Hello everyone. This is Tomohiro Nakamichi from Shibecha Town. As I welcome my second autumn in Hokkaido, I'm excited to see how many subjects I couldn't photograph last year I'll be able to capture this year. In my series "Shibecha Diary," I share the charms of Shibecha from my perspective. Following up on the last feature about Lake Toro, this time I'll be talking about the "bekanbe harvesting" that takes place there.

Have you ever heard of "bekanbe"? Bekanbe is the name of a plant that grows in Lake Toro, also known as "hishi no mi" or water caltrop. The Ainu people of Toro used to preserve these water caltrop nuts as a food source, but the number of people who harvest bekanbe has been decreasing year by year, and now only a handful remain. This time, I had the privilege of accompanying Mr. Tosa, one of these few remaining harvesters.

4 AM. The bekanbe harvest begins at the break of dawn.

There's a reason for starting the harvest so early in the morning: the lake is often in a state of "nagi" (no wind). Indeed, on this day, although there was fog, Lake Toro was calm and very peaceful.

The morning on Lake Toro, shrouded in a silent fog. What you see on the water surface in the distance is bekanbe.

There are various theories about how bekanbe came to grow in Lake Toro. One story tells that long ago, the bekanbe, having lost its home, asked the god of Lake Toro for a place to live, and in return, it became a source of food for the Ainu people of Toro. Another tale suggests that it attached to the back of a bear, and when the bear swam across Lake Toro, the bekanbe took a liking to the lake and decided to stay. This bekanbe plays a very significant role for the Ainu people of Toro.

The bekanbe flower. The nuts grow on the underside of the leaves floating on the water's surface.

And so, the bekanbe harvest began. I wondered what method they would use, and it turned out to be utterly traditional. They go out by boat and pick them by hand. Then they put the harvested nuts into a basket. That was really all there was to it.

Mr. Tosa harvesting bekanbe.

It's a truly traditional and simple method, but I was deeply moved. I heard that in the past, there were suggestions like, "Couldn't we use nets or find a more efficient way?" However, to avoid uprooting all the bekanbe and to consider the environmental impact, they continue to use this method of harvesting by hand.

In this age of advanced technology, I was simply impressed by the low-impact approach of using a canoe and the equally low-impact method of harvesting by hand. This practice of taking only what is needed, with as little burden on the environment and its surroundings as possible, embodies a spirit that connects to the modern SDGs.