Photos by Yoshihito Morita ()
In Aomori, rice and art come together to create beautiful visuals at Inakadate Village.
The village is only a 90-minute drive from Misawa Air Base and is known as the birthplace of this creative way to recreate amazing artwork using its rice paddies.
This season, the theme of the first rice paddy displays a plant version of “Monseinosaku” by local artist Munakata Shiko and Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. The second rice paddy features art from the hit manga “One Piece.” Visitors are also treated to a large stone art portrait of Munakata Shiko.
To recreate these depictions, rice plants of various colors are strategically embedded in the soil of the paddy. Today, they use seven different colored rice plants – green, dark green, purple, yellow, white, red and orange to create more complicated, more elaborate artwork, according to the event flier.
Inakadate Village has been creating elaborate paddy art since 1993 and has attracted over 100,000 visitors every year, including the Emperor and Empress Emerita in 2014.
“After taking a close look at rice plants on the ground then we climbed up to the observation tower,” Yoshihito Morita, a Misawa Commissary employee who visited the Inakadate Village recently, said. “I was so surprised and impressed that just rice fields that I saw on the ground has become very elaborated artwork seeing from the observation tower.”You can enjoy this unique rice paddy art until October 9, so, don’t miss it!
Inakadate Rice Paddy Art
Period: Until Oct. 9
Location: 123-1 Nakatsuji, Inakadate Village, Minamitsugaru-gun, Aomori Prefecture
Hours: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Admission middle schooler or older: 300 yen, elementary schooler: 100 yen
Tel: 0172-58-2111
