Japanese Ricefield Art
A new trend in the Arts in Japan
It’s amazing how a farming community uses different colored rice strains to create an artwork in the rice fields. Farmers creating the live murals do not use ink or dye but carefully chosen rice seedlings. These seedlings are precisely and strategically arranged so that as the plants shoot up, the design begins to emerge.
In the Japanese village of Inakadate in the Aomori prefecture, villagers plant ancient varieties of rice. One of these varieties is the tsugaru-roman which buds with green leaves. In order to design the crop art, the farmers include kodamai rice which grows with purple and yellow leaves and provides the contrast needed to create lines and depth within the work of art. Some farmers incorporate brown and yellow rice into their field art.
The trend of crop art started in 1993 when a farmer from Inakadate gained much publicity because of his crop art. Now the trend is across the farming communities of Japan.
Two days ago, the photos that you see in this page, were sent by a friend. I hope you’ll enjoy this Japanese rice field art.