Rice Cultivation Deep in the Heart of Texas
Diego Rivera- Rice Pickers, 1956
The upbringing of Rice in Mexico
Rice has been an important part of Mexican cuisine for hundreds of years, but how did it get there? Rice was brought to Mexico by the Spanish in the 1500s; it is not a native crop of the nation. Over a century before slave ships from Madagascar brought rice to the Carolinas, the Spanish brought rice to Mexico via the port of Veracruz, where the region's warm, humid climate proved ideal for its cultivation. The rice family's oldest plant forms appeared on the earth millions of years ago as a sort of wild grass, and cultivation of the grain began between 4,000 and 6,000 years ago in Southeast Asia and southern China. Rice production requires a warm, humid atmosphere in Asia's monsoon areas, where it has become a staple crop. Rice was as important in Asia as corn was in the Americas. Maize was known as "the gift of the gods" in ancient Mesoamerica, and rice was known as the same thing in what is now Southeast Asia. Rice was a staple meal in many Asian languages, and, like corn in Mesoamerican origin stories, rice was a feature of the creation myths of many Asian civilizations.
How Rice came to Texas
The establishment of the Texas rice business is attributed to the introduction of rice seed from Madagascar to the Carolina colonies about 1685. Rice was first produced in Louisiana and Texas, but commercial rice cultivation began in Louisiana just before the Civil War and spread swiftly in the 1880s over the coastal plains of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas. The next year, when Joseph E. Broussard added rice milling machinery to an existing gristmill, he began rice milling in Texas and paved the way for rapid output growth. In 1891, Joseph E. Broussard established the state's first rice irrigation and canal system. Louisiana and Arkansas produced 12 million hundredweight of rice on 740,000 acres of land in 1915, and output in California was beginning to increase. Texas-milled rice was transported to international markets by rail and through the ports of Houston and Galveston.
Seito Saibara
Saibara Farm (c.1920)
Seito Saibara arrived in the United States in 1901 from Kochi, Japan, to study theology. He was the president of Kyoto's Doshisha University and a member of the Japanese parliament. On August 19, 1903, Saibara boarded the steamer Proteus bound for Texas. He established the first Japanese Christian colony in Texas, bringing his family and colonists with him. There were only 13 Japanese people in Texas at the time; Saibara envisioned a Japanese colony of 1,500 people. He chose a plot of tilled prairie near Webster, a tiny town outside of Houston. He began rice growing on a 1,000-acre lease, which he would go on to own. His son Kiyoaki Saibara kept on his heritage, and by 1972, Texas rice output had reached two billion pounds.
Image caption: Saibara Farm 1920, Clear Lake Heritage Society ID 2011-0003;
Saibara Rice Farm (c.1904)
Photogragh of the Saibara rice farm in Webster, TX. Kiyoaki Saibara is the fourth person from the left. Kiyoaki's father, Saibara, instructed him to leave Japan and relocate to Texas. Kiyoaki had hoped to study engineering in Japan and work in shipbuilding, but when he was 18, he moved to Texas, to work on his father's rice farm.
Seito Saibara helped the growth of the Texas rice industry by supplementing improved rice strains from Japan. As well as introducing innovative farming practices, until his death in 1939. After his father's death, Kiyoaki Saibara continued new innovations in Texas rice growing.
Image caption: Saibara Rice Farm 1904, Learning Lab ID 8b;
Mr and Mrs. Kiyoaki Saibara
Kiyoaki Saibara, who was the developer of the Gulf Coast Rice industry, was an engineering student in Japan studying shipbuilding and was brought to Texas at the age of 18. The reason being request from his father Seito to bring 300 pounds of rice as a gift from of the emperor of Japan.
Image caption: Mr. and Mrs. Kiyoaki Saibara 1939, UTSA Special Collections ID 079-0350;
Hand-powered wooden rice thresher by Kiyoaki Saibara for use on family rice farm. (c.1975)
Kiyoaki Saibara, was born in Kochi Ken, Japan, in 1884. In 1904 at age eighteen, he travelled to Texas with his father, Seito Saibara, to assist in the production of the first rice crop in Texas using rice imported from Japan. They brought with them 300 pounds of seed rice which was a present from the Emperor of Japan. Later, he practiced water-based airplane seeding and used Santa Gertrudis cattle to rotate pastures and rice fields. He was a pioneer of the Gulf Coast rice industry. After living in the United States for 49 years, he became a citizen of the United States. He retired from rice production in 1964 and died on October 18, 1972.
