To improve our understanding of the carbon dioxide (CO₂) efflux dynamics in paddy fields during the drained fall-to-spring fallow season, we conducted incubation experiments with paddy soil to determine the dependence of the soil CO₂ emission rate on temperature and moisture. The 37-day integrated CO₂ emission rate per unit soil weight was 1.45 μmol g^-1 d^-1 at a soil temperature of 15°C and a soil moisture content of 0.65 g g^-1. The temperature dependence of the soil CO₂ emission rate was expressed using the Arrhenius equation, but its activation energy was likely to be underestimated if the data obtained at a high temperature were included. Soil CO₂ emissions were linearly dependent on the soil moisture. We occasionally observed inverse relationships between the CO₂ efflux estimated using the incubation experiments and those determined using the eddy covariance method, which was probably due to the effects of CO₂ storage in the soil. However, when the data were averaged over a relatively long-time scale (10-15 days), the empirical model based on the incubation experiments successfully reproduced the soil CO₂ efflux determined by the eddy covariance method, probably because the long-time scale canceled the CO₂ storage effect.