Rice Harvest

   Last week, I received the following inquiry about something I had posted a year ago:

I was looking around online trying to find a nice rice terrace (tanada) to visit on my trip to Japan in late October (how I found your blog), and I came upon the Ukiha tanada, which look amazing, but I am not sure if the rice will be around when I get there.

   You're right. 

   Generally speaking, rice is harvested right about now in Ukiha and elsewhere. I've been there three times to see the higan-bana†, which are just starting to bloom here in Fukuoka, and each time I went most of the rice had already been cut. I suppose that if you were to hurry, there might still be rice left as the weather hasn't been very sunny this summer. (My wife just said that we will go harvest the rice we planted earlier this year later this week.)

Would you happen to be able to tell me how I could find that information out? I know it's kind of a long shot, but I've been googling everything I can think of, and no one can tell me (probably because the farmers don't put up their harvest schedule on the internet).

   It usually depends on the weather more than anything. I would think that due to all the rain we've had this summer, the harvesting might be a week or two late. Even still, that would be too late for your planned visit. 

   I did a quick search in Japanese and found the following:

   September is the season for harvesting rice. While the exact timing depends on the weather, as a rule, rice is harvested about forty-five days after after grains of rice appear on the iné (rice plants). There are other ways of determining whether a field is ready to be harvested. One is by looking at the field itself. If ninety percent of the field has turned golden in color (from the rice grains), then it is ready. Another way is know if it is ready is to calculate the average daily high and add it up. If that figure is between 1000 and 1200 degrees Celcius, then the rice can be harvested.

   That's probably not very helpful for you, but I find it rather interesting.

Have you ever been to or heard of Misaki in Okayama? It also seems like a nice place to visit a tanada, and they say they harvest later than in the south...

   No, I'm afraid I haven't. I doubt the timing would be much different. One thing I have noticed is that rice is usually planted and then harvested at higher elevations first. 

 

Ukiha

   Ukiha is a small farming town (now designated a cityーうきは市ーthanks to its merger with neighboring Yoshii Machi) in the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture. While the center of the town itself has a collection of traditional houses and buildings that it is trying to promote as a tourist destination, I'm afraid I haven't been there personally. (You'll have to take the city's HP's word that it's worth visiting.) I have, however, on a number of occasions been into the mountains to an area called Ukiha Machi Shinkawa (浮羽町新川) to see the terraced rice paddies--known as tanada (棚田) or dandan batake (段々畑)--and the higan bana (彼岸花, lycoris radiata or cluster amaryllis) which bloom, appropriately, around o-higan, that is, during the equinoctal week in autumn.

   Although there is a bus that dawdles its way up the winding mountain road, the best way to get there is by car. You take route 210 to route 105 and follow it all the way up, past the dam, and on up into the mountains until you start seeing the terraced rice paddies. Keep going on up as far as you can, then get out and hike up the rest of the way. Trust me, it's worth the trip.

   The best time to go is in early September, just before the rice is harvested or shortly after the rice harvesting has begun as the contrast between fields of rice that have already been cleared and those waiting to be is quite beautiful.

   Along the borders of the rice fields you'll find a curious looking flower called the higan bana. The generally come in two colors: red and white. According to Mr. Wiki:

  "The bulbs of Lycoris radiata are very poisonous. These are mostly used in Japan, and they are used to surround their paddies and houses to keep the pest and mice away. That is why most of them grow close to rivers now. In Japan the Red Spider Lily signals the arrival of fall. Many Buddhist will use it to celebrate the arrival of fall with a ceremony at the tomb of one of their ancestors. They plant them on graves because it shows a tribute to the dead. People believe that since the Red Spider Lily is mostly associated with death that one should never give a bouquet of these flowers."