Shiga

Nov 3, 2014 - 1 min read

Rice Harvest in Shiga Prefecture

Fields of yellow and gold beside Lake Biwa

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

Bundles of rice straw in a harvested field

Rice straw was traditionally used to make tatami mat, rice paper, straw rope, sandals and many other items.

A straight road between the rice fields is a wonderful place to cycle

Persimmon fields near a field of stubble

The houses are bigger in the countryside

Fields of ripening rice stretch toward the mountains

Bundles of rice straw hung on rails to dry

Crows in a field of stubble

Blue flowers beside the rice

Color contrast between ripening rice and another crop

A curving green path between fields

Rice straw and red spider lilies beside a rice field

Narrow road on the edge of a tiny country town

A rice vending machine in Nagahara

I love to cycle in the countryside at rice harvest time, and nowhere in Japan is the agricultural scenery more beautiful than in North-West Shiga Prefecture, where the yellow fields of ripe rice mixed with fields of golden stubble are laid out between the nearby mountains and Lake Biwa. Often flowers edge the fields and bundles of rice straw dry in the September sunshine. Blue dragonflies swoop over the rice, and huge grasshoppers bound across the path between the fields. Ripe rice has a strong smell, and some people hate it. Not me! I'm a country girl at heart!

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Cathy Cawood

By Cathy Cawood

Community writer

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Elena Lisina

Elena Lisina 4 years ago

I also love quiet and peaceful places! Thanks for great shots, Cathy!

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