Since long ago in Chiburijima Island, “stock farms” (makihatake), or land that provides both grazing pasture and crops, were abundant.

The land can be roughly divided into four areas: the cow pasture, barley fields, soybeans fields, and the field for other crops like chestnuts and millet. Moreover, the farmers use crop rotations, where the crops change fields each harvest cycle. Thanks to this process, the cow droppings will provide fertilizer to the barley, soybeans, and chestnuts and millet in that order. Allowing the cows to graze in an area allows the land time to rest and makes the potential to grow crops unlimited. The actual details of this rotation method may be more complex than this, but it has nevertheless proved to be an effective way to use the limited land in Chiburijima Island.

The markers that divide the land for crop rotations and stretch well over 2 kilometers to the other side of the observatory are called myōgaki. However, since stock farms are not as prevalent nowadays, the myōgaki mark borders for cow grazing every season.

Next Contents

Select language