Rural Scattered Settlement
The Rural Scattered Settlement, where houses are dispersed throughout the sprawling rice fields, is an asset that the town hopes to preserve for future generations.
The rice fields are green from spring to fall, yellow in the autumn, and glisten with the white of winter snow, revealing the beauty of each season.
In 1993, the settlement received the highest award, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award, in the First Most Beautiful Villages in Japan Contest.
Coniferous trees such as cedar trees, which do not lose their leaves all year round, are planted along the west side of each family's property
This landscape is abound with the wisdom of rural life, as the conifers are used to protect the houses from the harsh winter winds, as fuel, and as "drying racks" to dry the rice after harvesting.
