I began visiting neighbors just to chat, to befriend with and learn various knowledge that would help living in Satoyama, as I mentioned in my previous blog “Happiness Experiment.”
As a start, I visited an Ojiisan (grandpa or old man) who lives in the same area. He welcomed us with warm smile in spite of our sudden visit.
We sat down at Horigotatsu (small table with a heater. We sit on the floor for such table but this one has a pit circling the table so that we don’t have to fold our knees and can comfortably sit like on the chair) and started talking.
He used to be a school teacher. Now he grows Japanese mushroom and does farming. He taught us what kind of vegetables the people around the area grew and the characteristics of the soil of the area with the knowledge and wisdom of 80 years-old, who used his entire body and soul to make living in Satoyama.
The soil of the area is clay-rich so growing rice was the center of the people’s lives. The rice grown here is delicious, he told us.
On the ridge between rice fields, the people used to grow tea tree and fruits. My wife wants to grow fruit and I want to grow tea tree, so it was easy for us to relate ourselves to the old style living in the area.
He also told us about “Yui,” the old way of Japanese people helping out each other in the neighborhood, in building house, harvesting rice and other Satoyama works, which require human resource. He would help neighbors in the area to remodel their thatched roof (thatched roof has to be remodeled in every 20 or so years) so he knew lots of jargon in the construction industry.
Japanese cedar or pine trees were used for building frame. Mud from rice fields was used for wall. Japanese straw was planted next to rice fields and taken care of by the neighbors to be used for the roof. In short, people in a village all get together to build/remodel a house. That is why Japanese old men know very well about carpentry work.
Every house remodels its roof in every 20 years, so it made him help someone’s house at least once every year because there were 20 to 25 houses at the time. Maybe even more if you consider small barns or houses built close to the main house. Busy life!
People built dikes and made water irrigation system from the mountain water. Everything that needs to be done for living was done by them. The word “Hyakusho” comes from “one hundred jobs” (“hyaku”= one hundred, “sho” = last name = used to express one’s job) and the origin of the word is felt by listening to his story of old Japan. How exciting!
And the story went beyond to the way people used to live. He told us people used to take bath in other houses and let others use theirs in turn.
Sound of clappers would tell you that “now the bath is ready.” Then you would go to your neighbor’s house and take bath. Bath sharing! Wow!
When I asked anything about the area, there was almost nothing he did not know. From the deep knowledge of the area pouring on younger ones like us, I would call him secretly Dr. Know-Satoyama-All (Dr. Awl)!
When I looked around, it was already dark. Then the village speaker started to sing the five o’clock music.
Time flied. Our first trial of visiting neighbors and chat was so much fun, thanks to his smile and lots of knowledge.
On the way back, we shared with smile how amazing his memories and knowledge were as an 80 years-old man.