SATOYAMA — Living in Harmony with Nature
When you travel through Miyama, you will see mountains, forests, rivers, rice fields, small farms, and villages all around you.
At first, this may simply look like beautiful Japanese countryside. But the landscape you see here has a much deeper story.
In Japan, we have a special word for this kind of landscape: SATOYAMA.
There is no exact English translation for SATOYAMA. The word combines sato, meaning a village or human settlement, and yama, meaning mountain.
But SATOYAMA does not simply mean “a village in the mountains.”
It describes a traditional rural environment where people and nature have lived together and supported each other for generations.
In Miyama, SATOYAMA is not something you only learn about in a museum. It is still part of everyday life.
Between the Village and the Wild Forest
Traditionally, Japanese villages were surrounded by different kinds of land.
Close to the houses were vegetable gardens and rice fields. Beyond them were grasslands and managed forests. Deeper in the mountains were more natural forests and wild areas.
People used each of these areas in different ways.
They collected firewood from the forest to heat their homes and cook food. Fallen leaves were gathered and used as fertilizer. Grass was cut for animal feed and for thatching roofs. Bamboo and wood were used for tools, houses, fences and many other things.
Water from the mountains and forests flowed into streams and rivers and was used to irrigate rice fields.
In this way, almost everything people needed for daily life came from the surrounding environment.
People took resources from nature, but they also had to take care of the land so that those resources would continue to be available in the future.
This relationship between people and nature created the SATOYAMA landscape.
Nature That Needs People
We often think that the best way to protect nature is simply to leave it alone.
But SATOYAMA teaches us something interesting: sometimes nature also needs people.
For hundreds of years, villagers regularly cut grass, collected firewood, maintained forests, cleaned waterways and took care of farmland.
These activities kept the landscape open and created many different habitats.
Sunny grasslands supported flowers, butterflies and insects. Rice fields and irrigation ponds became habitats for frogs, fish and aquatic insects. Managed forests provided food and shelter for birds and animals.
So SATOYAMA is neither completely wild nature nor completely developed land.
It is somewhere in between.
It is a landscape created through a long relationship between humans and nature.
What Happens When People Leave?
Today, however, SATOYAMA areas across Japan are facing a serious problem.
The rural population is decreasing and getting older. Many young people move to larger cities for education and work, leaving fewer people to manage farmland and forests.
When people stop cutting grass or managing the forest, the landscape gradually changes.
Open fields become covered with bushes and trees. Abandoned farmland becomes overgrown. Forests become darker and thicker.
This may sound like nature is simply returning, but the change can sometimes reduce the variety of habitats that traditional SATOYAMA landscapes supported.
There is another problem as well.
When the border between the village and the forest is no longer well maintained, wild animals can come much closer to people’s homes and farmland.
In many rural areas of Japan, deer, wild boar and monkeys damage crops. Bears are also increasingly appearing near villages and sometimes even in towns and cities.
This has become a serious issue in Japan.
So maintaining SATOYAMA is not only about protecting beautiful scenery. It is also about maintaining a healthy boundary between human life and the wild natural environment.
Rice Fields — More Than Just Food
Rice fields are one of the most important parts of the Japanese SATOYAMA landscape.
Of course, their main purpose is to grow rice, one of Japan’s most important foods.
But a traditional rice field is also a small ecosystem.
When the fields are filled with water, they provide habitat for frogs, insects and many other small creatures. These animals then become food for birds and other wildlife.
The small waterways connecting rice fields also carry water and support aquatic life.
So what may look like a simple agricultural landscape is actually home to many different forms of life.
This is another important idea behind SATOYAMA: farming and biodiversity do not always have to be separate.
Traditional farming can sometimes help create habitats for wildlife.
The Forest Was Part of Everyday Life
The forests around Miyama were once much more closely connected to everyday life than they are today.
Before electricity, gas and modern heating became common, people depended heavily on wood.
Firewood was needed for cooking and heating. Wood was used to build and repair houses, and many materials for daily life came directly from the forest.
Grasslands were also important.
The thatched roofs that are now one of Miyama’s most famous attractions required large amounts of grass called kaya. Maintaining grasslands and cutting this grass was part of village life.
In other words, the beautiful traditional landscape of Miyama was not created simply because people wanted it to look beautiful.
It was created by daily life itself.
People used the land because they needed it.
And because they continued using and maintaining it generation after generation, the landscape survived.
Working Together as a Community
SATOYAMA life was also based on cooperation.
Many jobs were too difficult for one family to do alone.
Repairing a thatched roof, maintaining waterways, working in the forest, or helping during busy farming seasons often required the whole community to work together.
In Japanese, this kind of mutual help is sometimes called “yui.”
People helped their neighbors knowing that one day they would also need help themselves.
This community cooperation was an important part of rural Japanese life.
The landscape of Miyama, therefore, was shaped not only by nature, but also by the relationships between people.
A Landscape That Feels Familiar to Japanese People
For many Japanese people, especially older generations, SATOYAMA scenery creates a strong feeling of nostalgia.
Rice fields surrounded by green mountains, a small river running beside a village, traditional houses, vegetable gardens and narrow country roads were once common sights throughout Japan.
As Japan became more urbanized after World War II, many of these landscapes disappeared or changed dramatically.
That is why places like Miyama can feel very special to Japanese visitors.
The scenery reminds them of an older Japan — sometimes even of a Japan they remember from their childhood.
This is one reason why Miyama is sometimes described as part of “Japan’s original landscape.”
SATOYAMA Is Not About Going Back in Time
However, SATOYAMA does not mean that people should return to the lifestyle of hundreds of years ago.
People living in Miyama today use cars, smartphones, air conditioners and the internet, just like people elsewhere in Japan.
The challenge is to find a new balance.
How can we enjoy modern life while protecting forests, rivers, farmland, traditional houses and local communities?
How can we continue traditional knowledge while also creating new jobs and opportunities for younger generations?
Tourism can be part of that answer — if it is done carefully.
Visitors can support local restaurants, farmers, accommodation, craftspeople and other small businesses. At the same time, tourism can give people another reason to protect the landscape and culture that make Miyama special.
Why Explore SATOYAMA by Bicycle?
We believe that one of the best ways to understand SATOYAMA is by bicycle.
From a car or bus, the countryside can pass by very quickly.
On a bicycle, you move slowly enough to notice the details.
You can hear water flowing through a small irrigation channel.
You can smell the forest.
You can see vegetables growing beside a house, farmers working in the fields, an old thatched roof between the trees, or a fisherman standing in the river.
You can feel the temperature change as you leave an open rice field and enter the shade of the forest.
These small experiences help you understand that Miyama is not simply a collection of beautiful tourist sights.
Everything is connected.
The forest provides water.
The water feeds the river and the rice fields.
The fields provide food and habitats for wildlife.
People manage the forests and farmland.
And villages exist within this natural cycle.
That is SATOYAMA.
As you cycle through Miyama, we hope you will not only enjoy the beautiful scenery, but also notice the relationship between the people, the land, the forest and the water.
SATOYAMA is not just something to look at.
It is a way of understanding how people can live with nature, rather than apart from it.
And here in Miyama, that relationship is still alive today.