Crazy Delicious Japanese Rice Paddy Art
05. Jan, 2009
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This is pretty old news, but something I only came across today while browsing JapanSoc. Apparently a village in Japan called Inakadate (田舎館) has a ridiculously awesome festival where hundreds of people help out and plant different varieties of rice that grow up to be different colors (and thus create images like the ones you see above). They started doing this to reinvigorate the town, and it’s done quite well! In 2006 there were 200,000 visitors alone. That has to do something good for their economy. Let’s take a look at some of the rice paddies they’ve made up till now!
2002:
On the Inakadate website, they even have “over-time pictures” to show you the process.
See below for a close-up. Surprisingly, they aren’t using dyes or paints or anything, but using different kinds of rice. Looks pretty good to me. I can’t imagine planning something like this out and knowing the “big picture” ahead of time. If I were in charge, it would probably end up looking like Pruneface.
Here are the cool froods who do all the work. Nice hats, and Banzai!
If you want to see a whole ton more, check out the Inakadate website, which looks like it’s due for a “replant” as well. Of course, there are others who have jumped on the rice paddy art train, but remember, Inakadate is the best! If you want to visit, here is the location on Google Maps. Definitely adding it to my to-go list. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty low quality satellite image, but at least you know the location if you want to visit!
Well, anyways, here’s to wishing Inakadate chooses “Godzilla” as their theme for 2009.
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That is awesome!
Reminds me of Neil Buchanan with a rice obsession..
That is amazing!! thanks for sharing koichi!!
Wow, that looks beautiful. Even the writing looks perfect… I wonder if the designer in charge practices with a Lite-Bright.
I would definitely go if it were.. you know.. a stop on the way to somewhere else. It seems awfully cold for a trip unto itself.
all of the pictures are really nice. just look at the details – the figures in some pictures even have toenails! i really hope the workers get more than artistic recognition for their rice paddy images. considering the time and effort they must put in they deserve to get paid well!
That is so much cooer than corn mazes.
they should put pictures of anime characters lol that would be pretty cool
omggggggg!! that's is awsome! I wish i could see something like that!
Outrageous! Truly, truly, truly outrageous.
That sort of planning is soooo amazing.
Wow! That's amazing!
…And I thought walking through a corn maze of David Archuleta's face was cool…… ^^;
This is a lot more interesting than watching grass grow :D.
Awesome
wow, i would very much like to see this in person
its better too cuz u cant really eat grass…lol
Says you!
;D
u eat grass? =O
Omgah D:~ You don't? Tastes super with mud pies :]
Nope, u should send me some by mail xD
thats what i tell my friends
they eat something and tell me and i tell them gimme some and they say come get some and i say send it over by mail lol cuz im to lazy to walk to their house =)
o_O;;
This is so beautiful. Unbelievable. This should be included in anyone's bucket list of stuff to do/visit. Thank you for sharing!
D:~
You are the reason for the increase of obesity in children :(
Mmmm arsenic.
that looks really cool and delicious at the same time dam it now i am craving rice
Really cool!Unbelievable,i think im hungry for now….
Are you a cow? Because only cows eat grass. Weirdo D:
That would imply you are a cow also. A HUGE COW.
Wow! This is incredible, and I don't see any flaws at all, really great job.
cool stuff
awesome!
The crop circle making aliens have some competition, now. ;-)
They're amazing. But I can't help pointing out that the Mona Lisa's hands look like claws. Then again, it was pretty ambitious to try to recreate that using only 3 colors.
The Hokusai one is really amazing, by far my favorite. You can really tell that they design it so that it's best viewed from an angle rather than top-down. It looks like it's popping right off the ground.
Aw…the workers look so happy!
Wow! Cool pictures. Here in the U.S. mainland, farmers sometimes turn their cornfields into pictures and mazes (particularly during the month of October–in preparation for Halloween–they charge a fee for folks who want to “get lost” in the cornfield maze). I've seen the rice paddies in the Philippines (and the ones in Japan), but I've never seen them looking like these! These are absolutely beautiful! I've linked to this blog post from my Squidoo lens on “Rice”…
That's awesome! I looked at the site and it looks like all the people really have fun planting the rice. It's probably a great community project for them.
cool
Amazing what we as humans can do with the help of nature. I think these are great!
Nice
Nice
That is amazing!! thanks for sharing koichi!!
That is amazing!! thanks for sharing koichi!!