The One-Straw Revolution_ An Introduction to Natural Farming - Masanobu Fukuoka [66]
Masanobu Fukuoka and Larry Korn.
*The legendary Japanese god of healing who travels around tossing good fortune from a large sack which he carries over his shoulder.
To my readers,
There is nowhere better than this world. Years ago I realized that we human beings are good just as we are and I set out to enjoy my life. I took a carefree road back to nature, free from human knowledge and effort. Since then fifty years of my life have flown away. I have had some successes, but also failures. Many of my youthful dreams remain unfulfilled. I know my time here on earth is limited.
I am retired now and live in a mountain hut in the orchard. I have closed my farm to the public so that I can better cherish the time left to me. The best part of living a retired life on the mountain, isolated from news of the outside world, is that I have a different sense of time. I hope, as the days go by, that I will be able to experience a day as a year. Then, like the tribal people I met in Somalia, I will not know how old I am.
These days I try to imagine that I am one hundred years old...or even two hundred. I hope that when I pass away my mind and body will still be in good condition. When I go to the fields or the orchard I say to myself: make no promises, forget about yesterday, do not think about tomorrow, put sincere effort into each day's work and leave no footprints here on earth. I am happy simply to work joyfully on my farm, which to me is the Garden of Eden. The way of natural farming is forever uncompleted. Nature can never be understood or improved upon by human effort. In the end, to become one with nature, to live with God, one cannot help others or even receive help from them. We can only walk our paths alone.
Great road without a gate, I see no one
Peace in Heaven but a murmur on the land
Who makes the wandering wind?
To the left, to the right
Attack and defend
Not knowing good from bad
A fan blows to both sides, making the same shambles
As I walk alone in the garden I see a temporary hut
A day is a hundred years
Daikon and mustard are in full bloom
Dimly the moon shines in the year two thousand
Having tried my best in this world, I now begin my journey to another world
A transient voyage to who knows where
Early spring, 1986
THIS IS A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOK
PUBLISHED BY THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
www.nyrb.com
Copyright © 1978 by Masanobu Fukuoka
Introduction copyright © 2009 by Frances Moore Lappé
All rights reserved.
Translated from the Japanese by Larry Korn, Chris Pearce, and Tsune Kurosawe
Originally published in Japan as Shizen Noho Wara Ippon No Kakumei by Hakujusha Co., Ltd., Tokyo
Series cover design by Katy Homans; cover art by Luba Lukova
The publisher wishes to thank Michiyo Shibuya and Larry Korn for their assistance in the preparation of this volume.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fukuoka, Masanobu.
[Shizen noho wara ippon no kakumei. English]
The one-straw revolution: an introduction to natural farming / by Masanobu Fukuoka; translated from the Japanese by Larry Korn, Chris Pearce, and Tsune Kurosawa; preface by Wendell Berry; introduction by Frances Moore Lappé; with a new afterword by the author.
p. cm. —(New York Review Books classics)
Originally published: Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale Press, 1978.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. No-tillage. 2. Organic farming. 3. No-tillage—Japan. 4. Organic farming—Japan. I. Title. II. Title: Introduction to natural farming. III. Series.
S604.F8413 2009
631.5'84—dc22
2008053698
eISBN 978-1-59017-392-3
For a complete list of books in the NYRB Classics series, visit www.nyrb.com or write to:
Catalog Requests, NYRB, 435 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014