Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, on the large island of Japan. Kurashiki is a small city surrounded by many rice farms of various sizes. Canals provide irrigation to the fields. The Japanese people seem to utilize every square centimeter of their small country for construction, roads, parks and for planting. Here are some water powered pumps that let the current do the work to lift water from the canals to the fields. The rice farming is generally mechanized and there are small machines that plant the rice, while others are made to do the harvesting, and finally rice drying in fields, surrounded by housing.

Photographs and text by John O'Heron  ©2022

Water Powered Irrigation Pump

Irrigating the Rice Fields, with Alzira.

Rice Planting, 1991	Rice Crop, 1991
Rice Harvesting, 1991	Rice Cut and Hanging to Dry, 1991

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