For the 6th SDGs Mii Gottzo project, we visited Maruyama, and enjoyed autumn in the Satoyama by picking chestnuts and observing Azuki plants and creatures in the water.
Students also learned about potentially hazardous snakes to be aware of, especially in autumn. Mamushi pit vipers are commonly found in the Satoyama areas of Noto. Villagers are told to kill them when they are unlucky enough to encounter them, because encounters with them could prove fatal. Surprisingly, there are only 8 kinds of snakes, including 2 that are venomous, on the mainland of Japan.
At the end of the event, students made“Kachiguri”, a traditional preserved food, with the chestnuts they picked beforehand. They first boiled the chestnuts and then prepared them to be dried. This traditional food was a popular snack among the students’ grandparents’ generation.
