Ine (The Rice Plant)

Inasaku refers to the cultivation of gramineous plants, the skillsets or the culture itself. Rice farming in paddy fields is called suitou and rikutou in plowed fields. In general, rice is planted in Spring and harvested in Autumn. Inasaku is deeply connected to Japanese customs.

There are many theories regarding the beginning of rice farming in Japan. However, according to archaeological research, it is currently believed that rice farming started about 3000 years ago in the northern Kyushu region. 

The remains of the oldest paddy field were found in the bottom layer at the Nabatake site, located in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture. Wooden farming equipment, charcoal rice, and earthenwares from the latter half of the Jomon era were also found in the site. There are also many theories about rice farming's place of origin. The most popular theory states that it took a route starting from the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, crossing the Shandong Peninsula and the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. 

As the spread of rice farming techniques and rice production increased, the population of Japan also increased, along with the change in the people’s diet. During the Yayoi era, it was believed that the population increased eight times compared to that of the late Jomon era. Since then, the rice yield kept rising. During the Edo era, the population increased 160 times more than that of the late Jomon era.