154. Farmhouse Scene
This is a farm establishment in Chiba Prefecture. The architectural details, like the tiled roof, would probably have been replaced by prefabricated, industrial shingles.

155. A Farmhouse "Treasure House" (kura)
The treasure house is for the safekeeping of family valuables and mementos--above all, to protect against fire.

156. Kawaguchi farmer
A farmer and his bullock cart, near Lake Kawaguchi, with a cornfield and garden plots.

157. Rice-Growing in the Kanto Area
At the time of this photo there were large rice-growing areas in the Kanto plains region near Tokyo, this one near Tachikawa. By the 1990s, it would be covered by industrial establishments. Level arable land is scarce; every square inch is devoted to agriculture--or at least every inch on coastal plains that is not occupied by cities. Intensive agriculture has gradually diminished since the 1950s, as the Japanese have shifted to wheat products and meat. This large "paddy" area has shrunk, as urbanization has appropriated sections.

158. More Rice Paddies
The water flows down the slope through the paddies, and into the lake (Lake Kawaguchi).

159. Kawaguchi Farmhouse: 1
The farmhouse near the lake, with corn drying from the eaves.

160. Kawaguchi Farmhouse: 2
This is a closer view of corn storage. The prevalence of corn (maize) production in this region is due mainly to the relatively high altitude.

161. Sheltered Rows
Bamboo-sheltered horticulture somewhere in Shikoku Prefecture--the low crop is, if I remember correctly, a variety of semi-dwarf spinach.

162. Slope Drainage
A drainage system in a "coppice" planting--trees and shrubs, which retain the soil and also can be cut for charcoal from time to time.

163. Rice Straw Storage
Rice straw stored on trees and poles.

164. Rice Winnowing
In the farmhouse yard.

165. Straw Rope Making
Making a heavy cable or rope, as ceremonial decoration for a Shinto shrine.

166. Yamanashi Vineyard
At the time the vineyards in Yamanashi Prefecture were Japan's only producing vineyards.

167. Yamanashi Vineyard Manager

168. Sakuma-san the Farmer and Potter in his Yard
Note his homespun working gown. He is stirring one of his clay pits. Totaro Sakuma (1900-1976) was known at the time as the number two folk potter in the village of Mashiko, northwest of Tokyo, and the home of elite folk craft potters. Number one was, of course, Shoji Hamada (1894-1977). This photo, taken by the author, was used as the frontispiece for the SCAP publication, The Japanese Village in Transition, or more familiarly the "Raper Study," since Arthur Raper, of the National Resources Section, and the author of the Japanese Land Reform, directed it, with PO&SR personnel doing the fieldwork and the data analysis. The fieldwork was completed about the time I arrived. One of my first field trips was to Mashiko to take the pictures of the Sakuma establishment in this portfolio.

169. Sakuma's Work Yard
The workyard of the potter and farmer, Totaro Sakuma. The archaic treatment of the buildings--thatch on the house roof; ceramic tiles on the storage shed--were quite deliberate: Sakuma, like other rural craftsmen who also farmed for a living and for own food use, liked to preserve the old handmade ways.

170. Pottery Clay Storage
Another photo of Sakuma-san, stirring clay taken from one of the cylindrical wells.

171. Sakuma's Clay Wells

172. Clay Well and Water Bucket

173. Back of the Kiln at Sakuma's
Note the stacked firewood on the left; the kiln is on the right. The forms on the right are containers for greenware for firing.

174. The Kiln from the Side
Looking from the back of the previous photo. These kilns have a slight upward slope in order to facilitate the movement of heat through the kiln.

175. Sakuma at His Kick Wheel
The standard wheel for wheel-thrown ceramics in the folk-craft pottery industry was operated by the feet, often from a sitting or squatting position.

176. A Room of Pots from the Sakuma Kiln
These are all utilitarian containers, mostly sold in regional village stores. The backbone of the folk-pottery industry was the utilitarian, with the artistic vessels a sideline--albeit a lucrative one in the Occupation, since the Occupation personnel relished the product.

177. Sakuma's Gallery
The roka of Sakuma-san's farmhouse in Mashiko, with his collection of Munakata prints and paintings. Shiko Munakata (1903-1975) was, in the 1940s and later, up into the 1960s, the favored folk craft printmaker and sumi (ink) painter among the folk art people.

178. Children in the Sakuma Yard
Some farm children from Mashiko, visiting Sakuma's establishment. Note the chapped cheeks of the girls-- resulting from living in virtually unheated houses in the winter--especially in the war and Occupation period, before economic recovery. The children are wearing geta--wooden clogs--because of the mud.

179. Kawai-San's Ceramic Studio in Kyoto
Pottery-making in one of the famous studios in the Kansai region--in this case, Takeichi Kawai's (1908-1989) studio in Kyoto.

180. Another View of the Kawai Potters
Showing the cross-legged posture at the wheel.