Original subtitles

Imagine a realm where the season's 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 fuel the heat of spring

They are all trimmings, 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, this carp inhabit the chilled depths of the lake

To spawn, they must seek warm shallows

Spring's rising energy is released

Over 200 carp found 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 river courses with fresh mountain torrents

but here and there, natural springs well up from the bottom

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 large 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 ponds

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 tidy 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

This 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 tittles 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, 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 finger nail

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 keel back

It feeds on fish which is unusual for terrestrial snakes

The quick brown keel back 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 a 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

Subtitles by Andrew and Hattie www.mvgroup.org