Tracing the roots of Iiyama’s food, born from fresh water and snow
A journey in the co-creation of a life and work-based satoyama culture
Around the time the rape blossoms start to bloom, the snow that covered the mountains finally begins to melt, and while moistening the fields, it provides the blessing of water, rice, vegetables and fruits.
The clear spring water that flows at the foot of the ski resort, the Motherland we inherited from our ancestors, the tangible and intangible wisdom of life and work nurtured by this land, it all makes for an original lifescape that is at the basis of what we could call “the economy of beauty”.
From the collaboration between a rice farmer who produces - with the help of weeds-picking wild ducks - rice of the highest quality for the Imperial family, and a brewer from a sake brewery that has been producing sake using local water since a hundred years ago; to the challenging creation of a winery from wine grapes grown under the winter snowfall… it is precisely in this close relationship between life and work visible in Iiyama that we can trace, from the variety of foods and the essence of farming, the wisdom of satoyama culture; a wisdom that allows humans to live by borrowing the power of nature while sharpening their five senses throughout the four seasons.
Fields and crops that take a long time and much effort to cultivate, covered as they are by the snow for half of the year, make for an unusual landscape.
While feeling the goodness of local water through the food and onsen hot spring, you can explore a farmer-like sustainability and way of standing between Nature and Man.
In Iiyama each person plays various roles, supporting each other’s daily life, from the maintenance of the local environment to the preparation of the annual festival, in a way that cannot be measured from the mere perspective of economic rationality.
In front of the work passed down from three generations and the newly cultivated land, looking back at the question of “what kind of landscape shall we leave to the next generation”, it is possible to reconsider the roles played by agriculture and tourism, as well as one’s own work.
Iiyama is a region of heavy snowfall, and while it is a receiver of abundant blessings, it is also confronted with a harsh environment, the reason why a sense of awe is still nurtured nowadays.
By listening to Nature as it is, you can behave as a supporter of the satoyama culture.
It is up to the community to decide how to include technological advances into the local traditional lifestyle.
By looking at how they choose contemporary techniques that are apt for the local terroir, their cherished values and aesthetics, it is possible to experience the sense of the word “immutability”.
Experts
Naoya Mizuno
FAITH FARM Satoyama communicator
Representative of Faith Farm, he cultivates rice - focusing on the principle of “good health for the family” - on the rice fields he inherited from his grandfather.
While pursuing what it means to produce good rice, he realised, by physically experiencing it, how Earth, mountains, rivers, snow, water and the whole Planet are interconnected.
Fascinated by the wonders and the challenges of the natural world, he has created a system of land ownership that allows to share the best of times through farming.It clearly conveys the expression of the four seasons.
Tsubasa Kihara
Kihara Farm Guest House and handmade soba noodles Restaurant Ishidaya
Born in Iiyama, Nagano Prefecture in 1992, after graduating from Komazawa University, Department of Global Media Studies, he returned to Iiyama and started growing wine grapes. Challenging the common wisdom that considered it impossible in an area affected by heavy winter snowfall, he is cultivating 14 varieties of fruit trees. The family business includes a guest house and soba restaurant and he also works as soba chef. He has opened a restaurant in the Iiyama station of the Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train line and created an original canned mackerel. He is also co-representative of GoodMountain LLC and co-runner of the local farming project “Cultivating the Future”.
Manabu Mizuno
Manabu operates a guest house founded by his grandfather. Understanding that the needs of guests change with the changing of times, he provides special stays unique to the local area.
In collaboration with the Tourist Association he develops new structures to accommodate new demands from tourists.
As a tour operator that serves as the “entry door” to a variety of visitors, he undertakes a number of activities aimed at increasing Togari’s fans while preserving its culture.
Participant Feedback
We all entered the paddy field and interacted with Nature. Even work you had never done in the past you become able to do before you know it, by watching and imitating others. At night, you share a meal with the rice farmer and your colleagues, and talk about different topics. Said in words it is nothing special, just a small undertaking but it is an experience that someone living in a metropolis could never possibly have.
愛され、必要とされる事業を生み出していく
サステナブル経営への変容を実現する生態系ダイナミクスを体験する
漆器は1000年にも渡って私たちに親しまれています。森で育った木を使い器にし、また漆の木から漆を採取し器に塗り仕上げていく。まさに自然と長く関わってきた私たちの知恵が詰まっている製品とも言えます。
しかしながら、そのような漆器も時代の大きな流れのなかで、大きな課題に直面しています。プラスティックなどの簡易な代用品によって生活の必需品としての地位ではなくなっている現状があります。そのようななかで多くの挑戦が行われそして新しい道を歩み始めているのです。
大きな課題に直面しているのは他の業界も同様です。多くの社会的な課題に直面するいま、地球視点で考えた経営の推進が必要になってきています。漆にまつわる生産者を巡る中で自社に照らし合わせて探究し、今後のアクションを構想するプログラムです。
日本において私たちの生活に溶け込んでいる漆器が1000年必要とされ愛されている要因を探究していきます。また直面している課題を知り、その対策について学びます。
漆器が生産される工程を山から町までのジャーニーによって、自社における生態系全体を捉え直していき、サステナブルな事業展開をイメージしていきます。
生活様式の変化により漆全体業界での挑戦を通じて、自社が提供している事業／サービスにおける変容を構想します。
こんな方におすすめです
- これからの経営を考えると事業全体を地球視点に考え持続可能性を高める必要があるが、どこから着手していけばいいかわからない
- チーム全体で大きな変容を遂げていく必要があるけど、チーム全体で意識があっておらずゆっくりとディスカッションする時間がほしい
- 事業やサービスに対するイノベーションを起こしていくための参考となる視点がほしい
案内人
2000年よりデザインコンサルティング会社を経営、様々な分野でデザインプロジェクトの企画監修を重ねる。2012年より持続可能性と事業性を両立する「未来が歓迎するビジネス」のデザイン組織としてRELEASE;を始動。「藝術と社会変革のあいだ」で経済活動をプロデュースする構想家として、社会の大きな物語を編み直す人文学的なアプローチと共創によるビジネスデザイン手法を軸に、大企業や自治体からスタートアップや非営利団体まで領域横断的なプランニングとディレクションを実践する。「想像力からこそ優しさが生まれる」と信じ、「希望を実現する技術であるデザイン」とともに、一人でも多くの人が希望を胸に生きている世界へ。
パタゴニア日本支社にてダイレクトマーケティング部門統括を中心に19年勤務。その傍ら、2014年より社会性と事業性を両立する企業の成長をサポートするコンサルティングを開始。2018年よりクリエイティブとビジネスの専門家が集まる一般社団法人RELEASE;に合流。
2019年2月にfascinate株式会社を創業。スタッフの創造性を高めながら、スタッフ同士が有機的に繋がり欲しい未来を実現していくための事業を生み出し、そしてその事業をファンと共に歩んでいくプロセスのデザインと共感を伴う体験の提供を伴走型に日々行っている。
京都の工藝をめぐる「漆」編、参加申し込みスタート！
もし今回ならではの魅力があれば入れる。
宿泊施設・食事は変わるだろう。詳細はENTRY先（Peatix）のページで。
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Members of in InterConnected Arts/Japan will receive information about tours before they are open to the public.
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