On Saturday, May 10, 2025, the 15th “Aso Mizukake no Tanada” rice planting was held. To commemorate this year’s 15th milestone of rice planting and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Higo Bank, we invited the priests from Aso Shrine to perform the Shinto ritual.

Following the Tamagushi offering, the “Otaue shiki”, a rice planting ceremony, was performed by Chief Director Kai, Vice Chairman Kasahara, and Mr. Hashimoto who manages the terraced rice fields.

After explaining the history of the “Aso Mizukake no Tanada”, the rice fields which had been abandoned and was restored for the first time in 25 years and have been cultivated to the present, Chief Director Kai addressed: “Initially, we were transporting the rice farming volunteers who were the 800 Higo Bank employees by 14 medium-sized busses back and forth from Athletic Park Apika to the rice fields; however, we had no choice but to cancel the event due to the continued spread of the new coronavirus. After the outbreak was over, we decided to invite companies and organizations that are enthusiastic about the SDGs to volunteer to cultivate rice fields for the purpose of recharging groundwater. We started with two companies in 2021, but thanks to your support, the number of companies supporting the project has increased each year, and now we have 18 companies working on this project.”

At the end of the ceremony, a commemorative photo was taken with all the participants.

After receiving an explanation of rice planting procedures and points to keep in mind from a staff of Aso Business Division, the participants were divided into groups of 1 to 5 and planted “Akigeshiki” rice seedlings by hand following the instructions of the group leaders. Aso City Mayor Matsushima also participated in the activity.

From Friday, May 9 to Sunday, May 18, rice planting was carried out by the volunteers from the companies participating the rice farming activity. Although some days had to be cancelled due to bad weather, the rice planting was successfully completed.

Please check the Foundation’s Instagram to see the condition of rice growth and the rice planting activity by the rice faming volunteers of the companies that are committed to the SDGs.

Here is the QR code for Instagram.