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鳥山敏子・グループ現代作品 Presented by : ToriyamaToshiko, Group Gendai Inc. |
| 川口由一氏は家業の農家を継ぎ普通の農民として農薬を使った農業を行ってきた。しかし1978年に農薬のため体を壊して以来、一切農薬を使わない「自然農」を目指してその方法を模索してきた。この作品は、かねてより農薬についてのドキュメンタリーを製作してきた小泉修吉とその製作会社「グループ現代」が、かつて「授業」シリーズを撮る中で知り合った鳥山敏子先生とともに川口氏の方法論を一年がかりで追いかけたものである。1995年５月奈良盆地の一画。この川口氏の自然農実践の田圃では普通では考えられないように野草が繁っている。まずこの野草を刈り取ることから彼の仕事は始まる。これは彼にとって19年目の稲作のスタートであった。川口氏の口からは、最初の二年間は７反の田畑で収穫がゼロだったことや、自然の摂理に従った徹底した自然農へ挑むことになった自身についてなど、具体的に「自然農」の方法論が語られる。そしてカメラは季節ごとにその成長の様子を逐一撮影してゆくとともに、田畑の中に生きている昆虫や他の動植物の姿も写し出し、川口氏の田畑が一つの自然界を形成していることを証明するのである。 | In continuing the family farm, Kawaguchi Yoshikazu farmed, as any farmer would, by using pesticides and fertilizers. But in 1978, when use of these began compromising his health, Mr. Kawaguchi set his sights on practicing " Natural Farming, " free of all agricultural chemicals. Since then he has struggled to develop natural farming methods. In this film, Koizumi Shukichi, long active in producing documentaries on pesticides, and his production company, Group Gendai, worked with instructor Toriyama Toshiko whom they had met during the filming of the earlier Class ( " Jugyo " ) series. Over the space of one year, they all closely followed Mr. Kawaguchi's methodology. It is May 1995, in one part of the Nara Basin. The rice paddies of Mr. Kawaguchi's natural farming practice teem with weeds to a degree normally never seen. His work begins here with the cutting and clearing of these weeds, the start of his nineteenth crop of rice. Mr. Kawaguchi describes his methodology of " Natural Farming " in very concrete terms: how during the first two years his harvest from 1.7 acres of cropland was naught, and how he gave himself over to the challenge of a completely natural farming that depends in full on the providence of nature. While the camera shoots in minute detail the maturation of the fields through the seasons, it also captures images of the insects and other plants and animals that live within the fields. All this is testimony to the one, natural world that Mr. Kawaguchi's fields have brought into being. |