宝谷に受け継がれてきた
焼畑という営み

山に火を入れる

草木が燃え
やがて灰となって
土へ還っていく

その土に種をまき
育ったものから
また次の種を残す

種から種へ

その繰り返しのなかで
種は人の手から手へ渡り
この土地で生き続けてきた

受け継がれているのは
種だけではない

火を入れる時期
山を見る目
土の気配を感じること
次へ残すものを選ぶこと

長い時間のなかで培われた
知恵やまなざしもまた
種とともに渡されていく

種から種へ
土から土へ
手から手へ

小さな種の中に
この土地の記憶と
この先へつないでいく願いが
宿っている

From Seed to Seed
A Wish Within

The practice of slash-and-burn cultivation
has been passed down through generations
in Hōtani.

Fire is brought to the mountain.

Plants and trees burn,
and in time,
become ash
and return to the soil.

Seeds are sown in that soil,
and from what grows,
the next seeds are saved.

From seed to seed.

Through this repeated cycle,
seeds have passed
from hand to hand,
continuing to live
in this land.

What has been passed down
is not only the seeds.

Knowing when to set the fire.
Knowing how to read the mountain.
Feeling the soil.
Choosing what to leave
for those who come next.

Wisdom and ways of seeing,
cultivated over many years,
are passed on, too,
together with the seeds.

From seed to seed.
From soil to soil.
From hand to hand.

Within each small seed
lives the memory of this land,
and a quiet wish
that it will be carried on
into the future.