Down with the Cities Part 13

The Only Possible, Sensible Way Is the Practice of "Independent Farming"

We have seen, therefore, that it is virtually impossible to disengage oneself from the city completely since the city clings to us tenaciously. It is said that when Saigyo [37] was ready to leave on his sea voyage he kicked his own child away from the boat -- that is, he shook off earthly pa.s.sions -- and departed resolutely. However, the city will not bow out so readily; with the strongest manacles (and, when the need arises, with police, courts, and the military) it tries to prevent our leaving. This cannot be helped. If we cannot then completely rid ourselves of the city's entanglements, then we must allow only the least possible involvement with the city, and shake off the major restraints it imposes on us. Let us do as the lizard does when it flees, leaving only the tip of its tail. There is no other way to flee from something that clings to us like our very shadow.

To be specific, the only way to accomplish this is to practice "independent farming." Unless we do this, there is no way at all to escape the city. For example, let us say one quits a white collar job and takes up painting in order to support oneself.

This will not do, for unless one is recognized by the city for one's art and is compensated for it -- that is, joins the plunder activities of the city -- then there is no way to make a living.

Indeed, such activity is the city itself.

Independent farming, as I mentioned in the previous chapter, is natural cycle farming, which depends upon nothing but Nature; animal and human wastes are returned to the soil, and the produce of the land then feeds the animals and human beings. As long as one continues this type of farming, there is no room for the city -- government, co-ops, manufacturers, corporations, and consumers -- to b.u.t.t in. One is self-sufficient and independent, and there is no fear of failure whatever may come.

Reducing One's Contact with the City to the Least Possible Extent

These are the basics of readying oneself for the demise of the city. If one does just this much, then it does not matter when the city perishes. However, during the transition period, one cannot escape the entanglements of the city, so while receiving in the smallest measure the blessings of the city (that is, while supplying the city with only the smallest amount), we ready ourselves for the impending demise of the city, decide how to deal with it, train ourselves for it, and continue to deepen our relationship only with Nature. And this is also the best way to bring about the contraction of the city.

Let us now, in light of the foregoing examples, see how one can, while beginning the practice of independent agriculture, lessen one's ties with the city to the maximum possible extent.

The more money one makes, the more they take in taxes. If one has only enough income to barely get along, then under the present tax system it is not necessary to pay very much. However, it seems that one is still bound to pay local and prefectural taxes.

Compulsory education as required by the const.i.tution cannot be helped, but we should think carefully about anything more than that. The universities, in particular, are none other than training facilities for the Contamination and Destruction Reserve Corps, [38] so we must regard them as the enemy and stay away.

The only education necessary to independent farmers is the farming methods peculiar to their family and region as pa.s.sed on to them by their parents, grandparents, and village elders. The study of anything more than that is the sham egotism of the urban economic society, the urban compet.i.tive society, the urban cultural society, or the urban glory society.

If the co-op threatens us with no more loans, no more fertilizer, and no more agricultural chemicals, this is actually something to be thankful for, since to natural-cycle, self-sufficient agriculture such things are needless and harmful.

Since the co-op cannot force us to do things as the government can, it is all right to refuse their every request without worrying about being arrested and thrown in jail.

Since religion is a narcotic used as a means of plunder, one must resolve never to fall for any of their tricks. The only thing we need consider important are the laws of Nature. Though it was never possible for the G.o.ds and Buddha to be Good, they make them look like a bundle of Good, and, using this to their own advantage (that is, for plundering), they make judgments concerning Good and Evil; it is this deceptiveness of the established religions which we must pa.s.s judgment on. The judgments of the G.o.ds and Buddha must be those of Nature. Truth, equality, cold impartiality -- the Net of Heaven lets no rebellion against Nature go unpunished. If the religions use the magisterial authority of the G.o.ds and Buddha to extort, establish themselves in idleness and gluttony, bring about the contamination of their food by joining the city in exploiting the farmers, and take part in the city's plundering, prodigality, and destruction, then Nature (the G.o.ds) will surely make them pay.

