Hoshitoge Rice Terraces
While the conditions of snow country have shaped human culture in the region, humans have also shaped snow country. This relationship is exemplified by the scenic Hoshitoge rice terraces, one of the largest mountainside rice farms in Tokamachi. Residents have grown rice on Mt. Matsuno for hundreds of years, cutting some 200 interconnected paddies into its slopes to create patchwork areas of level ground.
Wet-field rice varieties, the dominant type grown in Japan, require standing water to grow. They are cultivated in flooded fields called paddies. When paddies are built on flat land, their water usually comes from a diverted river. Terraced paddies, on the other hand, require a water source located uphill so that gravity can carry the water downward. At Hoshitoge and other rice terraces in Tokamachi, that life-giving water is provided by sources other than river water, such as rain, groundwater, and snowmelt.
Beech groves at the top of Mt. Matsuno act as a huge, natural sponge. Their thick, deep root systems and the loamy layers of soil created by their fallen leaves collect and retain snowmelt and rainwater. Farmers have made use of this natural water retention by digging reservoirs at the top of the slope to gather the stored water and divert it as needed into the paddies below.
While changing the shape of the land and its watershed has allowed people to grow rice in this region, it has also created an important ecosystem. Meadowhawk dragonflies (akatonbo), for instance, spend the hot summer months in the mountains and lay eggs in the rice paddies during the fall. The Hoshitoge rice terraces provide both environments in close proximity, supporting large populations of these insects. The grown dragonflies, in turn, are a source of food for frogs, who flourish in the water-filled paddies. The frogs then become the prey of snakes and predatory birds. All of these animals are able to survive in the region due to this convergence of human, geological, and climatic factors.
Rice-terrace farming is highly labor intensive. The sloping ground and irregular shapes of the paddies make the use of machines difficult and require nearly all the work to be done by hand. As the country’s population shrinks and ages, many terraces have fallen out of use or been abandoned. Those in Tokamachi, including Hoshitoge, are maintained with the help of a shared ownership system. Members across the country pay an annual fee to support the continued cultivation of the paddies, and they receive rice as a dividend. They can also participate in the planting or harvest, learning from the farmers about snow country’s traditional way of life while helping to preserve it for the future.
