Editing Masanobu Fukuoka (section)

==Life==
Fukuoka was born on 2 February 1913 in [[Iyo, Ehime]], Japan, the second son of Kameichi Fukuoka, an educated and wealthy land owner and local leader. He attended [[Gifu Prefecture]] Agricultural College and trained as a [[microbiologist]] and [[Agricultural science|agricultural scientist]], beginning a career as a research scientist specialising in [[plant pathology]]. He worked at the Plant Inspection Division of the [[Yokohama]] Customs Bureau in 1934 as an agricultural customs inspector. In 1937 he was hospitalised with [[pneumonia]], and while recovering, he stated that he had a profound spiritual experience that transformed his world view<ref name="One-Straw-Rev-Recapitulation-satori-Eng-quote">1992 {{in lang|ja}} {{nihongo2|わら一本の革命・総括編「神と自然と人の革命」}} 1996 translation ''The Ultimatum of God Nature ''The One-Straw Revolution'' A Recapitulation'' -page 2. "In an instant I had become a different person. I sensed that, with the clearing of the dawn mist, I had been transformed completely, body and soul."</ref><ref name="Journeying with Seedballs-Bio">2001 {{in lang|ja}} {{nihongo2|わら一本の革命　総括編　—粘土団子の旅—}} &#91;(a title translate:) ''The One Straw Revolution: Recapitulation -Journeying [around Earth] with clay seed balls-''&#93; -biographical notes on page 271. {{nihongo|15 May 1937 Awakening in Yokohama city|昭和12年 5月 15日　横浜に於て開悟　自然農法の道一筋}}</ref><ref name="Ramon Magsaysay Award-Bio">{{Cite web |url=http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyFukuokaMas.htm |title=The 1988 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service - "BIOGRAPHY of Masanobu Fukuoka" |access-date=17 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115211020/http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Biography/BiographyFukuokaMas.htm |archive-date=15 January 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and led him to doubt the practices of modern "Western" [[agricultural science]]. He immediately resigned from his post as a research scientist, returning to his family's farm on the island of [[Shikoku]] in southern Japan.

[[File:Fukuoka-hill.jpg|thumb|Fukuoka's hill in Iyo, Ehime]]
From 1938, Fukuoka began to practice and experiment with new techniques on [[organic farming|organic]] [[citrus]] orchards and used the observations gained to develop the idea of "Natural Farming". Among other practices, he abandoned pruning an area of citrus trees, which caused the trees to become affected by insects and the branches to become entangled. He stated that the experience taught him the difference between nature and non-intervention.<ref name="ecocide.do-nothing.abandonment-Natural Way of Farming">1975 {{in lang|ja}} {{nihongo2|自然農法-緑の哲学の理論と実践}} 1985 translation -updated 1987 ''The Natural Way Of Farming-The Theory and Practice of Green Philosophy'' -pages 132 and 190-216 - page 132 "There is a fundamental difference between nature and the doctrine of laissez-faire or non-intervention. Laissez-faire is the abandoning of nature by man after he has altered it, such as leaving a pine tree untended after it has been transplanted in a garden and pruned, or suddenly letting a calf out to pasture in a mountain meadow after raising it on formula milk."</ref><ref name="ecocide.do-nothing.abandonment-One Straw Rev Recap">1992 {{in lang|ja}} {{nihongo2|わら一本の革命・総括編「神と自然と人の革命」}} 1996 translation ''The Ultimatum of God Nature ''The One-Straw Revolution'' A Recapitulation'' -pages 5, 50, 97-8, 206-208 - page 98. "To put it very briefly, my theory is that human knowledge and actions have destroyed nature, and thus, if we abandon them and leave nature to nature, nature will recover on its own. This does not, however, mean nonintervention."</ref> His efforts were interrupted by [[World War II]], during which he worked at the [[Kōchi Prefecture]] agricultural experiment station on subjects including farming research and food production.

[[File:Iyo-home.jpg|thumb|View of Fukuoka's family farm (center right) and hill in Iyo, Ehime]]
In 1940, Fukuoka married his wife Ayako, and they had five children together. After [[World War II]], his father lost most of the family lands in postwar land reform and was left with three-eighths of an acre of rice land and the hillside citrus orchards his son had taken over before the war. Despite these circumstances, in 1947 he took up natural farming again with success, using no-till farming methods to raise rice and barley. He wrote his first book, ''Mu 1: The God Revolution'', or {{nihongo|''Mu 1: Kami no Kakumei''|無〈1〉神の革命}} in Japanese, during the same year, and worked to spread word of the benefits of his methods and philosophy. His later book, ''The One-Straw Revolution'', was published in 1975 and translated into English in 1978.