Even if one says, "Stick it up your nose!" to the G.o.ds, one will not be punished, but no matter how much one prostrates oneself before the G.o.ds, if, at the same time, one contaminates the Land and food by spreading agricultural chemicals on them, the G.o.ds (Nature) will surely visit one with cruel punishment.

Independent farmers must be mentally prepared for a life of austerity. So it should not be worth getting excited if, quite suddenly, things like televisions, cars, cameras, computers, videotape machines, pianos, refrigerators, and washing machines disappear from our lives. Having them is convenient, but even if we do not have them, there should be no problem. In fact, such things only bring about sloth, obesity, and surfeit, not to mention the pollution engendered by their production and use. It is stupid to shackle ourselves to the city for such things.

Just because we cannot go see a play or take a trip does not mean that harm will befall us, so there should be nothing to worry about. Living without such things does not even require the aforementioned warmup; as long as we have our minds made up to live without them it does not matter even if they disappear tomorrow. Though it may be all right if we make occasional use of needless things during the period of transition, we must not run after them crying when the time comes to bid a final farewell. No matter how often the government and big business enjoin us to consume more in order to improve the economy, we should calmly ignore them. We must not forget that the best action we can take to bring about the contraction of the cities is to live a life of austerity, and to stop giving them so much food.

What Do We Need Most in Order to Guarantee Our Survival?

In order to keep themselves alive, what do wild [39] animals want, search for, and find value in? They desire no government, they desire no agricultural cooperatives, they desire no education or learning, paintings, travel, glory, or praise and recognition (no medals and awards). They desire food (finding food sums up their existence) and a simple place to sleep. And a little s.e.x once or twice a year...

With only those things wild animals find everything they need to live out their lives. To them, all other things (like education, government, religion, the Tee Vee, automobiles, travel, and medals -- that is, the city) have not the slightest value whatsoever. Even automobiles worth millions of yen, and paintings worth billions of yen are not worth a pig's tail to them. It is only human beings who madly seek things which are, to the sustenance of life, utterly worthless, thereby bringing upon themselves incalculable harm, and hurrying down the road to ruin.

Human Beings must Learn from Wild Animals

It should be quite evident, then, what is most necessary for survival. The sun, air, water, the land -- these are by far and without a doubt the most precious things to us. Yet, even if we do not seek them, Nature will give us unlimited amounts free. Or perhaps one should say that it is always there in the form of "Nature itself"; as long as we do not contaminate it, destroy it, or cover it with concrete, it will always be there for us. Just as with wild animals, if human beings have food, a modest dwelling, and clothing, it is possible to survive, self-sufficient and independent. Most other things are add-ons, playthings, luxuries, trouble, disaster (like recessions), and poisons (like cigarettes and food additives).

Therefore, indispensable to us now is preparation -- a warmup -- this in order to get the things we really need. As for all other things, especially those which are to Nature worthless and harmful -- convenience, extravagance, ease, glory, praise, and all other urban paraphernalia -- it would be best to shut them out of our lives from the start.

One does not need gorgeous clothing. The desire for beautiful clothing is the desire for a means to conceal one's own shortcomings. Clothes make the man, as they say; trying to increase one's own value by dressing in fine clothes is a way of advertising one's own worthlessness. A uniform is a means of boasting of the city's power; military uniforms, medals, parliamentary ID tags, and priests' splendorous robes are all means of domination devised to make people bow down before them.

And decorating armor and helmets, which are supposedly meant to ward off arrows and swords, was the creation of display calculated to impress, not only one's enemies, but also allies and common people with one's majesty.

If the stable boy gets nice clothes, then why not a military uniform on a fox, and a fancy kimono on a badger? But whether or not their status rises as a result is another matter. First of all, they hate wearing such troublesome things, and will show considerable resistance if someone tries to put them on; you may not be able to get them on the animal at all. It is because they are natural. And it is here that we find the difference between the city, which is built upon human law, and wildness, which finds its foundation in the law of Nature.

The purpose of clothing is to ward off the cold and to keep from getting wet in the rain. If need be, we should be prepared to cut a hole in a gunny sack for our head and wear that. And we should wear light clothing, because it is best for our health to expose our skin to the outside air. Let us begin preparing ourselves right now.

