Today’s Planet Earth: Our Loving Home will be presented in Japanese, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Thai and Spanish.

Hallo, eco-wise viewers and welcome to another edition of Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Today we will continue with an introduction to the “Natural Farming” method that was created by Japanese farmer Mr. Yoshikazu Kawaguchi of Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture, Japan.

This method is gentle to both the environment and our bodies, because it complements nature well. He developed this eco-friendly style of agriculture after falling ill from the chemical fertilizers he routinely applied to his crops. Under this system crops are to grown with very little human intervention and thus nearly everything is left to nature. The land is not tilled and no fertilizers or pesticides are used. Compared to conventional agricultural, water usage is minimal.

Mr. Kawaguchi also started the Akame Natural Farming School 19 years ago for those who wished to be trained in Natural Farming. Students can learn the system through actual practice in rice fields. Let us now join Mr. Kawaguchi in his fields.

This is the rice field that we haven’t tilled for 30 years. Here we have used no fertilizers or agricultural chemicals, and we have grown mainly rice crops, with oat and wheat grains as secondary crops, all as naturally as possible. Winter grasses, especially meadow grasses, are flourishing now. No crops are growing, but below, the soil is very rich and fertile, and is becoming a good environment for growing.

I would like you to observe what the soil, which we haven’t tilled for 30 years, looks like. You can easily enter here. Nothing grows here now, but please watch your step because there are holes from place to place. This is rice straw that we produced last year. You see, under the summer grasses the decomposing organic life that used to live here has piled up with the passing of every six months. The lower the layer, the more it is decayed. And you can see that the deeper layers have turned into humus already, like soil.

What were you sowing in the seed beds?

I was taking care of rice seed beds. In the case of rice, we nurture seedlings in seed beds for one-third of six months, and then we replant it during the young seedling period. We clear away weeds and prepare the seedling bed so that it is occupied only by rice seeds. Therefore, the power of the soil becomes weak. We never do this when we plant rice seeds in a field full of grass though.

When we scrape other plants away and take other seeds of weeds away from the seedling bed, some holes are made in the seedling bed. Because the power of the soil has become weak we refill them with rice bran that we harvested a year ago. We sprinkle and refill them with the empty rice husks or we refill it with rapeseed meal or wheat bran grown in the field. Wheat bran is called “fusuma.” Or we sprinkle husks of various grains. When those things decay, they nurture the life of rice vibrantly.

Some crops need a lot of this, and some do not need much, and it is different according to the crops.

We dig every four meters to make ditches, and let water drop below when we produce wheat, because wheat dislikes water being near it. When we make rice, an entrance is closed and water is stored. Rice likes dampness. Their characters are just opposite.

So, in order to make two opposite things in a rice field, we first make ditches and make ridges in preparation, and raise the seedlings and plant here in the rice field, and keep sowing and harvesting in repetition.

The characteristic of a rice field is just that. In this rice field, rice is just in the middle of the young seedling period, and is showing growth like this. We let the rice seedling grow here for one-third of the period, or about two months. Then we plant the seedlings in this field. These grasses are at the end of their lives and are about to die. They are still alive though. The rice seedlings are nicely planted there one by one.

In Japan, rice is grown in a flooded rice field and harvested after six months. By experience, Mr. Kawaguchi has found that rice crops actually need much less water during the growing season than is believed by most farmers.

Of course, dampness is necessary. So for the first two months of the six months, there is no water, and only for three months in the following four months the rice is in the water. So for one month in the latter period rice does not need much water.

We all assume that when growing vegetables, we need to give them plenty of water on a daily basis. However according to Mr. Kawaguchi, this is not the case. If there is grass in the field, sufficient moisture will be retained for the vegetables to thrive.

Once we start to water them, vegetables won't grow well without water. However, the ground won't be dry, because there are grasses below. And since we don’t till, the soil won't be dry. Or dry grasses or once-living organisms are piled up below, so the soil won’t be dry.

Therefore, it is not necessary for us to water even after we sow seeds, because it would rain sufficiently and the ground would get damp anyway. So, it is not fundamental to water.

However, when we sow seeds later than usual and we want them to germinate early, or when sunny weather has been continuing for many days, we would give water only once, or before we transplant seedlings, we would give them enough water. We give water according to the weather and how dry the ground is. But basically, there is no need to water. This is much better.

When we return, we will meet some of the students who are learning the Natural Farming method from Mr. Yoshikazu Kawaguchi. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Planet Earth: Our Loving Home where we are speaking with Mr. Yoshikazu Kawaguchi from Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture, Japan about the Natural Farming method. Mr. Kawaguchi raises a diverse number of crops in his fields. He now introduces us to some of them.

Around here we mix crops. According to their relationship with the rain, sunlight, temperature and so on some crops are appropriate here and others aren’t.

Here are chrysanthemums and green onions and here are tomatoes. Santo greens or Chinese cabbages are here. Or, these are radishes. These are carrots. A variety of vegetables are planted in a mixed fashion. We call it “konshoku.”

When we plant many kinds of plants in a mixed fashion like this, the ground below will make the crops bring various blessings owing to the condition of the soil and the grasses growing there and damage from continuously planting may disappear. That’s why we plant different crops at the same time. In short, we can plant various crops we want according to the climate without worrying so much.

Mr. Kawaguchi founded the Akame Natural Farming School so that others may learn his farming techniques. The school is free and he has taught more than 5600 students over the past 19 years. We asked him about the typical background of his students.

Let me see, most live in big cities: they were born and brought up in big cities. So, some are office workers doing desk jobs in a very ordinary company, both men and women. But there are more women in number. And some are self-employed. And some are teachers. And unexpectedly many are working in the medical field. And, some are housewives. So, they have various jobs. Maybe they cover almost all the jobs in the world.

Of course, each is here for his or her own reason, but what is the major reason for them to be here?

I think that the fundamental reason is to take good care of their lives. To gain satisfaction in life, and to take good care of this given body which is given for a hundred years or so. To take good care of this physical body and to ensure the safety of food.

Let us now meet some of his splendid students.

What made you come here to the Akame Natural Farming School?

I have been interested in environmental issues, and have decided to learn here in order to practice the best method.

Are you already practicing this method at home?

No, not yet. But I think I will do that in future.

What made you come here and study the Natural Farming?

Basically, because of the same reason Mr. Kawaguchi has changed to the Natural Farming method. I used to engage in agriculture with agricultural chemicals. But I didn’t like it because I didn’t feel well afterwards.

I am very happy when I work with many people with various ideas who are gathering here. I have become very joyful both mentally and physically.

When you come here, you are embraced by very warm-hearted and gentle people. So I look forward to visiting here every month.

How long have you been learning here?

About eight years. I have been renting a little field to practice this method of agriculture.

Really? What is your impression of this school?

While I am working alone or all of us are working together under the blessed environment here in nature, I am very thrilled with excitement. Whenever I come here my heart dances with joy.

We deeply thank Mr. Yoshikazu Kawaguchi for sharing his Natural Farming method with others and for practicing a form of agriculture that respects our environment and all the beings that reside within it. May many more people soon practice this wonderful style of natural farming.

For more details on Yoshikazu Kawaguchi, please visit Iwazumi2000.cool.ne.jp

Thank you for your kind company on today’s edition of Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment, following Noteworthy News. May we all be embraced by Divine Love and Light from Heaven.