Maruyama Senmaida Rice Terrace Travel Guide

An icon of Asia, terraced rice fields make for some beautiful viewing when the fields are flooded, catching the light of the sun above. If you only visit one terraced rice field area in Japan, you couldn’t go wrong with Maruyama Senmaida in Mie.

This is one of the biggest terraced field areas in Japan, with over 1300 individual paddies adorning the hills. The terraces stretch all the way over 100m of hillsides. To get a good view of the whole panorama, take a walk up the stone path which leads through the Tori-toge Pass.

If you visit during planting season, you’ll have the chance to see farmers hard at work, planting all of the rice by hand, as no heavy machinery can operate effectively on these tricky terraces. During the planting festival in May, you’ll see the locals dressed up like their agricultural ancestors from the Edo period, performing dances and rituals to pray for a successful harvest.