Foreign Friday

Rice fields ready for harvest
Northern Japan
Autumn 1979


The rice was cut and grouped into bundles or shocks.


 The shocks were then hung on support poles to cure and dry.


When the rice was sufficiently dry, the combine 
was brought into the field.


The dried shocks were fed through a combine by hand. 
Bags attached to the machine collected the rice grains. 
Fields are burned after the harvest. 

This video illustrates the rice harvest today, thirty-two years later. 
The process is considerably less labor intensive
 but not nearly as picturesque.


Comments

  1. Fascinating! I've always wondered about rice harvesting...

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  2. Wow...never thought about the harvesting of rice. It was sort of sad to see the difference....More efficient yes but so much more disconnected.

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  3. So interesting. When I was in Japan... I saw the people in the rice paddies...but never the harvest.

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  4. Fascinating Nancy. WHy do they burn the fields?? To prevent disease ????

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  5. Rice is a crop that is grown here, but I've never seen a harvest as picturesque as this one.

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