Midori Ippai Project Activities LINE 199Participation in Izu Matsuzaki-cho Ishibu Rice Terrace "Harvest Festival" October 1, 2016 NTT West Shizuoka Group
On October 1, 2016 (Saturday), NTT West Shizuoka Group took part in the harvest festival of Ishibu rice terrace at Izu Matsuzaki-cho.
Rice planting was carried out in May, and the heads of the rice stalks were drooping and the field was covered in a beautiful golden color at the time of the harvest festival, thanks to the care given by people from the local community over a period of about five months.
It was raining on the day of the event when the participants departed from Shizuoka City as well as the transit point in Numazu. It was cloudy and going to start raining at the venue of the festival, but nonetheless 50 participants from Shizuoka Group had a hands-on experience of the rice harvesting process.
Participants started to engage in the work under the guidance of the local people on how to reap rice and dry rice on racks.
Rice was reaped manually by cutting the plants one by one using a sickle and tying four to five plants into a bundle. Two or three bundles were then arranged in a crisscross pattern in an inverted "V" shape, followed by installing racks in the rice field for the bundled rice to be sun-dried.
A bamboo was passed through horizontally by making use of the "steps" of the rice terrace, while the stakes supporting the rack were set firmly into the ground of the rice field to prevent the rack from toppling over during a storm. After setting up the rack, the rice bundles were hung onto it carefully while ensuring that the racks would not collapse due to overloading.
The rice bundles were left to sun-dry on the racks for one week to 10 days before they are sent for threshing and milling.
A total of 110 employees and their family members took part in the satoyama (village forest) conservation activities through the rice cultivation process from planting in May to harvesting in October.
NTT West Shizuoka Group will continue to engage actively in this activity in future.
The main processes for yearly rice production at Ishibu rice terrace are as follows:
(1) Mid February: rice field plowing
(2) Early March: lister furrowing
(3) Mid April: soil puddling
(4) Late April: ridging, furrow coating
(5) Mid May: rice planting
(6) Early July, late August: grass cutting, weeding
(7) Early October: rice harvesting, drying on racks
(8) Mid October: threshing, milling
- Participating companies
- Companies under NTT West Shizuoka Business Unit
NTT West Shizuoka Branch
NTT Business Solutions
NTT Marketing Act
NTT Fieldtechno
NTT Business Associe West - Venue
- Ishibu rice terrace (Izu Matsuzaki-cho)
- No. of participants
- 50
