I met up with the Kome Kome Club and headed back to Yoshikawa. It was the beginning of autumn in Japan, and the barren terraces I remembered from my trip in February were filled with golden stalks ripe for harvest.
Nowadays, harvesting is mostly done with combine harvesters, but we got the chance to harvest one field the old-fashioned way. An old farmer showed us how it's done.
The farmer used a small hand scythe; the inside of the curved blade was serrated with tiny teeth. He first grabbed several stalks and used a quick flick of the wrist to cut them. After cutting a handful of stalks, he laid the stalks neatly behind him, cut another handful, and laid those stalks diagonally across the previous handful.
Once we finished with our scythes, the field was filled with cut grain laid out in rows of X's. The farmer then showed us how to tie the cut grain into bundles using dried straw. With several strands of straw held firmly between his hands, he picked up a bundle of grain and spun it in the air to start the knot. He finished the knot by twisting the straw together three times and pushing one of the free ends under the knot to hold it close.
Making the bundles was definitely harder than cutting the grain. One of the guys who was skilled with the procedure walked me through it, but I kept messing up and starting over. The farmer had a good laugh.
After loading the bundles in the farmer's truck, we headed over to a large rack. It was like a wide ladder, with long bamboo rungs tacked to a row of tree trunks. Each bundle was parted in two at the top and hung upside down over a rung, again forming X's. The grain was left out to dry, and we went to get cleaned up.
We slept in the old schoolhouse that night. The following day, we had the chance to watch a combine harvester in action. At break time, we were treated by the farmers to tea, apples, pickled vegetables, and sweets.
It wasn't quite autumn yet -- it felt like more like the end of summer. The hills were green and the sky was clear blue overhead.
That's all for me. Until next time,
James Li
また行こうね～
次はやったれ祭で日本のフィスティバルを書いてくれ～
二週間前、私は米米クラブのメンバーと会って、また吉川に向かいました。日本は秋が始まった頃で、今年の２月に行った時は殺風景だった棚田は、収穫の秋を迎えて黄金の稲穂で埋まっていました。
最近では、収穫はコンバインで行います。しかし、私たちは昔の方法で収穫することができました。また、そのやり方を、農家の方に見せていただきました。
その農家の方は、小さな刃がナナメのカーブになっていて小さなギザギザがついている、カマを使っていました。初めに稲穂を適当に握り、手首のスナップを利かせて刈り取りました。手で握れるくらいを刈った後、すぐその稲穂を自分の後ろに置いて、他の稲穂を刈って、さっき置いた稲穂の上に交互に置いていきました。
私たちもカマで刈り終わってみると、田んぼはＸ字のように置かれた稲穂で埋まっていました。そして、農家の方は藁を使ってその置かれた稲穂を縛るやり方を見せてくれました。数本の藁を糸のようにして、手で持ち上げた稲穂をしっかりと巻き、横に回転させて結び目を作りました。さらに、藁を３回捩じって、結び目の中に藁の端を入れて結び終わりました。
結んで稲穂の束を作ることは、明らかに刈ることより大変でした。手慣れたメンバーが手際良くやっている隣で、私は駄目にしてはまたやり直してました。それを見て農家の方は微笑んでいました。
稲穂の束をトラックで運んだ後、私たちも稲穂を掛けに行きました。その掛け場はまるで広いハシゴみたいで、数本の大きな木の幹に、横に竹を掛けて留めたものでした。稲穂の束を結び目を起点にＸ字にして、さらに逆さにして竹に掛けました。このまま置いておくことで乾燥させるためです。最後に、手や靴の掃除をきれいにして帰りました。
その日は廃校になった小学校で泊まりました。次の日は、実際に収穫するコンバインを見ることができました。休憩時間には、農家の方が私たちにお茶やリンゴ、漬物やお菓子をふるまってくれました。
その丘には草木があふれ、一面の青空が広がっていて、秋というよりは、まるで夏の終わりのように感じた日でした。
私からは以上です。また次の機会に！
ジェームス リー