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About Rice

Brown rice, white rice, parboiled rice, wild rice, black rice, red rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, Arborio rice, Valencia rice, sushi rice, and mochigome (sticky rice); these are daily staples in the diets of more than half the world's population. There are a wide variety of ways rice is prepared for eating. Just plain by itself is often the case, but there are a great number of other ways it is served. This photo shows a couple ways that are popular in Japanese cuisine. 

The row on the left is nigiri sushi (the rice is underneath the sashimi--raw fish--though the toping can be many things) and tekkamaki sushi (rolled in seaweed with a variety of goodies placed in the center) is on the right.

Rice is a type of grass closely related to grain-producing plants like wheat, barley, oats, millet, sugarcane, and corn. Another grain-producing plant is commonly called wild rice, but that is not a true rice which comes from the Oryza genus of 23 to 27 species.

The two most important domesticated rice species are Oryza sativa, Asian cultivated rice, and Oryza glaberrima or African rice. To the untrained eye, the two species look nearly identical.

It takes 3 to 6 months for rice to grow from seed to the time it is ready to be harvested depending on the specific variety, weather, and various other factors. Initially, there is only vegetative growth as shown above. When mature enough, the plant sends up panicles or flower stalks to be fertilized.

It is a misconception that rice has to be grown in water. Rice plants can grow on dry land like other plants provided that they have adequate sun, water, and moderate temperatures. Regardless, most commercial rice is grown in flooded rice paddies for two reasons. Rice grows well in water, but most of the weeds that could crowd out rice plants don't. The other reason is that water helps to moderate temperatures. 

Asia produces 90% of the world's annual rice crop. Much of it is grown in flatlands, but terracing is also heavily used, increasing the amount of available arable land.

These rice paddies are located California's Sacramento River Delta area. Rice production there is highly automated. Laser guided automated earth movers precisely level the paddies each season before presoaked and fertilized rice seed is sewn from low flying aircraft.

Less than 2% of the world's annual rice crop is grown in the U.S. with the most rice being grown in Arkansas, California, and Louisiana in that order, though the U.S. accounts for 5% of the world's exported rice. 

Different kinds of rice have different colored grains when the plants are mature. In 1993, rice farmers in Inakadate village in Aomori Prefecture in Japan began to take advantage of that to produce rice art. The result has become famous, and the practice has spread to other areas, too. All of the colors in this photo, taken from the top of a viewing tower, are natural to various kinds of mature rice plants.

Different pictures are grown each year. The one above on the left is a depiction of Inari, the Shinto goddess of the rice harvest and other things.

It takes from 30 to 45 days after fertilization before rice is ready to be harvested. This photo shows a mature panicle or ear of rice.

As pointed out above, the business of rice growing is highly automated, at least in some areas. Rice harvesting is, too, though a lot of rice is still harvested using traditional methods. These are kama; hand scythes used in harvesting rice plants.

It is back breaking work.

Harvesting rice in Japan has religious significance. In modern times, the rice harvest ritual, personally celebrated by Japan's emperor, is held on Nov. 23, a national holiday called Kinrō Kansha no Hi (Labor Thanksgiving Day). The ritual itself is called niinamasai. The emperor harvests bundles of rice plants in several locations and offers the cuttings to Shintō deities. This photo shows Emperor Naruhito performing part of the ritual a few years ago.

After harvesting, the cut rice plants are allowed to sit until dry, then they are threshed to separate the grain from the ears. That light brown pile the person is standing in is rice grain.

Once the grain has been separated, the leftover rice straw is used in various ways. Sometimes it is plowed back into the ground to help return valuable nutrients to the soil. Sometimes it is processed into animal feed. These rice straw bales, also known as paddy straw bales, are waiting to be processed.

n some places, rice straw is put to other uses.

A very important use for rice straw is to make ropes called shimenawa, sacred ropes hung along with shide, paper folded in a zig-zag fashion. They are used in Shintō shrines to mark the boundaries of sacred areas. The shimenawa shown below is much thicker than most.

Once rice grain has been threshed, it needs to be winnowed to remove foreign material from the grain and to remove the inedible hulls.

Here is a look at the composition of a grain of rice.

The hull is inedible, but everything from the bran inward is suitable for human consumption. By far the most nutritious part of rice is the bran. Rice with the bran intact is often called brown rice, but the actual color of rice served as food depends on the specific rice species and how much milling is done--the process that removes layers of bran.  Unfortunately from a nutritional standpoint, people tend to favor white rice, the color that most of rice consumed around the world has when all of the bran layers have been milled away. This photo illustrates the variety of rice colors that are available based on which rice species is used and the amount of milling that has been done.

Scientists are working on ways to improve the nutritional content of processed rice. One approach has been to genetically modify rice to add genes from other plants. One such experiment has produced what is being called golden rice.

Haiga

This week's demonstration painting focuses on rice harvesting. It is also a haiga, a painting that includes a haiku poem in the composition. My demonstration painting is a rice harvest scene. From last week's subject, we know that red spider lilies were frequently planted around rice fields because their high toxicity helps protect crops from animals.

Here is the haiku, the poem, that I included in my demonstration painting. It was written by Yamaguchi Seishi.

Artwork

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849)

Hokusai is best known for his landscapes which he populated with people; showing their connection with the scenes he produced. This print titled Spring in the Rice Fields was produced in 1800, decades before the works that made him famous.

Here is another ukiyo-e print by Hokusai. This one shows men transporting rice straw. It is part of Hokusai's most famous series, 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, produced in the 1830 to 1832 time period. The title is Ōno Field in Suruga Province, and it is number 43 in that series. The series was extended after the original 36 were produced.

Shōda Kōhō (1871 - 1946)

Very little is known about this artist other than that he was a part of the early 20th century shin-hanga (new prints) movement to restore traditional subjects, values, and techniques to Japanese hanga (printed artworks). His prints are sought after by collectors today. This 1910 rice harvest print shows harvested rice plants hanging out to dry to the right, and men threshing and winnowing rice in the foreground.

Kasamatsu Shiro (1898 – 1991)

Shiro initially studied art under bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people) masters and began exhibiting hanga (woodblock prints) in 1919. He soon developed a preference for landscapes. This 1953 print is titled Rice Harvesting. It was the inspiration for this week's demonstration painting.