I sow faith as the seeds. My discipline is the rain. My wisdom is my yoke and plough. My modesty is the plough-head…Mindfulness is the ploughshare and the goad…I do my weeding with truthfulness…It brings the fruit of immortality. By ploughing like this, one escapes all suffering.

(The Buddha and the Farmer) 1

As much as Japan’s grand metropolises Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Sapporo offer endless thrills to any visitor, rural life in the country is equally invigorating, rejuvenating, and certainly a refreshing pause from the daily noise and frenzy of urban living.

In Iwate Prefecture, about 25-35 minutes by car or bus from the capital city, Morioka, Koiwai Farm 2 stretches approximately 3,000 hectares with 640 hectares of cultivated land. The vast estate has been actively productive for over 120 years, continuously propagating its agricultural, forestry, and livestock industries, as well as its robust businesses in soil improvement, cattle breeding, and forest land development. For Japanese, the Koiwai brand is a household name in butter, cheese, milk, flavored cookies, cheesecake, milk and butter candies, chocolate, ice cream, and curry sauce.

In 1888, Masaru Inoue, director of the Meiji Government Railway Agency, visited Morioka and was fascinated by the sprawling landscape at the foot of Mt. Iwate. He was also the pioneer of the railway construction for the Tokaido Line and Tohoku Line. While causing the unfortunate ravage of the fertile land to make way for the railroad development, Inoue decided to team up with Mitsubishi Corporation’s second president, Yanosuke Iwasaki, and Nippon Railway president Gishin Ono to reclaim a huge portion of the terrain and build a farm on it that can be enjoyed by the public as well.

Koiwai Farm was then established in 1891. About forty hectares of the entire property have been converted into the Makiba Park 2, which has become a thriving tourist destination. The leisure park and farm are surrounded by grass fields, a horse ranch, an archery field, a barbecue garden, cattle, cow and sheep barns, and vegetable and flower paddies.

Visitors can begin their farm life adventure with a stop at the Kamimaru Cowshed, which shelters around 300 cows and calves in nine buildings erected between 1908 and 1935. These include four cattle barns, a weighing and hoof trimming room, an old warehouse for cattle breeding, the Koiwai Farm Museum, and two silos for storing grain, the oldest in Japan and designated as National Important Cultural Properties. People may be able to observe cow milking at certain times of the day. The aged feel of the facilities truly renders the profound care and value placed on livestock farming for over a century.

A Scandinavian-designed dairy plant demonstrates milk and natural cheese production from the raw milk collected in the Kamimaru Cowshed. The second floor also opens to a panoramic view of the park.

On the opposite side of the farm park are the archery field, horse ranch, and horseback riding grounds. Visitors may experience feeding the horses with carrots. They can watch horses and rabbits being taken care of at the Makiba Hall and play with and feed them themselves. Lectures about first-time archery are also conducted on-site.

If strolling around the enormous property causes a bit of strain, guests can roam the park on a farm tractor. The carriage ride skirts around the forest area and numerous facilities for about 45 minutes. Staff may be spotted grooming horses, gathering hay, or feeding animals. The guide explains the history of the ancient farm park and drives up to an expansive meadow overlooking Mt. Iwate. As the tractor navigates the winding paths around the forest and under its thick foliage, one breathes the rich mountain air that filters all around Koiwai Farm.

Around the sheep area, shepherds brief visitors about sheep husbandry and ask volunteers to assist in feeding the animals.

Children can hop on a cute pedal cart to patrol around the grass roll barn and a small hill with a windmill. Other fun activities include solar observation, lounging on a huge net and hammock, putting golf, snow train, dog run, playground for kids, and a ride on a cow-motif Moo-moo bus.

A short walk to the east of the Kitchen Farm Kitchen restaurant guides you to the steam locomotive D51 of the old Japan National Railway, which was a leading commuter train in the 1950s and 1960s.

For lunch and snacks, guests can eat at an authentic charcoal barbecue garden and at the Sanroku-kan Restaurant. The menu ranges from western dishes like hamburger steak to noodles and Japanese “yakiniku” grilled beef taken from the farm’s cattle. The farm park is also popular for its soft-serve ice cream in vanilla, cheese, and other flavors. You would not want to miss this chance to savor the original Koiwai Farm ice cream! It is also offered at the Koiwai Farm Kitchen Restaurant and several café stands. Koiwai Farm Kitchen Restaurant also serves beef croquettes and steamed buns with beef and cheese.

A full day of nature and priceless moments with animals certainly sheds off the stress and fatigue of city life. The bus ride back to Morioka city glides through kilometers of endless green fields and pine trees, enough to fill an album of memories.

Notes

1 The Buddha and the farmer, Buddhanet.
2 Kowai Farm Garden.