Natural World (1983) s24e18 Episode Script

Imagine a realm where the seasons' rhythms rule where centuries of agriculture and fishing have reshaped the land yet where people and nature remain in harmony Sangoro Tanaka lives in just such a paradise At 83, he's a guardian of one of Japan's secret watergardens Over 1000 years, towns and villages have developed a unique system to make springs and water part of their homes From inside their houses, the stream pours into Japan's largest freshwater lake near the ancient capital of Kyoto This is a habitat so precious, the Japanese have a special word for it: Satoyama villages where mountains give way to plains They are exceptional environments essential to both the people who maintain them and to the wildlife that now share them Late February, at Lake Biwa, an area 5 times the size of Paris Its year has 4 distinct seasons Reeds desiccated by winter winds feel the heat of spring They are all remain, the rest have gone to make roofs or screens Flames consume both pest and weed The ash will prove a powerful fertilizer Destruction creates the very conditions in which a wide range of species will eventually flourish By April, new shoots sprout the fire and smoke have provoked new growth Spring puts on its new coat Melt water cascades from the mountains swelling the lake till it brims over parched earth soaked into wetland Sudden sounds split the still of the day A chain of male carp dance after a female Some are longer than a man's arm, but she's bigger still, heavy with eggs She releases her eggs up to 200,000 of them and the males race to fertilize them For the rest of the year, these carp inhabit the chill depths of the lake To spawn, they must seek warm shallows Spring's rising energy is released Over 200 carp crowd here today The conditions created by the firing of the marsh, offer an ideal site for breeding There are only a few days a year when so many fish throng here Sangoro, the fisherman, won't miss his chance His methods, his 20-year-old boat, his bamboo pole all are tried and tested It takes years to really master the art of punting The marsh is a maze, but to Sangoro, it's as familiar as his garden He has some 50 traps set in various corners The carp are Lake Biwa's spring gift Sangoro only fishes from March to June when the shoals retreat to the lake He uses a simply snare of traditional materials There's not even any bait He just sinks a trap for the fish to swim into His haul includes other fish as well as carp as they all flock to spawn in the shallows This trap is full of carp called crucians With a single trap, he may net a dozen fish to take home As soon as Sangoro returns, he prepares the fish for the table The catch is usually sold or cooked for super that evening But today, he's preparing funazushi Funazushi is believed to be how sushi first started, perhaps 1000 years ago It's salted and fermented crucian carp and rice It smells sour and takes a long time to make First, salt your fish stand for 3 months mix with boiled rice to ferment leave another 6 months The ingredients - rice and fish are the key items of the Japanese diet Sangoro's home lies about 2km inland from the lakeshore Water from boreholes under the village is piped into the houses After it's been used, the water passes into a manmade stream What could be a barren canal teems with hidden life As spring gives way to early summer aquatic plants reach for the sun This one takes its name from the tree flower it resembles the palm flower underwater buttercup This little stickleback has no scales and can only live in the clearest of freshwater It normally prefers cold northern currents This is the further south it's found The channel also harbors some strange-looking creatures brook lampreys, primitive jawless fish that resemble eels A river crab discovers just how slippery lampreys are The channel through the village is home to creatures large and small The water sustains people, too And in turn, they use it sustainably Each home has a built-in pool or water tank that lies partly inside, partly outside its walls In the pool lounge friendly ornamental carp A continuous stream of spring water is piped right into a basin so freshwater is always available The carp are not purely ornamental nor are they to be eaten People rinse out pots in the tanks and clean their freshly picked vegetables If they simply pour the food scraps back in the water they risk polluting the whole village supply however carp can scour out even the greasy or burnt pans They do the washing-up in Satoyama villages This traditional arrangement is called the riverside method it's used all over Japan Cleaned up by the carp, the tank water eventually rejoins the channel For some wildlife, the manmade creek provides an ideal place to raise young Like this variety of freshwater goby, a small fish about as long as a little finger The villagers call it the tiny mud crawler A male is busy excavating a breeding site The even bottom supplies a perfect hidey-hole As always, the best locations are highly sought after Here comes another male he'd like to move in And he's prepared to fight for it both do all they can to look threatening Opening their mouths and erecting their dorsal fins to look bigger It's a victory for the sitting tenant There's another goby behind him She is hanging upside-down and she's laying eggs The victory over the den gave her a place to spawn in safety The old simply life of Satoyama communities is attracting some young Japanese back from the cities It's June, 4 months after the hungry flames licked the air reeds that rose from the ashes now reach overhead The marshy landscape takes on its summer look The dense growth is almost like a jungle A world filled with tiny lives Each single reed stem is a microcosm Tiny organisms called pseudoplankton live on their surface Forests of tentacles reach out to seize organic material Earlier in spring, young carp hatched in the flooded fields, They stay there for about 3 months The reed beds are their nurseries where they have plenty to eat and are concealed from predatory birds An infant fish meets a sudden end It's been grabbed The attacker is the larva of Japan's largest dragonfly This aggressive ambusher hides in sand or gravel Only its head protrudes, as it lies in wait for its prey Its correct name is the golden-ringed dragonfly But to the Japanese and to Sangoro, in its adult form it's the king of dragonflies Chicks accompany a parent coot Now is the best time to find food An adult calls in warning the cause, the coot's number one enemy, a weasel egg-thief and baby coot-snatcher a narrow escape Waterfowl have to guard against foxes and snakes too For safety, grebes make floating fortresses anchored to firmly rooted plants An adult bird is particularly alert when the eggs are hatching Each grebe has its own territory and each nests at the same place every year Here comes Sangoro the birds know him