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Column: Rice-Fish Culture: The Contemporary Significance of a Traditional Practice

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Social-Ecological Restoration in Paddy-Dominated Landscapes

Part of the book series: Ecological Research Monographs ((ECOLOGICAL))

Abstract

Rice-fish farming is a traditional practice since 170 years in Japan. Its exact origin is unknown but the concurrent culture of rice and fish was developed in the early 1840s in the Saku basin, Nagano Prefecture, and subsequently spread to other regions (Tansuigyo-kenkyukai 1984). Fish, mainly the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), raised in rice fields were an important source of protein for the farmers as well as a supplementary source of income as a custom-free, salable crop (Fig. 11.1). During World War II, rice-fish farming practices expanded throughout the country, encouraged by subsidies for wartime food production. At the peak of production in 1945, a total of three million carp fry were stocked in 60,000 ha of rice fields and production reached nearly 7,500 t (Kasamura 1950). However, after the war, the widespread use of chemical pesticides and the development of more intensive carp production systems resulted in a rapid decline of carp culture in rice fields (Tansuigyo-kenkyukai 1984; Ikuta and Yamaguchi 2005). Currently large-scale rice-fish operations are found only in a few areas of the country, including the Saku basin (Fig. 11.2). The main species used is the crucian carp (Carassius sp.), rather than the common carp.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Administration Department, Nagano Prefectural Government, Nagano, Japan

    Yusuke Koseki

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  1. Yusuke Koseki
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Correspondence to Yusuke Koseki .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology (K-INET), Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

    Nisikawa Usio

  2. Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Tadashi Miyashita

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Koseki, Y. (2014). Column: Rice-Fish Culture: The Contemporary Significance of a Traditional Practice. In: Usio, N., Miyashita, T. (eds) Social-Ecological Restoration in Paddy-Dominated Landscapes. Ecological Research Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55330-4_11

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