Harvesting of Soba

Sunday December 2nd was another short story in the long novel of my adventure here in Japan. I was invited by my friend and tutor, Satomi, to go with her family to help harvest soba. Well to be more precise, thresh the soba. Soba is harvested when the flowers wilt and the little seed pods appear. The soba is then cut and the seeds removed, and separated from the bits of vegetation left over from whacking the plants. We were helping with the seed removal and separation. The event was a small community event in the mountains of Miyazaki. It took us about an hour to get to the field where the soba was grown. When we arrived there were already a bunch of people working. We placed the cut portions of soba onto a tarp and started whacking the seed ends with sticks to make the seeds fall off. After all the seeds were removed we sifted out the larger plant material that we didn't want, and then put it through a hand-powered-wind-tool-thing to separate it further. The machine was a large box with a papeller in one end and a shoot for the seeds to fall down in the other. When the papeller was turned it created a wind that separated leaves and small debris. The seeds are heaver so they fall down the shoot. It is amazingly effective and easy to use. The machine was invented about one hundred years ago during the Edo period and they are still using it today.

After the harvesting was complete, we went down to the town community building to eat lunch and make mochi. It was a tasty lunch that consisted of miso soup with soba dumplings and pork, onigiri, and some veggies. People are always amazed when they see I can use chopsticks. They are always saying 箸がじょずですね！translation: wow! You are good at using chopsticks! But it never really fails for me to drop something after someone says that...

Once we were all finished eating, people moved outside to help make mochi. Mochi is a rice cake made by mashing cooked rice until it becomes a sticky past. The rice is put into a large stone bowl (see picture for better explanation) and then mashed with a very large hammer. Everyone took turns mushing the rice. It was difficult but a lot of fun. The hammers are pretty heavy :P It was fresh, warm and delicious~

I feel as though I am really luck to see this side of Japan. The small town and the community that comes together to harvest the soba. While there I felt a feeling of sadness, wondering whether or not these small traditions and communities will be able to survive the ever-changing world we live in today. I think there is hope though. There were some young families that attended. I believe that as long as people are curious and interested about their communities and culture that it will survive. Japan still has it's most unique culture and I believe they will never lose that. Urban culture and rural culture are closely intertwined, thus effecting each other in both negative and positive ways. Hmmm I do believe I have another interesting topic to look into~

Until next time~