Image caption: Hand-powered wooden rice thresher by Kiyoaki Saibara for use on family rice farm at Webster, Texas 1975, Institute of Texan Culture ID 075-0217;
Rice Threshing and Rice Farms in Texas
The Kishi Family (c.1908)
The majority of the early Japanese immigrants in Texas came to either cultivate rice on the Gulf Coast or farm crops in the Rio Grande Valley. One colony achieved both while also discovering oil on their land, the Kishi's. The colony settlement spanned over 9,000 acres surrounding the community of Terry, between Beaumont and Orange in Orange County. The land was entirely held by the colony's founder, Kichimatsu Kishi. Many Japanese Texans lived in this colony, including the Kishi, Hirasaki, Nagai, Kondo, Okabayashi, and Tanamachi. Kichimatsu Kishi first came to the United States to own land and harvest rice.
Image caption: Kishi family and servant 1908, UTSA Special Collections ID 068-3002;
Fuji Kishi, wife of Kishimatsu Kishi
Kichimatsu Kishi in the rice fields with laborers
Photograph of Kichimatsu Kish. He is standing on a tractor and harvesting rice on his farm with two laborers working alongside him.
The first harvest of the group occurred in 1908. They gathered 15,753 200-pound bags of rice from 1,600 acres of land, selling for a total of $47,000. When word of the colonists' success spread to their friends and family in Japan, many chose to visit Texas. Within a year, the colony's population had more than quadrupled to over 40 people.
In the Beginning, the main crop of colony was rice. This changed to cabbage in 1920s, although large quantities of potatoes, onions, maize, cucumbers, spinach, celery, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, beets, and strawberries were also farmed. Kishi had experimented with fig and orange orchards, but he had never meant to produce such a diverse range of crops when he began his endeavor.
Image caption: Kichimatsu Kisi in the Rice Fields with Laborers, early 1900's, Texas History UNT ID hhm_00682;
Threshing and bagging rice on the Onishi farm, January 8, 1908
Rihei Onishi is shown with his wife, Hisa, and daughter, May. Farm l aborers are around them, and a rice thresher can be seen in the background. This photograph was taken shortly after the rice had been threshed and bagged. Except for three, the laborers were all Japanese.
Rihei Onishi immigrated to the United States in 1903 with his cousin Toraichi Onishi. They were intrigued by the prospect of producing rice in Texas and acquired 300 acres of land close to the Saibara's home. Onishi had a key role in bringing Japanese immigrants to Texas. He returned to Japan in 1903 and, the following year, brought the first batch of rice-farming immigrants to Texas. They planted a Japanese short-grained rice variety during their first year of operation. This rice grew exceedingly well in Texas and produced more than other Texas rice growers.
Image caption: Thressing and bagging rice on the Onishi farm, Mackay, Wharton Country Texas 1908, UTSA Special Collections ID 086-0273;
Japanese Rice Farmers in Texas (c.1904)
Several Japanese rice farmers left the Onishi farms to work on acreage bought from the Morimura Brothers trade enterprise by Japanese merchants in 1907. By 1910, 17 men and 6 women share cropped 100-acre plots of land, paying two-fifths of their yield as rent. They were given land, housing, and irrigation water.
Texas had 234,000 acres of rice produced by 1903. Only Louisiana produced more of this crop and cultivated 376,000 acres of rice. At this point, these two states accounted for 99 percent of U.S. rice production. Rice prices collapsed as a result of World War I and the Great Depression, causing hardship for Texas rice producers. This culminated in the New Deal program, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which imposed price and production limitations that continue to have an impact on the rice business today.
Clothing and Machinery
The Japanese farmers used tools, machines, and special clothing when planting and harvesting rice. Some machines were even hand crafted by family members. Methods, tools, and machines used during rice farming varies per culture due to climate and culture differences. This exhibition compares the rice farming practices in Texas, Mexico, and the Philippines. Rice farming was a complicated laborious process until the combine harvester became popular in the 1920’s after World War I when tractor use on farms became more common. The combine harvester made farming simpler but Japanese Texans unfortunately didn't have access to these machines until about twenty years after Japanese rice cultivation in Texas really popped off.
Japanese Palm Raincoat (c.1900's)
The palm raincoat was typically worn by Japanese farmers and fishermen to shield themselves from rainfall, cold weather, and the Texas heat. This piece of clothing is made from leaves (palm leaves in this case), straw, or seaweed. The coat is constructed much like a roof, with shingles that direct rain away from the wearer. Prior to the 1900s, rice cultivation was underdeveloped in Texas. The Saibara and Kishi family's set up successful rice farm sites in Texas in the early 1900s. Seito Saibara settled in Webster near Houston in 1903. Kichimatsu Kishi founded the Kishi colony near Terry in 1907 in Orange county outside of Beaumont, Texas. Both Seito Saibara and Kichimatsu Kishi brought families to work the rice fields. Their respective colonies prospered and attracted more Japanese Americans to operate rice farms nearby.
