Encyclopedia
A
paddy field is a flooded parcel of
arable land used for growing
rice and other
semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of
rice-growing countries of
east and
southeast Asia including
Malaysia,
China,
Thailand,
Korea,
Japan,
Vietnam,
Taiwan,
Indonesia,
India, and the
Philippines. They are also found in other rice-growing regions such as
Piedmont and the
Camargue. They can occur naturally along
rivers or
marshes, or can be constructed, even on hillsides, often with much labor and materials. They require large quantities of
water for
irrigation, which can be quite complex for a highly developed system of paddy fields. Flooding provides water essential to the growth of the crop. It also gives an environment favorable to the strain of rice being grown, and is hostile to many species of weeds.
The word "paddy" is derived from the Malay word
padi, rice.
Culture
Japan
The acidic
soil common in Japan due to
volcanic eruptions made the paddy field the most productive farming method. Until recently, this led to a conclusion that no farming existed in Japan before rice came from China. But this was overturned in the late
20th century by discoveries of farming from the late
Jomon period. Paddy field is represented by the
kanji, ? that has had a strong influence on Japanese culture. A testimonial fact is that ? means a piece of farmland where crops are grown in China, but it is used to represent only the paddy field in Japan. Instead, Japanese made a new kanji ? for those farmland not used to grow rice. Many consider paddy fields as a part of the natural
landscape and a classic scene of Japanese countryside is of paddy fields tended by hard-working grandparents. The oldest sample of writing recovered is widely credited to the letter ?, lit. rice paddy field found on a pottery in an archeaological site at the present day Matsusaka, Mie dating back to the late
2nd century.
Ta is used as a part of a name in many places as well as in many family names. Most of these places are somehow related to the paddy field and in many cases, are based on the history of a particular location. For example, where a river runs through a village, the place east of river may be called
Higashida, lit. east paddy field and the opposite side
Nishida, lit. west paddy field. A place with a newly irrgated paddy field, especially those during or later than
Edo period, may be called
Nitta or
Shinden , lit. new paddy field. In some places, lakes and marshes were likened to a paddy field and were named with
ta, like
Hakkoda.
Many family names have
ta as a part. On early Meiji period, the government ordered that all Japanese to have a family name and many chose to have one based on or near the place they lived or the job they had. With nearly three fourth of population being farmers, many family names were made using
ta. Some of such family names are
Tanaka and
Nakata, lit. middle of paddy field,
Kawata, lit. paddy field by a river, and
Furuta, lit. old paddy field.
Korea
Rice-farming and the use of paddies in Korea is ancient. Korean paddy-farming can provide cultural background on the use of paddies in Northeast Asia. A pit-house at the Daecheon-ni site yielded carbonized rice grains and radiocarbon dates indicating that rice cultivation may have begun as early as the Middle Jeulmun Pottery Period in the
Korean Peninsula. The earliest rice cultivation in the Korean Peninsula may have used dry-fields instead of paddies.
The excavation of prehistoric rice paddies is rare, but many ancient paddies have been unearthed in Korea. Kyungnam University Museum of
Masan does paddy-field archaeology in Korea. They excavated paddy features at the Geumcheon-ni Site near modern-day
Miryang, Gyeongsang Nam-do Province. The paddy feature was found next to a pit-house that is dated to the latter part of the Early Mumun Pottery Period . KUM has conducted excavations that have revealed similarly dated paddy features at Yaeum-dong and Okhyeon in modern-day Greater
Ulsan.
The earliest Mumun features were usually located in low-lying narrow gullys that were naturally swampy and fed by the local stream system. Some Mumun paddies in flat areas were made of a series of squares and rectangles separated by bunds approximately 10 cm in height, while terraced paddies consisted of long irregularly shapes that followed natural contours of the land at various levels.
Mumun Period paddy-farming used all of the elements that are present in today's paddies such terracing, bunds, canals, and small reservoirs. We can grasp some paddy-farming techniques of the Middle Mumun from the well-preserved wooden tools excavated from archaeological rice paddies at the Majeon-ni Site. However,
iron tools for paddy-farming were not introduced until sometime after 200 B.C. The spatial scale of individual paddies, and thus entire paddy-fields, increased with the regular use of iron tools in the Korean Three Kingdoms Period .
Today, arable land in small alluvial flats of most rural river valleys in South Korea are dedicated to rice paddy-farming. A year in the life of a Korean rice farmer in Gyeongsang-do Province begins as early as mid-February, when s/he assesses the rice paddies for any necessary repairs. Old fields may be rebuilt, and bund breaches are repaired. This work is carried out until mid-March, when warmer spring weather allows the farmer to buy or grow rice seedlings. The seedlings are keep indoors at first, but are then transplanted into freshly flooded paddies in the month of April. Farmers patiently tend and weed their paddies through the summer until around the time of
Chuseok, a traditional holiday held on August 15th of the Lunar Calendar . The harvest begins comparatively early in mild Gyeongsang Nam-do Province and can last until late October. Coordinating the harvest can be challenging because many Korean farmers have small paddies in a number of locations around their villages, and modern harvesting machines are sometimes shared between extended family members. Farmers usually dry the harvested grains in the sun before bringing them to market. Many Korean farmers work at jobs in the cities and towns during the winter, or are occupied by planning for the spring planting.
The Chinese character for 'field',
jeon , is found in some place names, especially small farming townships and villages. However, the specific Korean term for 'paddy' is derived from Sino-Korean and is literally 'water-field' or
sujeon .
See also
...
s
