An Agricultural Wonder: Japan’s Vanishing Terraced Rice Fields (Photos)

Japan’s steep, narrow terraced fields are being abandoned.

Praying for bountiful crops at the Dondoyaki fire festival.

Many of those responsible for heavy farm work are elderly, but they do not treat it as a hardship.

Terraced paddies are home to a variety of wildlife, like this Japanese pheasant.

May: Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture

April: Tsu, Mie Prefecture

May: Genkai, Saga Prefecture

April: Ōtsu, Shiga Prefecture

May: Iki, Nagasaki Prefecture

May: Jōetsu, Niigata Prefecture

June: Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture

June: Tōkamachi, Niigata Prefecture

June: Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture

July: Shimanto, Kōchi Prefecture

August: Tōkamachi, Niigata Prefecture

August: Shika, Ishikawa Prefecture

August: Ōkura, Yamagata Prefecture

September: Minamishimabara, Nagasaki Prefecture

September: Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture

September: Yame, Fukuoka Prefecture

September: Tōkamachi, Niigata Prefecture

September: Minamikyūshū, Kagoshima Prefecture

September: Ukiha, Fukuoka Prefecture

September: Kusu, Ōita Prefecture

October: Takachiho, Miyazaki Prefecture

October: Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture

December: Tōkamachi, Niigata Prefecture