Image description: Japanese Palm Raincoat early 1900's. Institute of Texan Culture ID I-0035a;
Sangamon county farms switched from man and horsepower to fully mechanized operations in fits and starts over more than 80 years. Horse-drawn thresters, which separated grains from the stalks, were being sold in central Illinois by the 1870s, and traction engines usually steam powered became available around the same time.
Rice Cultivation in Other Cultures
IH 624 Diesel Tractor and Rice Thresher in the Philippines
Photo Description: McCormick International 624 Diesel Tractors in wetland preparation for rice culture unhusked rice threshing, and sugar land preparation.
Tractors are common in the Philippines, an agricultural country whose crops include rice and sugar.
Image caption: IG 624 Diesel Tractor and Rice Thresher in the Philippines 1969; Wisconsin Historical Society ID 102284;
Traditional Tools used in Indonesia
Rice farmers in Indonesia tend to use traditional tools rather than tractors or combines to harvest rice.
Works Cited
“Artesian Well for Irrigating Rice Fields, Wharton County.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/2770/rec/18.
“Bags of Rice Outside Wharton County Warehouse Company, El Campo, Texas.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/321/rec/44.
Benavides, James. “Object: Raincoat (Japanese Palm Raincoat).” UTSA Institute Of Texan Cultures, June 21, 2021. https://itcdev.lib.utsa.edu/collection-blog/object-raincoat/.
Brady, Marilyn Dell. The Asian Texans. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 2004.
Collection, Kishi. “[Fuji Kishi, Wife of Kichimatsu Kishi].” The Portal to Texas History, May 5, 2008. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth37193/?q=japanese+rice.
Collection, Kishi. “[Kichimatsu Kishi in the Rice Fields with Laborers].” The Portal to Texas History, May 5, 2008. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth37189/.
“Farm Machinery, 1870s-1950s.” SangamonLink, March 1, 2021. https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=9948.
“Halftone of Japanese Workers, Wearing Rice-Straw Rainwear, in Rice Fields, Victoria County.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/6127/rec/6.
“Hand-Powered Wooden Rice Thresher Built by Kiyoaki Saibara for Use on Family Rice Farm at Webster, Texas.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/10097/rec/22.
“IH 624 Diesel Tactor and Rice Thresher in the Philippines: Photograph.” Wisconsin Historical Society, December 1, 2003. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Image/IM102284.
“Japanese Rice Farmers in Texas.” Smithsonian Learning Lab. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/japanese-rice-farmers-in-texas/ss4D7gw3Xe770Noc#r/643148.
“Kishi Family and Servant.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/5820/rec/1.
“Kiyoaki Saibara Holding Medal given to Him by Japanese Government.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/5843/rec/3.
Lu, Sidney Xu. “The Making of Japanese Settler Colonialism,” 2019. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108687584.
“Mr. and Mrs. Kiyoaki Saibara.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/1837/.
Nickerson, Ryan. “Inside the History of Texas' First Japanese Immigrants Who Built the State's Rice Industry.” Houston Chronicle. Houston Chronicle, May 23, 2022. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/bayou-city-history/article/japanese-texas-immigrants-history-17175896.php.
“Party in Honor of Seito Saibara, Webster, Texas.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/1809/rec/2.
“Patent Drawing for John B. Bartholomew's Farm Tractor.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/7228/rec/5.
Rivera, Diego. “Diego Rivera Rice Pickers 1956 Painting Reproduction.” Diego Rivera Rice Pickers 1956 Painting Reproduction. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://www.diego-rivera-foundation.org/Rice-Pickers-1956.html.
“Saibara Farm.” University of Houston-Clear Lake Archives Exhibits. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://uhclarchives.omeka.net/items/show/108.
“Seito Saibara Standing beside His Water Well, Webster, Texas.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/9757/rec/10.
“Seito Saibara.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/4538/rec/3.
Taseer, Aatish, and Stefan Ruiz. “Tracing Mexico's Complicated Relationship with Rice.” The New York Times. The New York Times, November 11, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/t-magazine/mexico-rice-conquest.html.
“Texas.” Default. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://www.usarice.com/thinkrice/discover-us-rice/where-rice-grows/state/texas#:~:text=The%20Houston%20Chamber%20of%20Commerce,of%20the%20Texas%20rice%20industry.
“Threshing and Bagging Rice on the Onishi Farm, Mackay, Wharton County, Texas, January 18, 1908.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/9758/rec/5.
“Threshing Rice near Nederland, Texas.” CONTENTdm. Accessed December 4, 2022. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p9020coll008/id/7327/rec/10.
“Traditional Tools Used for Upland Rice Cultivation in Southeast ...” Accessed December 5, 2022. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Traditional-tools-used-for-upland-rice-cultivation-in-Southeast-Sulawesi-Province_fig3_308610278.
Walls, Thomas K. Japanese Texans. University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio, 1987. https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p16018coll6/id/324/rec/1