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Yoshikazu Kawaguchi
Yoshikazu Kawaguchi
	Kawaguchi in a production still from Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness
Born	1939; Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan
Died	9 June 2023 (aged 83–84)
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation(s)	Farmer, author, teacher
Known for	Natural Farming methods

Yoshikazu Kawaguchi (川口由一, Kawaguchi Yoshikazu, 1939 – 9 June 2023) was the leading Japanese practitioner of the "natural farming" method popularized by Masanobu Fukuoka and farmed by this method in Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture for 30 years.^[1] He was a farmer, author, and founder of the Akame Natural Farming School, or 赤目自然農塾 in Japanese.

Influences

Kawaguchi was born the eldest son of a tenant farmer of many generations; unlike Fukuoka, who was from the landlord class. Kawaguchi aspired to become a painter and attended Tennoji Art Institute, whilst continuing to work at the family's farm. His father died when Kawaguchi was only 11 years old, which meant he was forced to join the family farm. However, in 1978, after 22 years of conventional farming, he experienced severe liver damage caused by the agricultural chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides used on the farm.^[2] The failure of allopathic doctors to cure him led in response to Kawaguchi discovering Fukuoka's seminal book The One Straw Revolution, studying and starting to promote both Natural Farming and Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was also influenced by Wes Jackson, the founder and former president of The Land Institute; Kawaguchi is said to be the leading representative of the second generation of Natural Farming, using a gentler, more flexible approach to Fukuoka's, in which there are no definitive rules and each application depends on the individual environment.^[3]

Natural farming

The natural farming method of Masanobu Fukuoka uses no fertilizers or chemicals and very little water, allowing crops and weeds to grow freely, requiring a minimum of human intervention. Although his work is based on Fukuoka's natural farming principles, Kawaguchi's own methods differ notably from those of Fukuoka. The divergence is expected; as the foundation of natural farming is not in a technique, but in a way of approaching nature with awareness and respect.^[4]

Kawaguchi stated the core values of natural farming as:

Do not plow the fields
Weeds and insects are not your enemies
There is no need to add fertilizers
Adjust the foods you grow based on your local climate and conditions

With these values in place, he argued, you can grow food in most places in the world without need for imported resources including fertilizers.^[5]

His own first attempts were not successful until, he said, he understood that the aim was to cultivate land as in the very early days of cultivation rather than to let it go totally wild.^{[citation needed]}

Achievements

In 1991, he started Akame Natural Farming School which currently has more than 10 sites and another 5 teaching traditional medicine and around 250 students. It is one of a number of volunteer-run "no tuition" agricultural schools in Japan. Graduates from the school have further opened 44 learning sites throughout Japan, where approximately 900 people study 'Natural Farming'. Kawaguchi was at the heart of the contemporary Natural Farmers network in Japan.^[6]

Kawaguchi was the central character in the 2015 documentary film Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness, one of 25 films chosen for the Global Environmental Justice Collection used in university courses on sustainability in North America. The collection won the Buchanan Prize in 2020.^[7]^[8]^[9] In 1997, his work was featured in "Natural Farming - The World of Kawaguchi Yosikazu," a documentary at the Yamagata International Documentary Festival and shown at the 2010 International Film Festival on Organic Farming in Tokyo.^[10]

In 2008 he spoke at the 17th National Gathering of Natural Farming Practitioners along with Manabu Sakai (member of House of Representatives) and representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Environment and the Agricultural and Life Sciences Department of University of Tokyo.

Death

Kawaguchi died on 9 June 2023.^[11]

Bibliography

Kawaguchi, Yoshikazu 川口由一 Taenaru Hatake ni Tachite『妙なる畑に立ちて』 (Standing in the Exquisite Garden). Shizuoka: Yasosha Publishing Co., 1990.
Kawaguchi, Yoshikazu 川口由一 Shizen-No kara No wo Koete『自然農から農を超えて』(From Natural Farming, Beyond Farming). Sendai: Katatumuri Publishing Co., 1993.
Kawaguchi, Yoshikazu 川口由一 and Toriyama, Toshiko. 鳥山敏子 Shizen-No『自然農』(Natural Farming). Tokyo: Banseishobo Publishing Co., 2000.

Filmography

Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness, Patrick M. Lydon and Suhee Kang, SocieCity Films 2016.
Natural Farming, Toshiko, Toriyama and Koizumi Shukichi, Group Gendai Inc. 1997.
「人類の明日を悟る」 (Understand the Future of Humanity) －自然農上映会シンポジウム演奏対談－主催・赤目自然農塾　制作・加治幸博

References

Suutari, Amanda. "Hands in the Soil: Natural farming" with Kawaguchi Yoshikazu, Kyoto Journal, v. 53, 2003.
子どもの未来と自然農　～川口由一　自然農・子育て・家族を語る～, 川口由一 and 鳥山敏子. Publisher, 有限会社フィオーナ

^ The Other Japan: Voices Beyond the Mainstream, Suzuki, David T., Oiwa, Keibo. Fulcrum Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-55591-417-9.
^ Resurgence Magazine, The Resurgence Trust, v. 198–203, p. 64, 2000.
^ Kato, Sadamichi (2003). "'Body and Earth Are Not Two' : Kawaguchi Yoshikazu's NATURAL FARMING and American Agriculture Writers". 言語文化論集. 25 (1). 名古屋大学大学院国際言語文化研究科: 23–30. ISSN 0388-6824. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
^ "One-Straw Messenger: Larry Korn, author and natural farming advocate | Kyoto Journal". kyotojournal.org. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
^ "Final Straw: Food, Earth, Happiness". IMDb. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
^ "The role of a learning site for urban residents hoping to do farming: Focussing on the spread of 'natural farming' by the Akame Natural Farming School". Hokazono, S. (Mie Univ., Tsu (Japan)); Ohara, K. Journal of Rural Problems (December 2007). ISSN 0388-8525, Vol. No. v. 43(3), p. 311–323.
^ "Final Straw Teacher's Guide". Global Environmental Justice Collection. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
^ "Global Environmental Justice Collection". Docuseek. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
^ "Buchanan Prize". Association for Asian Studies. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
^ "International Film Festival on Organic Farming". Retrieved 28 May 2020.
^ 訃報　自然農の師　川口由一さん旅立つ (in Japanese)