Preparation for our Escape from the City

Concerning living quarters: Putting up grand buildings, equipping them with all sorts of conveniences, and decorating them lavishly is, just as with clothing, done to boast of one's own greatness, and in order to satisfy one's desire for convenience, extravagance, and ease. And most important, in order to build such structures, precious resources are used unsparingly, great destruction and contamination are wrought by the mining, transport, and processing of the said resources, and great amounts of pollution are generated by the use of such homes or workplaces. What is more, this increase in the number of buildings causes the further decrease in the area of the country, and the cities continue their expansion.

There is no limit to the desire for an anti-Nature, modern urban lifestyle. Small or old houses are continually being torn down (the remains are discarded in the country or in the ocean), and big, new buildings are put up. They call this the development of the cities, but just as I have demonstrated, this development is actually what is threatening the continuing existence of the cities.

It was some foreigner who made fun of j.a.panese houses by calling them "rabbit hutches," and a certain idiotic j.a.panese critic then used the same expression as an instrument of self-deprecation.

However, Kamo no Chomei [40] demonstrated that a ten-foot square hut was quite big enough as a place to live. If the population continues to increase at the present rate, without war, epidemics, or famine, in 700 years we will reach a population density at which there will be one person per square foot, including the mountains. It seems to me that it would be much more important to put up with living in rabbit hutches and saving our farmland.

Living in cramped, stuffy apartment buildings and falling on your face every time there is an earthquake is naturally the price one should pay for living in the city in order to realize a life of ease. If you do not like it, then leave the city and go to live in the country. Build a log cabin in the country and live there. Even if it is destroyed by a typhoon or an earthquake, you can repair it the very next day. What is more, you can repair it by yourself, without the help of anyone else.

It would do us well to prepare ourselves by learning how to build the sunken dwellings of ancient times. We should ready ourselves by recognizing that it is best for human beings to live on a dirt floor.

Is It Possible to Produce Food without the City?

Concerning food: The intervention (interference) of the city (that is, the secondary and tertiary industries) in the production of food is considerable, and for this reason it has become possible to produce great quant.i.ties of high-yield crops with reduced labor. If the city's partic.i.p.ation were to disappear it would mean the instant disintegration of this production system, and agriculture would be dealt a severe blow. At least this is the way the city boasts of its superior position, and causes the country to bow before it, cutting a magnificent figure.

But we should not worry too much about this. The kind of agricultural system that would become unable to function without the city is actually none other than a suck-up-to-the-city agriculture that is locked into the city's plunder system.

However, to natural cycle, small-scale, self-sufficient agriculture, the city's meddling is actually a nuisance; as long as we have the blessings of Nature there is not the slightest difficulty. The object of the city's interference is to continue plundering the country.

There is here perhaps one thing we should be aware of, and that is the necessity of certain tools -- not tilling and threshing machines, but such things as sickles and hoes. Without the help of the city it might be difficult to find such things unless we revive the part-time blacksmiths of the Edo Period or earlier. In former times the part-time farmers who made water conduits, baskets, and sifters lived in every village. When they were not working in the fields they made and repaired farm implements and household goods. But since their main occupation was farming, they had little time to make such things, and thus did not become real merchants. They do not make things to sell, but when they were asked (modern industries that produce too much can learn something here). And there should be no need for large-scale iron works if they get the raw materials from iron sand as the swordsmiths did.

Abandon Anti-Nature Urban Dietary Habits

The city haughtily tells us that we must have, if not refrigerators, electric rice cookers, propane gas, blenders, artificial flavoring, and sugar, then at least essential items like pots and bowls and salt, and that without such urban blessings we would not be able to go on living. But let us not get excited.

If there be a need, we should be ready to do without even pots and bowls and salt. And if at the same time we make up our minds to do without such things, and begin the preparations for a new dietary life, we begin to see to what extent urban dietary life is anti-Nature, and how it is leading us down the road to self-destruction.

Wild animals all eat what is natural for them to eat. Squirrels eat nuts, cats eat mice. Should we ignore this simple fact, feeding mice to squirrels and chestnuts to cats, neither will be able to go on living. This is the great iron hammer of Heaven that falls on those who ignore these laws.