The Circle of Life: “Threshing and Hulling”—the culmination of the 88 tasks. An encounter with the hidden gem

Story: The Circle of Life

~ “Threshing and Hulling”: The Final Step in the 88-Step Process. An Encounter with a Hidden Gem ~

[Prologue: A Heartbeat in the Silence]

In November, a gentle pace flows through the rural hills of Akiruno, different from the fervor of days past.

It has been several weeks since the rice harvest that created a wall of gold.

Looking at the rice paddies, small green shoots are sprouting once again from the cut stalks. These are “Hikobae.”

This is the sight of them mustering their last strength to regenerate before winter arrives.

Nishikawa, a former monk and guide who has explored the cycles of nature, explains:

“The rice fields don’t end with the harvest. They have entered a period of rest to sustain life until next spring.”

Today, in this very place, we will review the findings of our six-month journey.

[Chapter 1: The Ritual of Analog Engineering]

From the bundles of rice that have finished drying on the drying racks, we first remove the grains through “threshing,” then remove the husks through “hulling.”

This is where the “old-fashioned machine” comes into play—the kind you’d only see in a museum these days.

There’s no power plug.

Everything is driven by gears, wind, and human hands.

When you turn the handle, a “roaring” wind is generated, using the difference in weight to separate the husks from the brown rice.

In this analog mechanism (Low-tech Engineering), you will discover the wisdom and ingenuity of Japan’s forebears.

Only the husks are blown away by the wind, leaving only the plump grains of rice in your hands.

It feels like a kind of philosophical ritual that extracts only the essence of things.

[Chapter 2: The 88th Truth and the “Hidden Gem”]

When you break down the kanji for “rice” (米), it becomes “88” (八十八).

It begins with soil preparation, followed by flooding the fields, planting, weeding, and harvesting…

Today, as the hard husks fall away and the brown, gleaming “brown rice” emerges from within, the 88 steps of this process are finally complete.

It is not merely a grain.

It is truly a “Hidden Gem”—the crystallization of the sun, rain, soil nutrients, and your sweat since spring.

Brown rice, packed with raw vitality before it becomes white rice.

Each and every grain holds the memory of the rice paddy landscape (Biodiversity) where frogs, water striders, and dragonflies coexisted.

[Epilogue: The End, and the Beginning]

Finally, 300 grams of freshly harvested brown rice will be handed to you.

Its weight carries a different meaning than the rice you buy at the supermarket.

“Itadakimasu”—you should now deeply understand that these words are not merely a meal greeting, but an expression of gratitude for transforming the “life” of a plant into your own “life.”

Your work in the rice paddies ends here, but when you return home, cook this brown rice, and eat it, a new cycle will begin within your body.

The nature of Akiruno and the 10,000-year history of rice cultivation will become part of your very being. The fact that you have become a part of this “Circle of Life” is the greatest gift of this journey.