Stone warehouse

Stone warehouse used to be a symbol for wealthy farmer here. It is told to have been built after the war between the faction to overthrow Shogunate and the Shogun in the end of Edo era back in the 19th century. Wealthy farmers or merchants wanted to avoid things not burnt from fire. 

Yesterday, again on the way of walk, I have found a couple of such warehouse made with Ohyaishi, the stone produced in Ohya area in this prefecture. 

This is one of them at a house of a friend of mine. Some Ohya stones were crumbled down on the ground. Possibly due to the big earthquake in 2011. I have visited him and his family once in a while since my parents and aunt had been good friends to the grandparents of the family years ago. A wonderful family who have lived in the belief of Christianity. I have never noticed of this warehouse in the past. We could find something new when walking around.

They have lived on with dairy since their grandparents generation. However, the price of milk getting so cheap, the young couple has given it up some years ago. Most japanese farmers own much smaller business than those in the western countries and are confronting much difficulty to compete with products imported from those countries. Our government has "sold" our farming business including dairy to the US and to the TPP participants. I am sure these farmers should give it up sooner or later. The food self-sufficiency rate in caloric base is only 37% in Japan. It seems our government won't care for the food security at all. When a world wide famine occurs, we will be short of food for sure.  

Another stone warehouse at a neighbor of my friend's home. Pretty well managed one. 

In cold and crisp air, it was fun to walk around for an hour. The Nikko Mountains were seen in the northwestern direction. Some mountains are covered with snow.

In the riverbed golf course, some people were playing golf. The lawn was not lively yet. There was a big tree in the course.

Fast walking for an hour has exhausted me a little bit. It was good for me to sweat a bit outdoor, though.