After returning from America, one day at a bookstore, I came across a book titled “The Science of the Soul.” It was a translation of a book written by Swami Yogeshwaranand, an Indian monk. It was thick and, frankly, a rather difficult, challenging to read...

The moment I picked up that book, I felt something. I thought, “I want to know more about what's inside this book,” so I immediately called Keishin Kimura, who lives in Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture, and who had translated this book. I told him I really wanted to learn deeply about “The Science of the Soul.”

Mr. Kimura said, “If you're interested in studying, you could stay with me as a lodger. Why not come to Yonago and try studying yoga?” That's how I came to experience authentic Indian-style yoga.

It differed slightly from Sri Chinmoy's meditation; it was a method of meditation focused more inwardly, while studying Indian philosophy. Teacher Keishin Kimura, as a disciple of the late Swami Yogeshwaranand, had traveled to India multiple times since his twenties to study yoga.

For Teacher Kimura, I was like his first beloved disciple. Every morning, I'd wake up at four, starting with yoga lectures. The lectures covered Indian Vedanta philosophy, and they were in English.

There were so many unfamiliar terms, like specialized Indian yoga vocabulary, that I had to unravel and study them. I tackled my studies daily, incorporating yoga poses called asanas. I stayed with Teacher Kimura for about a year.

Actually, one day in Yonago City, I happened to spot a shop with a sign reading “Shojiki Village.” It was filled with vegetables—daikon radishes, carrots, and more. Wondering what “Shojiki Village” meant, I went inside and found it was a place selling vegetables grown completely without pesticides. When I asked the owner, Mr. Yamauchi, “What farming method do you use?” he replied, “Masanobu Fukuoka's method.”

Jakusui: Huh! Is that the same Mr. Fukuoka you, Priest Danjo heard about from your American friend?

Priest Danjo: Yes, that's him. He also grows rice using natural farming methods. I'd studied natural farming a bit in books, so I asked, “I'd like to experience natural farming. Could you teach me the methods here?” Mr. Yamauchi replied, “You can experience it while working alongside us.”

I had come all the way to Yonago to study yoga, so farming was completely far from me. Yet, Mr. Yamauchi and I ended up having a lively two-hour conversation about all sorts of things. At the end, he advised me, “Mr. Danjo, you've come to Yonago to study yoga, but that's just intellectual study. You're not grounded. Unless you learn from the soil, you won't reach any true philosophy as a human being.”

“Mr. Danjo, that yoga is just intellectual exercise. You won't understand anything unless you properly study agriculture from the ground up.” Accepting his words, me with my naturally inquisitive nature, thought, “Ah, so that's another path. I'm certainly studying the Vedanta philosophy knowledge taught by Mr. Kimura, but I lacked the practical skills to observe real life.”

Thus, Mr. Yamauchi's words connected to the agricultural economics I had studied in America. With Mr. Yamauchi's simple offer, “There's a corner of my house available. If you come, Mr. Danjo, you're welcome to use it,” I ended up moving there. I explained the situation to Teacher Keishin Kimura and requested, “I'd like to go live in the mountains for a while. I'll come back occasionally to continue studying yoga with you.”

That place was perfect for me. It resembled the mountains near my childhood home, with no other houses around. Shopping required traveling several kilometers away, but the air was fresh, and it was truly a wonderful spot. I began studying Masanobu Fukuoka-style natural farming while commuting from there to study yoga.

Furthermore, Mr. Yamauchi's wife was a teacher of macrobiotics, instructing in a healthy lifestyle centered around brown rice and traditional Japanese foods. Though she was born in Tokyo, she wanted to raise her children in the countryside, believing they should be nourished with proper, natural food.

Mr. Yamauchi told me, “Mr. Danjo, you can use these fields freely. Do whatever you like.” So I tried various new methods.

Then one day, I came up with the idea of planting vegetable seeds in a circular pattern. Normally, seeds are planted in straight rows. Especially when using machinery, it's easier, but I made them circular. First, I planted flowers along the outer edge of the circle, creating a beautiful circular flower garden. inside that, I planted carrots, radishes, spinach, and so on, creating three or four concentric circles.

Jakusui: I've never seen that method before. Did you, Priest Danjo learn it from your mother when you were little?

Priest Danjo: No. I helped my mother with farm work, but this was my first time starting from sowing seeds. I just thought of planting vegetables in a circular pattern on a whim, and it worked incredibly well.

It's as if the flowers and vegetables were happy, dancing. That planting method might seem inefficient. However, the reason I chose to plant that way is because I thought about how the universe and Earth rotate, and natural energy circulates. Vegetables grow upward too, but designing them in a circular pattern made them thrive remarkably well.

Also, in Masanobu Fukuoka's natural farming method, they don't till the rice paddies. It's called direct seeding: they make balls of brown rice and scatter them on the soil. From there, sprouts emerge and rice grows. The conventional way of growing rice involves tilling the paddies first, but Masanobu Fukuoka's method is the opposite.

Weeds along the roadside grow naturally, putting down roots without humans plowing, right? It's the same farming principle. The more humans intervene, the more vegetables and plants lose the power they gain from nature. Rice cultivation follows this idea too; I hear everyone used direct seeding back in the Jomon period.