What is Satoyama
Satoyama 「里山」is a word derived from the word “Sato”「里」which means an area inhabited by people, and “Yama”「山」which means mountains.
「里」also means homeland, and in Japan, when people return to their homeland, they call it “Sato-gaeri”「里帰り」or “Return to the Homeland”.
Therefore, the word Satoyama represents the Japanese countryside where the Japanese soul and culture originate.
For thousands of years, the Japanese people have lived in Satoyamas and have co-existed with their natural environment. People have become part of the ecosystem, and have contributed to the bio-diversity of the environment. Take for example the rice paddies. Rice paddies are homes to many animals including dragon flies, fire flies, amphibians, and certain species of birds such as the Japanese crane. Without the annual crops, these animals would not thrive in Japan. The rice paddies also absorb water, preventing flooding downstream. They also absorb the water into the soil creating ground water and eventually fresh spring water in the lower elevations.
Despite the relatively small size of Japan, the mountains have isolated the Satoyamas which resulted in unique cultural practices and dialects within each of the areas. The inaccessibility of some of the areas has also resulted in those areas to be relatively self-sustainable. For instance, the Hida region, surrounded by steep mountains, still produces over 80% of the food consumed in its local area.
Although the Japanese Satoyama has suffered from rapid aging and depopulation, recent interest in sustainability and environmentalism has sparked a renewed interest in these areas. People, especially the Japanese youth, have begun to realize the wisdom that remain in the Satoyama culture and have started to return back to the Japanese homeland to learn the deep knowledge embedded in these cultural practices. This movement has been making the Satoyama centers of innovation and new activities. For a glimpse into the Japanese future, look to the Satoyama.
For more information on the Satoyama lifestyle, please browse this website. This website provides information on daily life and interesting information unique to Japanese countryside living.
Place Here, we introduce places that aren’t necessarily in guide books, but play a role in the daily lives of the people living in the countryside...
Event Festivals and ceremonies are some of the most highlighted events in all of Japan. Fortunately, the Satoyama has many of these practices with the...
Person As with any society, people are the key to the cultural practices within the local area. Here, we honor and highlight the people of the Satoyama that created...
Food Here we introduce the Japanese “soul food” cultures which remain in the countryside. Some foods introduced are common throughout the Japanese...
Product Many items produced in the Satoyama are made and consumed by the people don’t even make it to the market. Here we will introduce products...
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