My parent’s home was about 3967 sqm in size, large enough to include rice paddies and farm fields. My mother was determined that we shall not lose even a portion of the lands that our forefathers had passed down to us. We were determined to work and repay everything. Although my eldest brother was already fully grown, this marked the beginning of my mother’s struggle while taking care of my two older sisters and myself.

My mother woke up at 4 every morning before any of us, and was out tending to rice paddies and fields. She made sure to get some work done before the sun came up, then after making breakfast returned to farming. After sunset, she then weaved straw to make rope and straw bags. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to see my mother still working. I don’t know if she ever slept at all. I can’t remember a time when my mother would be resting. She never stopped working, but she was also never ill. My sisters also helped with farm work at other houses. During the winter season, they worked part-time in the town making miso and soy sauce.

<<I Also Pitched In and Earned Money>>

Before I entered elementary school, I asked a neighbor about the rabbit she owned, and what she was going to do with it. She replied that once it had babies, a person from Chiba University would come to purchase them. It was a way to make money. I requested, received a pair of rabbits, and began breeding them. Rabbits reproduce quickly, kindling a litter of 5 to 6 bunnies every 2 months. Although a single rabbit is sold for 20 yen, due to their quick reproduction, it was a good way to make money. However, when I later learned these rabbits were used in medical trials and experiments at Chiba University, I felt sorry for what I did as a child. I also raised pigeons and chickens.

I thought of raising chickens to sell their eggs, and went to a festival in Sekiyado where I purchased baby chicks at a stall. Although the man who sold me the baby chicks said they will grow into strong chicken laying eggs, that was not the case. Even after I nurtured them with a kotatsu table during winter, they did not lay eggs despite already being fully grown. When I saw the man next year, I complained to him that the chickens were not laying eggs. He just shrugged and said they must be too old. I was dumbfounded. My chickens were only a year old. So I decided to ask around. That was when I found, that baby chicks sold at festivals were all male, and that female chicks never left the farms. All I could think about was how much I was deceived.

But in the end, I think my experiences of breeding animals at that age turned out well for me. I was able to learn the difficulties involved when raising living beings, as well as people’s manipulative nature.

<<Variety of Jobs Broadens with Age>>

Once I was out of elementary school, I began to deliver newspaper and helping with farm work. In order to cultivate the fields, the home-bread cows need to be guided. But since I was still small, the cattle refused to listen, and I got pushed around and was almost stomped. I knew I couldn’t handle the cows until I was grown. I cultivated the land using the secondhand robin cultivator that my uncle gave me. Although I was clever, but impatient regarding everything I did, this eventually led me to be able to cultivate several rice paddies in a single day. When I cultivated the neighbor’s rice paddy as a favor, that was when my mom got angry. I thought it was a good thing, but she scolded me for doing it for gratuity. That was when I learned that there were things that a child still needed to comprehend.
I was already pretty big by the time I was in third grade of elementary school, so on days off, I was working as a caddy. At first, I didn’t even know the terminology. I was told to fetch a “spoon (no. 3 wood),” and asked, whether the person wished to eat curry. That got everybody on edge. When I was asked for a “Brassie (no. 2 wood),” I started looking for a brush to remove dust from shoes, and got promptly yelled at. But I didn’t mind. After all, a caddy made 3000 JPY a day, the amount I almost considered as illegal. No matter how much I was told off, I could not quit.