From 1979, Fukuoka travelled the world extensively, giving lectures, working directly to plant seeds and re-vegetate areas, and receiving a number of awards in various countries in recognition of his work and achievements. By the 1980s, Fukuoka recorded that he and his family shipped some 6,000 crates of citrus to Tokyo each year, totalling about 90 tonnes.<ref name="Ramon Magsaysay Award-Bio" />

During his first journey overseas, Fukuoka was accompanied by his wife Ayako, met [[macrobiotic diet]] leaders [[Michio Kushi]] and Herman Aihara,<ref name="The Road Back to Nature">1984 {{in lang|ja}} {{nihongo2|自然に還る}} 1987 translation ''The Road Back to Nature: Regaining the Paradise Lost''</ref> and was guided by his leading supporter and translation editor Larry Korn. They sowed seeds in desertified land, visited the [[University of California]] in [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] and [[University of California, Los Angeles|Los Angeles]], the [[Green Gulch Farm Zen Center]], the [[Lundberg Family Farms]], and met with [[United Nations]] [[UNCCD]] representatives including [[Maurice Strong]], who encouraged Fukuoka's practical involvement in the "Plan of Action to Combat Desertification". He also travelled to [[New York City]] and surrounding areas such as [[Boston]] and [[Amherst College]] in [[Massachusetts]].

In 1983, he travelled to Europe for 50 days holding workshops, educating farmers and sowing seeds. In 1985, he spent 40 days in [[Somalia]] and [[Ethiopia]], sowing seeds  to re-vegetate desert areas, including working in remote villages and a refugee camp. The following year he returned to the United States, speaking at three international conferences on natural farming<ref name="The Road Back to Nature" /> in [[Washington state]], [[San Francisco]] and at the Agriculture Department of the [[University of California, Santa Cruz]]. Fukuoka also took the opportunity to visit farms, forests and cities giving lectures and meeting people. In 1988, he lectured at the [[Indian Science Congress]], state agricultural universities and other venues.

Fukuoka went to [[Thailand]] in 1990 and 1991, visiting farms and collecting seeds for re-vegetating deserts in India, which he returned to during November and December that year in an attempt to re-vegetate them. The next year saw him participate in official meetings in Japan associated with the [[Earth Summit]] in Rio, Brazil, and in 1996 he returned to Africa, sowing seeds in desert areas of [[Tanzania]], observing [[baobab]] trees and jungle country. He taught the making and sowing of clay seed balls in Vietnam during 1995.

He travelled to the [[Philippines]] in 1998, carrying out Natural Farming research, and visited [[Greece]] later that year to assist plans to re-vegetate 10,000 hectares (40 sq. mi.) around the [[Lake Vegoritida]] area in the [[Pella (regional unit)|Pella regional unit]] and to produce a film of the major seed ball effort. The next year he returned to Europe, visiting [[Mallorca]].

He visited [[China]] in 2001, and in 2002 he returned again to India to speak at the "Nature as Teacher" workshop at [[Navdanya]] Farm and at Bija Vidyapeeth Earth University in [[Dehra Dun]], [[Uttarakhand]] in northern India. On [[Gandhi Jayanti|Gandhi's Day]], he gave the third annual [[Albert Howard]] Memorial Lecture to attendees from all six continents. That autumn he was to visit [[Afghanistan]] with Yuko Honma but was unable to attend, shipping eight tons of seed in his stead. In 2005, he gave a brief lecture at the [[Expo 2005|World Expo]] in [[Aichi Prefecture]], [[Japan]],<ref name="World Expo Aichi Japan 2005 appearance">{{in lang|ja}} [http://www.expo2005.or.jp/jp/D0/D4/detail/detail_SA0804GB99901.html World Expo Aichi Japan 2005 appearance] - official web page for his session in 2005 Aug 4. (Japanese only; Retrieved 30 November 2010)</ref> and in May 2006 he appeared in an hour-long interview on Japanese television network [[NHK]].<ref name="NHK TV dialogue at 93">{{in lang|ja}} [https://archive.today/20130219021136/http://cgi2.nhk.or.jp/chronicle/list.cgi?q=%E7%A6%8F%E5%B2%A1%E6%AD%A3%E4%BF%A1+%E3%81%93%E3%81%93%E3%82%8D%E3%81%AE%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3&o=1&np=20&or=d {{nihongo|Spiritual Era ~ Religion・Life|こころの時代～宗教・人生}}] May 2006 NHK television interview between Fukuoka Masanobu and {{nihongo3||金光寿郎|Kanamitsu Toshio}} on the topic: Journey around the world with Clay seed balls</ref>

Masanobu Fukuoka died on 16 August 2008 at the age of 95, after a period of declining mobility that made him reliant on a wheelchair.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/08/18/national/masanobu-fukuoka-natural-farming-pioneer-dies/|title = Masanobu Fukuoka, 'natural' farming pioneer, dies|date = 18 August 2008|access-date = 31 March 2019|archive-date = 24 April 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230424223756/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/08/18/national/masanobu-fukuoka-natural-farming-pioneer-dies/|url-status = dead}}</ref>