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Ōinoue's Theory, Cho's Chart: Where the Cycle Came From

Master Cho Han-kyu, interpreted by Kim Chang, Founder of Korean Natural Farming (Janong)

Spoken in Korean. Translated to English and checked line by line.

The rice chart, 자타일체의 원리에 따른 수도작의 영양주기 (the nutritive cycle of rice by the principle of self and other as one): dates, nutrient types, N/P/K/Ca needs and leaf counts by stage. Projected in the hall this morning.
The rice chart, 자타일체의 원리에 따른 수도작의 영양주기 (the nutritive cycle of rice by the principle of self and other as one): dates, nutrient types, N/P/K/Ca needs and leaf counts by stage. Projected in the hall this morning.

Video of this visit will be added to the members' archive. The transcript times below match that recording.

With the rice chart back on the screen, Cho says every crop has a life, and rice's starts with sprouting on February 12. After a stretch break he credits the nutritive cycle to Ōinoue Yasushi, who bred the Kyoho grape, tells his own story of Ōinoue's persecution and death, of learning from the widow and son, and of refusing to be the successor. The chart itself is Cho's, and he asks Hawaiʻi to fit its own crops into it, with Joe McGinn leading.

What they found

The question

Whose theory is the nutritive cycle, and what does Cho want Hawaiʻi to do with it?

How they tested it

The projector is now up with the rice chart (photo DJSS5255). After a short stretch break and roll call led by the interpreter, Cho tells the history standing by the screen. The flip chart behind him carries '大井上康' and '新栽培技術の理論体系' (frames around 54:00). Someone in the room reads the book title from the Japanese; an audience member brings up a book Cho signed earlier.

Results
  1. Every crop has a life of its own: papaya, mango, banana and coffee as much as rice

    Cho: even if you don't grow rice, the projected chart shows how to read any crop's life.

    ▶ 43:22 As spoken

  2. Rice is sprouted around February 12

    The projected chart (DJSS5255) has 발아 (sprouting) at 2/12. The interpreter didn't give the date here.

    ▶ 43:40 From the slides

  3. The nutritive cycle theory is Ōinoue Yasushi's, the man who made the Kyoho grape

    Cho names him (오이노우에 야스시) and the Kyoho (거봉) grape; the interpreter said only 'a teacher in Japan… a giant grape'.

    ▶ 46:21 As spoken

  4. Cho's story: Japanese professors had Ōinoue branded a thought criminal, and he died in prison. The record differs

    Cho's word is 사상범 (thought criminal); 'communist' came from someone in the room. Japanese sources have Ōinoue sidelined as heterodox and dying on 23 September 1952; no arrest or prison has been found. See cho_check.

    ▶ 48:01 As spoken

  5. Cho learned the theory from Ōinoue's widow, and later his son, after Ōinoue had died

    He visited the house after Ōinoue's death; at 55:38 he says he studied under the son and the mother.

    ▶ 48:38 As spoken

  6. Cho was named Ōinoue's successor and refused

    'If you become the successor, the responsibility is enormous… I wanted to be free.' Now he spreads the theory worldwide and lectures on it in Japan; even the family can't.

    ▶ 49:26 As spoken

  7. Civil servants who attended Ōinoue's lectures were dismissed, by Cho's account

    Cho: that's how much the Japanese professors refused his theory.

    ▶ 50:32 As spoken

  8. Ōinoue's book: The Theoretical System of New Cultivation Technology (新栽培技術の理論体系)

    Cho: one book, tremendously difficult. Read it if you want to farm properly; understand it and you'll see the present system is all wrong.

    ▶ 52:30 As spoken

  9. The theory is Ōinoue's; turning it into this chart was Cho's own work

    Ōinoue's disciples in Japan resented Cho, asking how come they never made the chart themselves. 'This nutritive cycle theory isn't mine.'

    ▶ 56:03 As spoken

  10. Fit Hawaiʻi's climate into this chart and it becomes Hawaiʻi's way of farming

    Cho names Joe McGinn to do it, someone (name unclear) to assist and Steve to pull the group along. 'It takes Americans to see it right away.'

    ▶ 57:30 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • Ōinoue 'died in prison' is Cho's story. Japanese sources show a scientist sidelined as heterodox who died on 23 September 1952; no arrest or imprisonment has been found.
  • The dismissal of civil servants and the successor offer are Cho's accounts, not checked here. Whether the family or Ōinoue's followers named him successor isn't clear in the audio.
  • Cho says the son is 'the same age as me'; one transcript hears the opposite. Not settled.
  • The name of the second helper Cho names after Joe McGinn can't be made out.
For your farm
  • The nutritive cycle comes from Ōinoue Yasushi; the chart that lays it out by date and stage is Cho's.
  • A chart from Korea is a starting point. Hawaiʻi farmers are asked to fit their own crops and climate into it.

Next to Master Cho's teaching

  • Differs

    Ōinoue jailed as a thought criminal and died in prison Cho told the same prison story from about 2010 to 2018, but the Japanese record shows a scientist sidelined as heterodox who died on 23 September 1952, with no arrest or prison found.

    01-the-scientist — Two accounts of the end

  • Agrees

    Ōinoue's book and the Kyoho grape The book Cho names is Ōinoue's 『新栽培技術の理論體系』; Ōinoue bred and named the Kyoho grape.

    appendix-e-bibliography — Ōinoue Yasushi Yasushi (大井上康)

  • Agrees

    Cho learned from the widow, after Ōinoue's death Cho never studied under Ōinoue himself; he came to the house more than a decade after the death and told it this way in 2017 and 2018.

    01-the-scientist — Cho in the study

“With this material, if you doze off even a little while listening, you won't follow what comes next.”

▶ 46:01

“I wanted to be free, so I refused to be the successor.”

▶ 49:44

“So this nutritive cycle theory isn't mine. Ōinoue Yasushi made it.”

▶ 57:06

In this talk

  1. 43:10Every crop has a life: rice sprouts February 12
  2. 44:10Break: stretch and roll call
  3. 46:01Ōinoue Yasushi and the Kyoho grape
  4. 47:20Cho's story: 'he died in prison'
  5. 48:38The widow, and the successor Cho refused
  6. 51:36The book: New Cultivation Technology
  7. 56:03Cho's chart, and a cycle for Hawaiʻi

Transcript

English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.