Field School | Natural-Cultivation Volunteering for University Students

Natural-Cultivation Volunteering for University Students & Working Adults | Tsuge, Nara

No participation fee.
What you take home is tea and rice,
and the memory of the soil.

Yusando is a natural-cultivation tea farm that uses no pesticides or fertilizers. We're looking for companions — university students and working adults — to join us for seasonal fieldwork together: picking tea, planting rice, making bancha. We'll provide lunch. On your way home, we'll share some of the produce grown in that same field. After the fieldwork, there's also a chance to try a tea ceremony experience or spend time in our old farmhouse.

Apply to the Field SchoolThe form takes 3 minutes

Whether you're a student or a working adult, and whether it's your first time or not, you're welcome. High schoolers not currently attending school, and international students, are welcome too.

Touch the soil,
come to know tea.
Free.

There's no participation fee. Work gloves and tools are already at the farm. All you need is clothes you can move in, and your one-way travel cost.

Lunch.

For lunch, we all share a meal of rice and vegetables from the field. Something warm comes out of the kitchen of our old-farmhouse café.

Thanks.

Take home seasonal produce from the very field you worked that day — not as payment, but as a share, in the old-fashioned way.

Exchange.

Students, working adults, friends visiting from overseas. Gathered around the field and the table, you'll meet people you wouldn't otherwise cross paths with.

About Us

How We Work at Yusando

The Field School is a program that invites you into Yusando's everyday work. Here is how we work.

01

Natural Cultivation

Grown without pesticides or fertilizers, relying on the strength of soil and grass. Farming that is complete using only what's already in the field.

02

English-Centered Communication

A field where you work alongside staff and trainees from overseas. Every day feels like a language study-abroad trip, without ever leaving Japan.

03

Agriculture-Welfare Partnership

Whether or not you live with a disability, everyone works at their own pace, doing what they're good at. The field is a place with work for everyone.

04

10:00–16:00, Short Working Hours

No dragging the day out. Focus in a short stretch, then take it easy. A use of time that follows nature.

A Year of Work

What You Do Changes With the Season

On a natural-cultivation farm, the season is the timetable. Come in whichever season you can, for as long as you can. Some people come once a month; others come only for the busy season, all at once.

March

Spring Bancha Harvest

Cutting the tea leaves that made it through winter — the first work of the year. You move your body in a field that's still a little cold.

April

Preparing for New Tea

The season of preparing the field ahead of the first tea harvest. You tend the tea bushes as they begin to bud, while waiting for the new tea.

May

Tea Picking

Harvest of the first tea. Picking new shoots by hand — the busiest, and the most satisfying, season of the year.

June

Rice Planting

Rice planting for Yusando's paddy team. Once you've felt bare feet sink into the mud, you won't forget it.

July–August

Summer Weeding

The season of facing down the grass in the tea fields and paddies. We work in the cool of the morning, then rest with cold tea in the shade at midday.

October

Rice Harvest

Autumn, the season of harvest. We cut, dry, and gather around the new rice together. Our most popular session.

November

Making Bancha

Cutting and roasting the autumn-winter bancha. The year closes wrapped in the aroma of hojicha.

A Day at the Field School

The Flow of a Day

Sessions are held every week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please choose whichever day suits you.

Meeting Point ①: Keihan Hirakatashi StationWe depart by shuttle car. Please choose whichever of the three meeting points below is most convenient for you.
Meeting Point ②: JR Nara StationYou can join us from here partway along the route.
Meeting Point ③: Kintetsu Haibara StationThe meeting point closest to the field.
Arrive at the field — tea breakWe start with a cup of tea before anything else.
Fieldwork (morning)We'll walk you carefully through that season's task, starting from the basics. First-timers are welcome.
LunchA home-style meal of rice and vegetables from the field. Enjoy it on the veranda of our old farmhouse.
Fieldwork (afternoon)The afternoon moves at an easier pace, with conversation about natural cultivation and teamaking along the way.
Fieldwork ends for the dayWe'll hand you a share of that day's harvest from the field, and drive you back to the station where we picked you up.

After the Fields

Tea Ceremony & Old-Farmhouse Experiences, Too

On Field School days, we open an experience session for anyone who's interested. A cup of tea after the work is something special.

Natural Tea Ceremony Experience

  • Tea picked in the field that day, enjoyed beside the hearth
  • An informal "natural tea ceremony" — starting from taste, rather than formality
  • No experience with tea ceremony needed, and it's fine if sitting seiza is hard for you

Old-Farmhouse Experience

  • Time spent on the veranda and earthen-floor room of our DIY-renovated old-farmhouse café
  • Get your hands on old-fashioned tools of everyday life, like the wood-fired stove and the hearth
  • Also good for working adults interested in country living or a two-base lifestyle

About Joining

There Are No Difficult Requirements

Who We'd Love to Have

  • University students, graduate students, and working adults (any major or occupation is fine)
  • High schoolers not currently attending school, or on leave, are also welcome (those under 18 need a guardian's consent)
  • Anyone interested in tea, farming, or country living
  • Anyone who enjoys physical activity
  • International students welcome too (we have English- and French-speaking staff)

What to Bring & Other Notes

  • Clothes you can move in, shoes you don't mind getting dirty, and a hat
  • We provide drinks (we are a tea farm, after all)
  • You'll be enrolled in volunteer activity insurance (Yusando covers the premium)
  • This program is a place for agricultural experience and learning. The produce you receive isn't payment for labor — it's a share given in gratitude.

Frequently Asked Questions

Questions & Answers

I have absolutely no experience with farm work — is that okay?
It's fine. Most participants are first-timers. We'll teach you everything from how to hold the tools, one step at a time — and one nice thing about a natural-cultivation field is that there's very little you could get wrong and ruin.
Is it okay to join just once?
Of course. Come once, just to breathe the air of the field. If you find you'd like to continue, we'll make sure to send you priority notice of seasonal work.
How do I get there?
The field is in Tsuge-Hayama-cho, Nara City. Besides driving yourself, we also run a shuttle. You can choose from three meeting points: "8:00 Keihan Hirakatashi Station," "9:00 JR Nara Station," and "9:15 Kintetsu Haibara Station" (please select your preferred meeting point on the application form below). On the way back, we'll drive you to whichever station we picked you up from.

First, come to the field — just once.

Sessions are held every week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Please use the form below to send us your preferred day, season, and meeting point. We'll get back to you within two to three days.