To determine how local people in the mountainous areas of Japan maintain and utilize their agricultural and natural resources, we monitored all the agricultural fields in Ozu, Ibigawa Town, Gifu Prefecture, for a year. Furthermore, we interviewed residents and conducted participant observation, to identify the plants that were consumed, including crops and wild vegetables. Agriculture was conducted in the village mainly for self-consumption, and was sustained with the cooperation of elderly people. Home gardens played an important role in growing indigenous vegetables such as Akauri, Akimame and Yatsugashira. While the seeds and seedlings of most of the crops were sourced from local markets, those of these two vegetables had been inherited by the local people. Products from home gardens also contributed to sustaining the local community through frequent barter exchanges. The utilization of 30 species of wild plants was recorded in this village, higher than in the other mountain villages of Japan.
