Inakadate rice field artwork

As I wrote in the previous post, on 3rd August hubby and I went to see Nebuta Festival in Aomori City of Aomori prefecture. That night we stayed at a hotel in Aomori City. The next morning we went to see rice field artwork in Inakadate Village located in Minamitsugaru district of Aomori prefecture. In the rice field artwork, instead of paint, rice plants of various colors are planted in patterns to create giant works of art, using the rice paddy itself as a natural canvas. The tradition of rice field artwork began in 1993 as a way to revitalize the village. The revitalization has been very successful and the artwork has brought fame and reputation to the village. Every year more than 150000 visitors travel to see the fabulous creations.

Now I will briefly write about the history of the rice field artwork in Inakadate Village. In 1981, archaeological explorations in the region led to the realization that rice had been grown in the area for more than 2000 years. To honor this history and also to revitalize the village, the rice field artwork was started in 1993. In the first nine years, the farmers grew a simple design of Mount Iwaki every year. But in 2004, a complicated and enormous rice field artwork was created using green, yellow, and purple colored rice plants. It should be mentioned that yellow and purple leafed rice plant varieties are common in this area since Edo period. In 2006, the planning went high-tech and organizers used computers to precisely plot the planting of differently colored rice plant varieties. The artwork has evolved into a sophisticated form with increasing addition of diverse colored rice plant varieties and improved techniques for intricate designs. With the assistance of Aomori Prefectural Industrial Technology Research Center (homepage in Japanese), genetically engineered rice plants with red colored leaves became available in 2006, white leaves in 2008, and dark green and orange leaves in 2011. Recently four additional varieties of green leafed rice paddy plants, two with the usual white grains and the other two with differently colored grains have also become available. Therefore presently a total of eleven rice plant varieties with seven differently colored leaves are available for use to create high quality, sharp, and prefect artwork. The artwork is on display throughout the summer and fall. In the beginning, just after the planting of rice saplings, only two colors are seen in the artwork. Gradually the rice saplings grow, and all the seven colors are seen from mid-July to mid-August. During the harvesting time in autumn, only the usual golden color is seen in the artwork. Rice field artwork is created at two locations namely Daiichi Tambo Art field since 1993 and Daini Tambo Art field since 2012.

On 4th August, hubby and I left the hotel in Aomori City in the morning and went to see the rice field artwork in Inakadate Village. The village is located about 45 kilometers southwest of Aomori City and it took us about 50 minutes to reach there by our car. First we went to see the artwork at Daiichi Tambo Art field located behind the local government Village Hall. We parked our car at a parking lot located near the Village Hall and went to the backside of the hall building to see the artwork. But the artwork was not visible from ground level, so we went inside the building to go to the 6th floor observation deck to view the artwork. In fact this Village Hall was modified and built up into a 22-meter high mock-castle structure, and visitors climb up to the 6th floor observation deck of the mock-castle to get a perfect view of the artwork. Actually, the present high level of sophistication and perfection in the rice field artwork has been achieved due the 2003 artwork subject ‘Mona Lisa’ that marked a major turning point. When seen from the observation deck of the mock-castle, the famous smile of ‘Mona Lisa’ was disproportionately small. Since then, the rice field artworks have been created so as to look perfect from the observation deck, with the section farthest away made deliberately larger and the nearest smaller. At the entrance area of the building, we paid 200 Yen per person as admission fee to go the observation deck of the mock-castle. There was a long queue of visitors before us waiting for their turn to go to the observation deck. All the visitors waited patiently in a huge room with exhibitions of many posters of the earlier rice field artworks. It was fun to find the three posters of artworks that we had seen previously in 2009 and 2012.

Hubby is standing in front of Inakadate Village Hall. A portion of the mock-castle tower is seen and the observation deck is marked with a red arrow. The artwork field is at the backside.

Visitors are standing in a queue inside a room of the Village Hall. The room had exhibitions of many posters of the earlier rice field artworks.

