My alma mater, Maebashi Minami High School in Gunma Prefecture, was surrounded by rice paddies, a landscape that changed throughout the four seasons. I composed this piece based on such memorable scenery, and it was selected as one of five test pieces for the 1998 All Japan Band Competition, and in 2022, I revised it for a smaller instrumentation.
For this publication, melody, and harmony have been revised. For example, the original version had only brass instruments (Trp. & Trb.) in the first 6 bars, but I have added woodwinds to thicken the sound for ensemble.
* Measure 10-14 added phrases
* Measure 50-62 added accel. to smooth the transition to Allegro
* Measure 116-123 added some phrases
* Measure 211-226 added some phrases for a more precise ending.
Plus a few more minor additions.
The rural landscape of the area around the school, the inspiration for the piece, was still the same in 2022. I was then commissioned to write a piece for the 40th anniversary of the founding of my alma mater's band club, a sequel called ""Spring Green Wheat"", based on the idea that I was enjoying the wheat fields while composing.

(Hirokazu Fukushima)