Living with Nature: Cultural Heritage and Regional Revitalization in Iide, Yamagata

This project documents the cultural landscapes and cultural heritage of Iide Town, Yamagata, with a focus on traditions that sustain rural community life. While the broader project covers a wide range of practices, this page highlights selected works: a documentary on yashikibayashi (household forest groves), a study of keiyaku (village rule-making practices), and research into katemono (traditional preserved food culture). By recording these practices through film, oral history, and field observation, the project highlights how landscapes, foodways, and governance systems embody community resilience and identity. It positions these traditions as both cultural heritage and resources for contemporary regional revitalization.

Details of the projects:

1. Yashikibayashi
   A documentary film I made on yashikibayashi—the distinctive planting of protective trees beside rural houses in Yamagata. These household forests embody a philosophy of living with nature, providing shelter and resources while symbolizing the integration of landscape and daily life.

   
   

   

2. Keiyaku
   Documentation of keiyaku, a cultural rule-making system that has been preserved for centuries. Each year, the community gathers to recite these rules, reaffirming shared traditions and continuity while making adjustments if needed. The below shows a typical Keiyaku session (only in Japanese). Video from Ito Katsuki.
   
   

   

   
   

3. Katemono

   
   In the broader south Yamagata region, Yonezawa katemono refers to a traditional preserved food cuisine developed to prevent famine and safeguard the wisdom of earlier times. These foods, mainly mountain vegetables, have been passed down through generations and are now offered by local providers. The practice is also historically linked to Uesugi Yōzan, the famed Edo-period daimyō of Yonezawa, known for his agricultural reforms and emphasis on frugality and resilience.

   Research into the practice of katemono shows how households grow or forage mountain vegetables and cultivate small plots to secure necessary greens. This reflects long-standing traditions of self-sufficiency and adaptation in rural Japan.

   The video below comes from an interview I conducted with local veteran Ito Koichirō, who described and showed close to 60 edible plants found in the surrounding mountains. (Video available only in Japanese.)

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

These examples reflect a wider body of work conducted in Iide, where everyday practices of living with nature, foodways, and collective memory form both cultural heritage and resources for revitalization.

This project was carried out while working with Fulford Enterprises and was funded by ZNK (Zenkoku Nōgyō Kyōgikai) and Furusato Zaidan.