We’ll get by” style going forward. From animal damage control to demolition facilities.
-What kind of activities do you usually do?
Various things. My main activities are the “Damonomichi” gibier meat dismantling and processing facility and activities related to beast damage countermeasures. During the rice field season, I start with rice planting and preparing the fields, and until the rice is harvested, I am rather occupied with rice fields. I also help with mowing, fertilizing, pruning, and other outside work in general for an organization that makes processed products such as plums and yuzu citrons. On days when we catch meat, we say, “Let’s go to the dismantling facility and cut it today.” There is a lot of work that doesn’t have a set time, so I don’t have a firm schedule and just go with the wind of the day.
I don’t have a plan because I do things on the spur of the moment, but if I think about it too much, I don’t get to do it. When I started Damonomichi, I did it without thinking about the details. I have a style of thinking, “I’ll figure it out,” and sometimes I hit a wall. There are a lot of times when I think I’m getting somewhere, but in fact I’m still getting things done.
-What kind of measures do you take to prevent animal damage?
Basically, we are dismantling meat at “Damonomichi. We also hold events to experience hunting and the satoyama, and we hold irregular events such as opening an event at “Ramen Hiroshi,” which makes use of gibier. I also serve as the secretariat of a group called the Council for Measures to Prevent Birds and Animals from Damaging Animals in Irokawa. I also serve as the secretariat of a group called the Council for Measures to Prevent Harm to Animals and Birds in Irokawa. The local animal damage countermeasures are mainly carried out by the cooperative groups, so the cooperative groups are in charge of on-site response, but I also serve as a consultant, going to the sites and listening to what the people have to say.
-Please tell us about the “Damonomichi” demolition and processing facility.
We accept deer and boars. Deer are more common in this area, but recently the number of boars has been decreasing due to disease, so originally it was 80% deer, but now it is 10%. In terms of quality, there is variation from individual to individual due to various factors. We accept all boars of any quality, but as soon as we get a call that a deer has been captured, we try to go there immediately. By seeing what condition the animal was caught in, we can determine what to do with it. We want to process as much as possible so that we can sell it as human meat, but if it has a slight odor, we turn it into pet food or other products.
-How did you get involved in the“Damonomichi” project?
I got my hunting license when I was a senior in college. Not because I wanted to hunt, but because I thought that animal damage was becoming a serious problem in Irokawa and that the local people and farmers were having a hard time. It is very difficult for farmers alone to take measures against animal damage. It is not something that can be done on a one-handed basis, so we needed someone to do it on a full-time basis. Around the latter half of my senior year at university, I was asked if I would come back to Japan on the basis of a program called “Rural Workers Corps,” which is similar to the Regional Development Cooperation Corps now in Japan.
I had a vague idea that I wanted to come back to Irokawa right after I entered university. But I knew that I had to be able to do something useful when I got back. So, during my senior year of college, I studied animal damage control. I had a fair amount of knowledge, so I came back to Japan having fulfilled my own requirements.
So, in my case, hunting is not the objective, but rather the entrance to wildlife damage control. For example, we set up fences, or work together to find out why beasts are coming into the village and take action to prevent them from coming back. We didn’t have any facilities at the time, so we used the meat we caught for our own use.
But there were times when we were able to catch quite a bit of meat. I started thinking about it in my second or third year, and so did everyone around me. I started thinking about it in my second or third year, and everyone around me was thinking about it, too, and as I kept saying, “I wish we could do it,” or “I want to do it,” my motivation somehow grew, and we ended up building a demolition facility.
Movement, connection. changes after U-turn.
-Have you noticed any changes in the community since you left for college and returned four years ago?
I remember thinking that the number of immigrants is increasing. I went from knowing everyone to not knowing some people. That was quite a big change for me. I don’t know what to call it. I don’t know if it was a feeling of loneliness or a feeling of being left behind. I soon came to know all of them.
The world I saw changed in those four years, though I did not change in Irokawa itself.
Four years ago, I was a high school student, so I had no contact with adults. It was a dramatic change to be in the same position and do something concrete. I saw something different from the Irokawa I had seen before. I talked with various adults, made decisions on my own, and got things moving. It was also fun to cooperate with various people.
-Has anything changed since the facility was built?
I don’t think I have changed a great deal. Some hunters became more motivated to hunt, and more people obtained hunting licenses. Also, we are now able to sell meat, so we distribute it to local coffee shops, restaurants in town, and other restaurants connected through acquaintances.
Selling meat has increased my relationships with people. Not only locals, but also people from outside the community have become more connected. The biggest change is that the number of people involved has increased as a result of the establishment of this facility. New developments and other things are being born from this.
“Damonomichi” toward a future where humans and beasts can coexist
-I think you are still in the middle of the project, but have you been able to realize what you envisioned when you started?
The key word in Damonomichi is “circulation,” and I was hoping that it would be a catalyst or a base for the circulation of resources, people, and information. I think the circle of people involved in this project is still in the process of expanding, but it is spreading little by little, so I feel that the project is moving in the direction that I had envisioned at the beginning.
As for the circulation of resources, of course we sell meat, but I would like to properly dispose of the residues so that they can be circulated in a circular manner. Right now we burn it at the clean center. I feel bad about that. It is difficult to sell the compost from the deer residue because it is legally impossible to do so. I would like to return it to the fields.
-Please tell us a little more about the keyword “circulation“.
Actually, I understand the importance of circulation and sustainability in my mind, but I don’t really see it as something that is important to me. To be more specific, it is not closely connected to my daily life. It’s more like my way of life. I am actually trying to grasp it little by little as I work on it. If I had thought in my head that this is what I wanted to do, and then based my activities somewhere else, I think it would be different. However, since I was born here, and I found myself doing what I am doing now, I feel there is a great difference between the two. I enjoy simply being here and doing something.
However, I think it is important, so I would like to eventually be able to link it to my daily life and be able to say that it is a cycle in my own words. If I continue in this way, I think that someday I will be able to create an ideal “Damonomichi.
”Damonomichi” is a ”road”. Like an animal trail. If there were a world where nature, beasts, people, and everything else could coexist in harmony, the “Damono Michi” would be the path to get there. It is a process, or a road to that point. I hope to continue “Damonomichi” and get closer to the ideal environment.
-What do you want to do from now on?
The most important thing is to build a good coexistence with animals. In thinking about that, I would like to take an interest in the mountains and how they should be. I would like to continue to think about various things, such as creating mountains that are easy for animals to live in. I would like to continue thinking about various things.
This is something that I had already known rather than something that I had realized after starting these activities, but the fact that there is no more food in the mountains and that the boundary between the village and the mountains is very narrow, creating an environment that makes it easy for animals to approach, has made it easier for animal damage to occur. We probably know the mechanism that causes animal damage. We do understand the mechanisms that cause animal damage, but it is difficult to actually take countermeasures.
I would like to work with the local council and everyone else on countermeasures against animal damage and the way the mountains should be. As for “Damonomichi” we would like to continue to work on effective use of meat, resource recycling, and other efforts to increase the number of people involved.