In central Japan, a spider weaves her web in a
field of growing rice. Rice has been a part of Japan for so long that it has
shaped the land. Indeed, it has become so much a part of the Japanese landscape
that it has created a unique environment essential to both the people who
created it and the wild animals that now share it.
Japan is a country of steep mountains surrounding wide flat plains where
people have lived for thousands of years. The country's largest freshwater
lake, Lake Biwa, lies not far from the ancient city of Kyoto.
The slopes that stretch down toward the lake have been terraced. Rice
seedlings need shallow water in which to grow and the neat meticulously
constructed paddy fields provide just this. Some of them have been cultivated
continuously for thousands of years.
Alongside them stand patches of woodland where, for centuries, the people
have found their fuel and their food.
This is a land that has been ruled for centuries by the demands of the
rice, yet it is still dominated by the rhythmic cycle of the seasons as they
change throughout the year.
This is a landscape that the Japanese people hold so close to their hearts
that they have a special word for it. They call these places where the forested
mountains meet the terraces of rice, "Satoyama."
