Jim O'Neil's photos with the keyword: farming

Seen on the street...

Here's another scarecrow working in the stepped, terraced, fields in Mizugaura.

Picture a harbor village, mountains rising sharply behind it starting almost at the shore line. If you live there where are you going to farm? Well, in Mizugaura, Uwajima their answer was/is to farm the mountainside. Over the centuries it's been terraced, rock walls laid rock by rock to contain maybe a two foot strip of arable soil, one terrace above the other, climbing to the top of the mountain! Off to the left, high up, you see a scarecrow, to the right, high up, a guy working his field. In the middle, a blue traction engine monorail to haul produce down from the fields.