Experience Village Community Life Amid the Rice Terraces of Kamiseya in Rural Kyoto With Gibier Lunch (Group Price)
Overview
On this tour you can experience the life of Kamiseya Village, amid a bounty of mountains, sea, and beautiful terraced rice fields in the Tango area of Kyoto Prefecture. Connect with the life and wisdom of Kamiseya through seasonal experiences and interaction with the villagers. Such as farming in the organic rice terraces and fields, or handicrafts like making konnyaku and pounding mochi using traditional tools. At noon, you can enjoy a lunch of wild game (gibier) prepared by local hunters. We can also arrange the content of the experience to meet your requests.
Highlights
- Visit Kamiseya where the old culture of “Satoyama,” a village coexistent with nature, lives on
- Optionally, visit the local microbrewery Kohachi Beerworks run by a Belgian and Japanese couple (fee applies)
- Learn to use old-fashioned tools such as furnaces and mortars, and the wisdom of the villagers who coexist with nature
- Participate in seasonal farm work and handicrafts while being taught by the villagers of Kamiseya
- Enjoy the spectacular views of a haven amid mountains, sea, and beautiful terraced rice fields
Key Information
Description
Twenty-three people in eleven households live surrounded by terraced rice fields in the small village of Kamiseya in Tango, Kyoto Prefecture (as of January 2023). Two-thirds of the residents are immigrants, and in addition to farming and hunting, this rare village has created new livelihoods that take advantage of the local nature, such as making Japanese paper and textiles, and brewing beer. The strong community is protected in a harsh environment where snow can reach up to 2 meters in winter. You can experience the life and wisdom of such a small village through farming in organic terraced rice fields and fields, and food experiences and handicrafts such as making konnyaku and mochi rice cakes on the stove during the off-season in winter. For lunch, you can enjoy the vegetables you harvest yourself and game lunch prepared by a local hunter. Through interacting with the villagers and seasonal farming, food, and handicrafts, you can feel the wisdom and techniques of living in harmony with nature, and the way of life of the Kamiseya Village that has been passed down without change. **Experience examples by season** Spring: picking edible wild plants, chopping firewood, planting rice, harvesting fields, working in the rice terraces (organic farming). Summer: playing in the river, harvesting fields, working in the rice terraces (organic farming), chopping firewood. Autumn: harvesting rice, sun-drying, harvesting fields, basket weaving. Winter: sledding, walking on snowy roads with snowshoes, making konnyaku in a furnace, making soba in a furnace, pounding rice cakes in a furnace and mortar, shoveling snow. - We will do our best to accommodate any requests, but it may not be possible depending on the situation on the farms, the availability of ingredients, and the circumstances of the villagers. - You can enjoy the following experiences even if it rains: seasonal food cooking experience with gibier, straw broom making experience, wisteria weave tabletop experience.