It is harvesting season in Antaiji. A typhoon is scheduled to pass through here tomorrow, therefore we decided to cut the rice in the second field today. Tobi from Berlin and Tsukan from Oregon push the binder that cuts and binds the plants so that the can be hung on the bamboo construction to dry and later be threshed. Thanks to the maintenance work that they did yesterday, the machine runs smoothly. The only problem is that Antaiji’s rice fields never dry completely, therefore the machine gets stuck time and again. Normally it takes only one person to walk behind the machine, but today Tobi ad Tsukan have to push and pull their little friend through the mud.
In the back of the field is an area that is like quicksand. According to Antaiji legend, whoever gets stuck with a machine there will never return to this world. Therefore the lighter ones of the monastics cut the rice in this part by hand. Cutting by hand does not take much time, but making the bundles with a few pieces of straw does if you are not skillful. Today work will be extended by two hours to allow people to tie all the rice plants into bundles and hang them on the bamboo construction.