already This is his regular route He spends 2 hours checking all the traps he set yesterday His work done, Sangoro returns to the landing stage You should see the ones that got away Turning muddy banks into reed beds has paid dividends He has nearly 50 fish in all of 8 different types Sangoro won't eat the smallest fish he puts them aside He will share his good fortune The grey heron knows what will happen next Sangoro finishes cleaning out his boat and another pair of eyes watches his every move Each fishing season this kite pays Sangoro a visit When Sangoro leaves, the grey heron doesn't wait any longer It's happy to clear up Sangoro left the tiddlers for the birds It's his way of sharing nature's riches with those around him And they are only too pleased to take part The kite will take the fish back to hungry chicks Where the village houses crowd most closely together above a garden, a lone pine towers on a branch is a large nest There are two chicks there They are developing steadily under the watchful eyes of the villagers Sangoro's gift is a token of the village's close ties with wildlife It's 5 days since the gobies first laid eggs in the village channel The male is still around He's very protective, keeping predators away and taking great care of his offspring Golden eyes peer out of the egg capsules They are ready to break out The anxious father fans them, keeping them oxygenated The newly-hatched young are barely the size of a match head Tiny as they are, they are about to embark on a journey They will ride the current, the 2km to Lake Biwa There, they will feed on the abundant plankton At the same time, another new life is about to undergo a striking change The larva of a golden-ringed dragonfly In the dark, hidden from predators it quietly begins its metamorphosis The larva is now a fully-winged dragonfly In ten days, it will be sexually mature and ready to trigger the next generation In the sticky heat of mid-July, villagers gather Overgrown banks block the stream, time to clear the water plants 20 families bond together for their part of the channel For the villagers, it's a welcome task their ancestors carried out for hundreds of years For the fish in the creek, it's a huge nuisance Flushed out of the shade of vegetation, they seek refuge elsewhere It's the children's big moment With wild creatures so close, children experience nature directly Fish and birds are an everyday part of their lives 3 months have elapsed at Sangoro's house Sangoro's wife, Chikano washes the fish salted in spring Next, she will bury them in rice Sangoro's job is the back-breaking bit First, they lay out the fish evenly then, they cover them They build up several layers The rice-starch feeds microorganisms that cause fermentation With nature's blessing, the funazushi will be good again this year After the clean-up, the channel runs smooth and clear Small fry are encouraged to return The young gobies are now the size of a fingernail ten times as big as they were The hatchlings from the village have spent 2 months feeding on Lake Biwa's planktons They press on upstream, no obstacle deters them not even vertical walls Inland, the channel narrows And ahead lies something only too keen to greet them It's a Japanese keelback It feeds on fish which is unusual for terrestrial snakes The quick brown keelback catches the lazy goby Those who escape continue their travels upstream They must avoid herons and carnivorous fish, too The little gobies must find somewhere safe from ambushers They bump into a row of fence posts inside are carp which won't attack them It's the channel that carries away the household's used water Sangoro's pool offers the young goby sanctuary even if he will have to do the dishes The villagers endure the humid days of late summer with their natural neighbors It's a drowsy afternoon the moist air drains everyone's energy The temperature of the spring water in the house pools remains a constant pleasure Autumn brings welcome fresh breezes It's time to gather rice, the staple food of the Japanese As the rice dries in the autumn sun the smell of hay spreads across the fields With the harvest in, the time has come to give thanks Sangoro picks two live fish from the house pool They will survive but, tomorrow is the day the god of the rice paddy goes back to the mountains He won't depart without being given offerings: rice cakes, sake, white radishes and the fresh fish Sangoro believes that the god of his rice paddy will eat before leaving The god will return next spring when rice is sown again Each element in nature has its own god Every tree, rock and stream, 8 million gods of nature in all Prayer and ritual express Sangoro's gratitude He's almost totally self-sufficient, thanks to the gifts of nature It's December, winter's harshness looms Bitter winds start to gust from the lake sturdy green gives way to brittle gold Nine months have passed since the scorched earth sent out shoots Now the reeds soar above The slim stems will make screens and thatch The farmers cut carefully they don't snap or bend the long stalks Practice has made them perfect They heap the bundles into a tent-like shape called a round stand The stands will be left to dry all through the winter The stands are visible reminders of the close connection between the farmers and the environment they have created Winter grips the north of Lake Biwa But even snow can't totally erase the traces of spring In Sangoro's house, the local delicacy is finally ready He caught the carp in his trap in spring He and his wife salted them and when summer came covered them in rice to ferment Now a further 6 months have passed They will eat both fish and rice Inside is more evidence of nature's bounty The orange eggs Sangoro invites his neighbors to share the funazushi After half a year of maturing, the fish has the sour taste of cheese Slow food that is endlessly satisfying Preparation, preservation and finally appreciation, the precious pleasures of people living close to nature Right next to their dining room, there is the basin full to the brim It's cool in summer, warm in winter The Japanese describe tight-knit relationships as being as close as water and fish intimate and inseparable Like the pool and this little refuge The goby sits in a quiet corner waiting for spring March finally comes round again The reed beds have slept throughout the winter Now the first rays of sun coax warmth into them Once more, the silence yields to sounds of life As the rhythm of the year picks up, so do lives, human and animal The Japanese have another saying: Water comes, the fish live They mean that when the right time comes, everything will be fine Sangoro knows that in the way of Satoyama, everything has its season Together, Satoyama people and nature weave life into a seamless fabric blessed by water circling on its journey without end A new season, a new year, a new cycle all begin in Japan's Secret Watergarden