I’ve been thinking about my love for rice fields. Why are rice fields my favorite thing about Japan? One possible reason is that, of all the wonderful things in Japan, rice fields were practically the only thing for which I had no prior experience. Cute babies? I may not have seen tons of cute Japanese babies with their hair sticking up, but I had seen cute babies. Cherry blossoms? Undeniably breathtaking, but I had seen trees in flower before. Koinobori? (Colorful fish-shaped wind socks) Fun and sometimes thrilling, but I had seen wind socks and kites before. But rice fields – although I had seen ponds and lakes before, somehow the newly flooded rice fields struck me fresh to the heart the first time I saw them, as they continue to do every year now.
Rice fields are generally square and shallow. They are flooded, planted, and, as the rice grows, it first complements, then overshadows the water, and finally absorbs the water. At that point, although the rice plants are a lovely shade of green, the field looks much like any other field that will be harvested.
But I think it is their very transience that touches me most deeply. Just as buds and sprouts in the spring promise the flowers and leaves of high summer, the flooding of the rice fields marks the renewal of human activity on this green and fertile earth. I won’t see them every day as they are a mid-spring phenomenon. Rice fields as reflecting pools last only a few days. Rice fields with tender plants in neat rows also last only a few days as the plants grow, straight and tall at first and then, gradually, bending over with the burden of the grain. Then harvest, and waiting through the dead cycle of winter for the wonder of the flooding again the next year.
If you come to Japan, try to come in mid-spring, so you can experience this beauty for yourself.
