Terraced paddy fields in Ogi, which appeared as glittering ponds this spring, are now covered with a brilliant green carpet of mostly-matured rice.
Rice is very prolific. 20-centimetre-tall little seedlings have grown as high as the waist, with each bunch having 15-20 stalks. Some of them have young ears at the top already.
Although the sun is blazing, walking along narrow paths through paddies is full of fun in this season. If you look up terraces, you will see orderly light and dark green stripes of rice stalks and ears. Looking down from a hilltop, a breeze sending ripples through verdant fields. Streams from mountains give you coolness, and singing frogs, soaring herons and a lot of other residents of the nature will be delighting your eyes and ears.
Stalks which are pointing upright to the sky now will gradually bend down toward the earth as grains ripen. Then, just before harvest, hills and valleys in Ogi will be blanketed with bountiful golden-yellow color rice plants.