Волнообразные поля Хата: История японского городка у подножия Альп

Hata (波田) was a town located in Higashichikuma District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Before Hata became a town, it was three villages: Kami Hata (上波多), Shimo Hata (下波多), and Samizo (三溝). In 1973, these three villages merged into a town under the enforcement of the town system. On March 31, 2010, Hata (波田町; machi) was merged into the expanded city Matsumoto. Originally, Hata was written as 波多 (Hata) in kanji. 波 means "wave" and 多 means "much". The name meant "many waves", reflecting the abundance of clean water the town had. In 1932, the name was changed from 波多 to the current 波田. 田 means "rice paddies" and reflected the town's hope for abundant water and rice cultivation. Hata's main industry is farming and produces various vegetables and fruits, including watermelons, corn, apples, peaches, and so on. Hata is built on a river terrace. The town's slogan is "A Fascinating Town on a River Terrace" reflects this. Hata is considered the gateway to Kamikōchi and the Northern Japan Alps because of Shin Shimashima Station, which is used by tourists to access the park.

Hata sits on the left bank of the Azusagawa River on a river terrace, 700 meters above sea level.

Hata was made up of small communities in the Jōmon period. Many artifacts from stone masks to remains of houses from that period have been found in archaeological digs in Hata and have been displayed in the Tokyo National Museum. Local tradition recalls a large flood which caused enormous damage to Hata in the early Edo period. During the cleanup, snake bones were found in the mud. The bones were enshrined to give thanks that the flood had killed all the snakes. In the beginning of the Meiji Period, some students from Nyakutakuji helped start the Industrial Revolution in Japan. They also helped Hata become a modern town by constructing an irrigation channel and inventing a spinning machine. After that, Hata started rice production and other agriculture as well as a silk industry. In 2007, Asian black bears entered Hata, in search of food. Crops of local farmers suffered a lot of damage. Between 10 and 15 bears were caught using mustard spray, and then the bears were returned to the mountains. The bears were tracked with radar tracking technology, and follow up surveys were conducted. Bears continue to enter Hata, due to dwindling food supplies in their habitats.

It is said that Nyakutakuji Temple was founded by Gyoki (668 749) a Buddhist priest between 749 and 758, in the Nara period. During the Edo period, Nyakutakuji Temple was given ten koku of territory (koku is a denomination of land) by the feudal lord of Matsumoto, so its perimeter was about 13 kilometers and it established five branch temples. The temple prospered until the late Edo Period, and the famous author, Jippensha Ikku, stopped there. The temple prospered and was considered the "Nikkō of the Hida District". A small sub temple, Tamura Temple, was built in the Muromachi period and enshrined the famous conquest of the Ezo by shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. During the Meiji Era however, the Japanese government passed policies which popularized Shinto (the native Japanese religion of nature worship) and boycotted Buddhism. Thus the Nyakutakuji Temple was destroyed in 1871, leaving only the small sub temples. Later, people tried to rebuild the temple, but they failed because of lack of support. Some of the buildings that remained were transferred to different locations, and now all that remains is a stone fence. Among the Nyakutakuji Temple Ruins, there is a Japanese cedar called Shinobu suji. Local legend says that this tree can hear a couple's secret wish for marriage.

Saikoji Temple, one of the sub temples of Nakutakuji Temple, held two Deva Kings, or guardians of the temple. They were made during the Kamakura Period. Now, the statues are located next to Kami Hata Shrine, though they are not attached to the shrine itself, for the Deva Kings are of Buddhist origin while the shrine is Shinto. The statues were sculpted by Myokai, a monk of Zenkoji Temple. After completing the statues, Myokai inscribed his name on them. It was rare for a sculptor of Buddhist images to do this. The statues are 256 cm tall and made from Japanese cypress. During the Edo Period, the Japanese government destroyed many temples all over Japan in order to promote the national religion of Shinto. The government destroyed Saikoji Temple, but the Deva Kings were hidden and so escaped destruction.

Hata has four nursery schools that enroll preschool age children. Hata has one elementary school, Hata Elementary School (松本市立波田小学校), one junior high school, Hata Junior High School (松本市立波田中学校), and one high school, Azusagawa High School (長野県立梓川高校). In 1935, Nakata Yoshikazu, a practical science teacher at Hata Secondary School planted the first apple trees in Hata in the school's garden. Because the cultivation of apples went well, it spawned a large apple industry in Hata. In 2006, Hata Elementary School students helped to design the town's summer festival's fireworks display.

Hata mainly serves as a bedroom community to Matsumoto City; however, it does have a few precision factories including Miyaji Iron Works, which contributed iron frames to structures such as the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the Great Seto Bridge. Hata's agriculture consists of many temperate climate fruits including apples, pears, and peaches.

The watermelons of Hata have been rated the best in Japan due to their sweetness, size, and juiciness by Japan Agricultural Cooperatives. Highly prized, the watermelons are the subject of three different town festivals and are shipped throughout Japan during late July/early August each year where they command a high price. The local climate and regional soil make Hata an ideal place to grow watermelons.

In 1935, people began to grow watermelons in Shimohara (a region of Hata). By 1950, Shimohara watermelons already had a great reputation in Matsumoto and were famous in the surrounding areas. Around 1960 the most common variety of watermelon was "Kyokuto." In the mid 1960s, trucks became widespread and farmers could bring their watermelons directly to vegetable and fruit markets. In 1981, Hata Town received 300 million yen in subsidies from the government to build a watermelon distribution center. From then on, all union members began to mark their watermelons with the brand Shimohara. Now farmers in the town, without going through the cooperatives to market, use direct sales, but sales are limited to facilities operating in cooperation with "Shimohara Watermelon." Watermelon farmers in Shimohara learned their cultivation techniques from farmers in the Namiyanagi Region(now a part of Matsumoto City), which was famous for watermelon production.

Hatakoshi Rokuza (波多腰六左) (1839–1900) was the headman of Hata Village. He constructed an irrigation channel, "Hata Segi" in Hata in 1871. It was built with great difficulty. The success of the irrigation channel allowed agriculture in Hata to flourish. Gaun Tacchi (臥雲辰致) (1842–1900) was born in the Edo period, he invented the "Gara Bouki" in 1876. Gara Bouki is a cotton spinning machine. This was the greatest invention at the start of the modern cotton fabrics industry in Japan and is said to have started the Industrial Revolution in Japan. Gaun and his invention was supported by Hatakoshi Rokuza and others.

Lovers’ Hill Salad Market is named after Lovers’ Cape in the town of Toi, Shizuoka Prefecture, which was Hata Town's sister town, before the merger with Matsumoto City. Some local people believe there is a ghost in Hata. The ghost of a child sometimes appears around Akamatsu Ground near Shin Shimashima Station. Some people say the ghost wears an orange shirt. Only children playing baseball on the ground have seen it. Locals attribute the ghost to a girl who drowned in the Azusa River.