W h a t w e t h i n k Occasionally, amongst the small trees and shrubs, one spots some radishes or rhubarb sprouting up, as a reminder of the farming that was once done here.

Masanobu believed that his farm should serve as a ray of light against the backdrop of the times. No one seemed to recognise the urgency of the environmental crisis unfolding all around. By contrast, his book was a guide to the pursuit of spiritual rather than materialistic fulfilment.

The six huts of bamboo and clay that Masanobu Fukuoka had set up to cater for his many visitors have now gone out of use and one suspects that they too will soon be swallowed up by the forest. His methods of natural farming were seen as highly unorthodox and he was reproached for leaving his fields unweeded. When we visited the field on which the family has practiced a wheat/ barley/ rice rotation, we found the straw of rice laid down across the ground, with the wheat shoots beginning to poke their heads through, just as Masanobu Fukuoka had taught. Uta Karuta cards are used in a Japanese game popular amongst children, in which one must match the first half of a poem with the second half. Their focus has been on getting their produce to market. We produce high quality Romney and Merino hand spinning fleeces, 100% … Masanobu's grandchild Some of the main changes to farming practices on Fukuoka farm have come in response to criticisms from neighbours. My friend Shinya Ishizaka and I made our way up the driveway of a small warehouse just outside of the town of Iyo, in Shikoku, Japan. This post describes a visit to the Fukuoka family’s farm that took place in late 2015. It was, therefore, not surprising that when he became too old to care for the farm himself, his family took over its management. The morning sun shone through the leaves of the pine trees in the garden and illuminated gold the web of an orb spider cast above the door. earnestly preserves these inherited convictions while interacting with nature day after day. Fukuoka-sensei’s deck contained poems that he had composed regarding the limitations of human knowledge and the importance of living close to nature.

He explained to us that he was using this warehouse to package organic foods, but that it was still undergoing renovations.

The book was published during an era of worldwide economic growth and progress, symbolized by consumerism and the notion of satisfaction from material things. Hiroki-san has had some success in finding reliable markets for his produce. It has been left to nature and is undergoing a transition: from a biodiverse agro-ecosystem, to a natural, fruit-bearing forest. In visiting Hiroki-san and the farm, I hoped to gain a sense of Fukuoka-sensei’s global impact, particularly his ongoing relevance in the developing world. His philosophy and principles, unconstrained by preconceptions or established practices, struck a chord with readers, encouraging many of them to come to visit his farm. Misora Ogura. Akiko Fukuoka, Masanobu's eldest son Shinya provided many of the insights that inform this article, but any of its shortcomings are my fault alone. Business hours9:00 ~ 17:00 (except for long holidays such as Saturday,Sunday,New Year's holidays and Obon), 19-1 Chishiro Tawaramoto-cyo Shiki-gun Nara. My research focuses on the social aspects of sustainable agriculture and agricultural skill development, particularly in India. The concern that Hiroki-san has is not only that young people don’t understand the ecological crisis, but also that they have no general understanding of what agriculture means. there is still some hope that we can heal the damage that we’ve done. 19-1 Chishiro Tawaramoto-cyo Shiki-gun Nara+81-744-34-7271 Consequently, they have been considerably less strict in their adherence to the principles of natural farming, in order to maintain yields capable of providing adequate family income. It aspires to be one of the little drops in the large river, full of the spiritual purity of the Ehime countryside, unchanged from day to day. Required fields are marked *. So I ended up taking over the farm when I was 25 years old. His deep sadness was partly the loneliness of one who felt perpetually misunderstood; yet, it was also a sense of despair that the urgency of his message was never heeded. They hear wise words and they nod along in agreement, but they seem pitifully unable to change their ways. Masanobu Fukuoka’s grandson, Hiroki-san, remembered his grandfather as being a very kind and gentle man, during his childhood. The relay of life goes on. When Masanobu’s son, Masato, took over he stayed true to the natural farming methods advocated by his father and, using these practices as a base, explored how he could successfully establish the farm as a viable business with stable production and sales, but without pesticides or chemical fertilizers. People liked to listen to him but were incapable of changing their ways. By midday it was noticed that he was no longer breathing. Your email address will not be published. Following the ‘do-nothing’ philosophy of his grandfather, Hiroki-san only provides minimal intervention to encourage this transition. We value and cherish the plants and animals, as well as the interaction with their environment. Elementary as it may be, we believe this attitude is of vital importance. Get the latest permaculture news stories straight in your inbox, The Advanced Permaculture Student Teacher's Guide, The Permaculture Student 2: A Collection of Regenerative Solutions (eBook), Fukuoka, Natural Farming, and the Developing World, House Cows, Golden Eggs, and the True Cost of Cheap Supermarket Food – Part 3 – Updated, House Cows, Golden Eggs, and the True Cost of Cheap Supermarket Food – Part 1 – Updated, Starting a Food Forest for a Small Homestead in Zone 7, Food, Water, Shelter, Community, & Recreation, The Impact Of Microplastics In The Marine Environment And Human Health, Introduction to Naturalised Nursery Practice, PDC in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru, The cards were published posthumously in 2009, under Fukuoka’s self-publishing company, Shizen-Juen (ISBN 978-4-938743-03-1). He spent much of his time in his hut on the hill, perfecting his farming methods and working on his writings. Two bearded young Frenchmen entered, who had been helping to set up the warehouse. His final project was to create a deck of Uta Karuta cards called the Iroha Revolutionary Verses,1 which were intended to transform people’s perspective through other means. History of Masanobu Fukuoka Natural Farm Masanobu Fukuoka’s father, Kameichi, was a local leader and landowner before the war, who served as the village mayor. Hiroki-san draws attention to the fact that no young people are farming any more, as agriculture has become increasingly unviable. Fukuoka-sensei became particularly depressed after delivering the lectures that he periodically gave to students and intellectuals around the world. He had devoted his life to perfecting his methods of natural farming, not only to save agriculture from the destruction of soil and biodiversity but also to revegetate the world’s deserts. When things became too crowded in the huts on his mountain farm, he would ask people to leave, seemingly unmoved by their tears at having travelled from around the world, only to be turned away. My father said to me, “I’d like to see you back here by the time you’re 30.” However, what I really wanted to do was start putting into practice everything that I had learned about farming and agriculture. Consequently, the tasks of marketing produce and managing the household economy fell to … At the vast citrus fields of Iyo, Ehime,third generation Hiroki Fukuoka Consequently, the family has not been overly involved in promoting the philosophy of natural farming (though they have welcomed some foreign visitors in recent years, who have come to learn more and soak up the ambience of the farm). He encouraged the study of natural farming based on “No tilling, no weeding, and no pesticides.” This ran counter to trends in modern agriculture at the time with its emphasis on speed and rapid growth. Masato-san saw it as his duty to repair neighbourly relations that had been damaged by his father. Hiroki Fukuoka, Hiroki's wife After showing us the fields on which he was growing a diverse variety of crops, Hiroki-san drove us up a winding road to the hilltop where his grandfather had lived in a small hut and refined his methods of growing fruits and vegetables in biodiverse natural environments.

To change this, however, requires more than simply continuing to practice natural farming: it requires a widespread and profound shift in consciousness. Rieko Fukuoka, Masanobu's eldest son