The Land’s Memory of Two Millenia of Rice Farming

The land of the Kikuchi River Basin carries the memory of 2,000 years of rice farming. In the plains, the land subdivision system inherited from antiquity that is still in use today. In the mountains, 'ide's (irrigation ditches) and terraced rice fields to make rice farming possible on high ground. Along the coastline, land reclamation that has created a vast swaths of arable land. The spread of land used by the ancestors of this land for sustaining rice farming is still intact today, and all of it can be seen compactly. Furthermore, with an intangible culture that is alive even today with lively festivals and abundant food, the Kikuchi River Basin is a microcosm of Japan's rice-farming culture from past to present, and a rare location in which you can encounter the arts and food culture brought about by its cultural scenery and rice farming.

The Kikuchi River connects the Aso and the Ariake Sea, blessing the basin with an infusion of minerals from the mountains and the sea in gradual flow.
The mountain sea minerals cultivate a rich food culture, and together with the landscapes of the hot springs and fantastic Kikuchi Valley, it offers the necessities for people to live in ample health.
The succession of the people's efforts has led to the landscape of Japan that offers blessings of the water.
Here lies the Kikuchi River basin mineral land.