Japanese Rice Terraces — Yamakoshi Flooded Fields
71.32 د.ك
Yamakoshi’s mountain rice terraces in their flooded spring planting phase photographed from a drone at 150 metres — the terraced water surfaces creating a cascading mirror sequence down the steep hillside.
Description
The rice terraces of Yamakoshi in Niigata Prefecture represent the accumulated agricultural engineering of 2,000 years — the mountain hillsides stepped into flooded terraces whose geometry follows the topography with extraordinary precision, each terrace level maintained by a bund wall that holds 15–20cm of water during the spring planting season. The flooded phase creates the most photogenic aerial conditions: each terrace level acts as a horizontal mirror reflecting the sky and the surrounding mountains, the terraces creating a cascading sequence of reflective horizontal planes down the steep hillside. This photograph was made at 150 metres altitude in late April — the optimal flooding period before transplanting — the terraces at maximum water depth and mirror quality. The bund wall shadows create the pattern boundaries, and the surrounding cedar forests and farmhouses provide the rural Japanese landscape context.
