The introduction of penglai rice
With the support and encouragement of Iso, Suenaga proposed a new method for transplanting seedlings in 1923. By shrinking the time spent cultivating seedlings and by delaying flowering, he changed the plant’s life cycle and solved the problem of japonicas flowering too early in Taiwan’s climate.
His method, which used Nakamura rice, proved that at least one japonica could be grown on Taiwan’s plains using improved farming methods. As Liu says: “The Nakamura variety established a beachhead for japonicas in Taiwan.”
At Iso’s suggestion, in 1926 Governor-General Takio Izawa dubbed japonicas grown in Taiwan “hōrai” rice (penglai in Mandarin, also spelled ponlai). The name comes from Mt. Penglai (Mt. Hōrai), a fabled land in Chinese and Japanese mythology that is sometimes associated with Taiwan.
Suenaga continued crossbreeding varieties of japonica and in 1929 succeeded in producing “Taichung 65,” a flavorful, adaptable, high-yield rice. It became the most widely cultivated rice in Taiwan, and at one time was grown commercially in Japan, the Ryukyu Islands, Nepal, and Iran as well.
The research conducted during Iso’s day provided Taiwan’s wet rice cultivation with a scientific foundation. Later scholars built on that foundation, improving the flavor, aroma, and quality of Taiwanese rice varieties. But until recently no one really knew the history of penglai rice and its connection to place.
In that period the Zhuzihu area of Yangmingshan was an ideal location for producing seed stock: its climate resembled that of Kyushu and its topography made natural cross-pollination unlikely. The Japanese began producing seeds in the area in 1921, and established the Zhuzihu Seed Farm in 1923.
But Zhuzihu switched to cultivating alpine vegetables, calla lilies, and other cash crops after harvesting its last parcel of paddy rice in 1976. No rice has been grown there commercially in 40 years.
It was only after the Taipei City Cultural Affairs Bureau’s designation of the Beitou Granary, the Iso House and the Zhuzihu Penglai Rice Seed Farm as historic sites that Zhuzihu residents realized they had such a precious cultural asset. They responded by founding a club aimed at reviving local rice cultivation. The club is also working with the food and agriculture programs of two nearby elementary schools to get kids into the fields to do a bit of farm work. Walking backwards and bent over while transplanting young rice plants into the paddies, the kids grasp for themselves the origins of the saying, “backing up is actually moving forward.”
Pong Yun-ming, secretary-general of the Eikichi Iso Historical Association, has worked hard to preserve the house, which was ground zero for the development of Taiwan’s penglai rice.