By HIDEYUKI MIURA/ Staff Writer
October 21, 2024 at 07:00 JST
Tokio Makino plays the violin in Yoichi, Hokkaido. (Photo by Hideyuki Miura)
YOICHI, Hokkaido—The fields of Hokkaido are frozen and snow-covered in winter, but this is a key season for organic farmer Tokio Makino.
During the chilly period after harvest, Makino, 62, leads the Farmers’ Philharmonic Orchestra of Hokkaido, a group he founded about three decades ago based on the ideals of poet Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933).
It now comprises about 60 farmers and other agriculture-related personnel in Japan’s northernmost main island.
“It has been fun and kept me busy, and the past 30 years feel like a blink of the eye,” he said.
Born in Osaka Prefecture and raised in Yamanashi Prefecture, Makino started playing the violin when he was 3 years old.
Fascinated by nature, he studied at Hokkaido University’s School of Agriculture and opened an organic farm here at age 30. He then formed a band with his music-loving farmer friends.
“I yearned for Kenji’s way of life and his book ‘Nomin Geijutsu Gairon Koyo’ (The summary of general theory of farmers’ arts),” Makino recalled. “It says, ‘We are all farmers/ It’s so busy and work is hard/ I want to find a way to live in a more cheerful and lively manner.’
“I thought it was great.”
The orchestra practices during the winter off-season, but this can prove a difficult task.
“It is highly unlikely for all of us to be able to get together in one place because of snowstorms, accumulated snow and other reasons,” Makino said.
Still, the orchestra has been putting on an annual concert in Hokkaido and even performed in Denmark.
Makino believes that organic farming and performing in an orchestra are similar.
“The sun, water, earth and micro-organisms organically collaborate with each other to produce a single agricultural crop,” he said. “Musicians also collaborate with each other to play a single piece.”
The orchestra’s sister group was founded in the Tohoku region in 2013.
The two orchestras will perform a joint concert in Sapporo in February 2025 to celebrate the Hokkaido orchestra’s 30th anniversary.
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