Beyond this point are several rattling gutters , but what exactly are they for?

Want a hint? Cows. Beyond this point is grazing land, and this area acts as a boundary between the grazing land and the land humans occupy. The rattling of these gutters were meant to keep the cows from getting lost amongst the villages. The cows are also afraid of their legs getting stuck inside these gutters, which prevented the cows from going over them as well.

Alternatively, going beyond this area could be considered an intrusion into the cows living quarters. There were probably many times when the cows would block the road from passing vehicles. When approached by a moving vehicle, most cows make way for the car to pass. Others, however, may stand stubbornly in the middle of the road, refusing to move. If this happens to you, slowly inch the car forward. If they still refuse to move, just wait and reflect on the cow’s sense of time. Compared to them, you could say we humans are a rather fidgety kind.

Oki Archipelago had a record number of “stock farms” during the Kamakura Period, and since long ago, those who worked these farms would use cows as their manpower in their daily lives. Nowadays, however, they raise calves for meat. Once the calves are between 6 and 10 months they are brought to an auction and transported throughout Japan. In other words, the beef you eat on a daily basis could be beef that was raised right here in Chiburi.