I am standing in front of a poster of the rice field artwork from 2012

The farmers and villagers of Inakadate create artwork by using rice paddies as their canvas and living plants as their paint and brush. This year in late May, about 1000 volunteers and villagers planted eleven varieties of rice saplings with seven differently colored leaves in a pair of paddy fields called Daiichi Tambo Art field located at the backside of the Village Hall. The farmers and villagers created the artwork by planting two kinds of local green-leafed rice plant varieties named Tsugaru Roman and Seiten-no-Hekireki along with purple-leafed Murasaki Daikoku, yellow-leafed Ki Daikoku, dark-green-leafed Midori Daikoku, white-leafed Yukiasobi, red-leafed Beniasobi, orange-leafed Akaneasobi, green-leafed purple-grained Murasaki Honami, green-leafed red-grained Aka Honami, and green-leafed white-grained Ao-ke-Aka 174-Gou rice plant varieties. Huge seven-colored artwork patterns were created by planting and arranging the differently colored rice plant varieties in precise and strategic manner in the rice fields. The artwork covered 15000 square meters of the rice fields. Each year a different design is on show, and this year an enormous stunning picture featuring a famous scene based on the main characters of the movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ was created. This artwork could be enjoyed until 12th October this year.

Seven-colored artwork was created using eleven different rice plant varieties at Daiichi Tambo Art field. Here only six colors are seen in a portion of the artwork (full artwork later in the post).

After about an hour of waiting, it was our turn to go to the 6th floor observation deck of the mock-castle structure inside Inakadate Village Hall. On reaching the observation deck of the mock-castle, we looked down and right in front of us on the left side of Daiichi Tambo Art field, we saw an extraordinary rice field artwork featuring the famous movie scene based on the main characters of the 1939 movie ‘Gone with the Wind’. The famous poster scene of Rhett Butler lifting Scarlett O’Hara in his arms was illustrated in elaborate details. The loving and passionate facial expressions of these two characters could be seen so clearly from the observation deck. In addition, green-leafed rice brand named Seiten-no-Hekireki was advertised in green Kanji characters in the foreground. This brand of rice debuted in the month of October this year. On the right side of the field, we saw an artwork that featured beautiful scenery from the movie. We were mesmerized by intricate details and the color combination of the artwork. We loved seeing the Daiichi Tambo artwork very much as it was very sophisticated, amazing, and fantastic.

Rice field artwork at Daiichi Tambo Art field located at the backside of Inakadate Village Hall as viewed from the sixth floor observation deck of the mock-castle

On the left side of the field, an artwork depicting the famous scene based on the main characters of the 1939 movie ‘Gone with the Wind’ is seen. Green-leafed rice brand Seiten-no-Hekireki is also advertised in green Kanji characters.

The famous poster scene of Rhett Butler lifting Scarlett O’Hara in his arms

Loving and passionate facial expressions of the two characters could be seen so clearly from the observation deck

On the right side of the field, an artwork featuring beautiful scenery from the movie is seen

Enlarged view of the scenery

Next we went to see the artwork at Daini Tambo Art field located at Yayoi no Sato Michinoeki Roadside Station. Yayoi no Sato is located about 3 kilometers east of Inakadate Village Hall and it took us just five minutes by our car to reach the Daini Tambo Art field. This rice field artwork is relatively new and started in 2012. So this year was the fourth year of the artwork display. We parked our car at a parking lot located near the artwork field and walked up to the front of the field to see the artwork. But the artwork was not visible from ground level, so we went inside a 14-meter high tower located nearby to go to its observation deck to view the artwork. The tower is a newly built very simple structure but it definitely serves its purpose well. The admission tickets we had purchased earlier at Inakadate Village Hall were valid for viewing both the Daiichi as well as Daini rice field artworks. So we stood in a queue of visitors waiting to go to the observation deck of the tower.

A tower with an observation deck (marked with a red arrow) located near Daini Tambo Art field

This year in late May, about 1000 farmers and volunteers planted seven varieties of rice saplings with differently colored leaves in Daini Tambo Art field. Huge seven-colored artwork patterns were created by planting and arranging the differently colored rice plant varieties in precise and strategic manner in the rice field. In fact, the artwork was created by planting local green-leafed Tsugaru Roman rice plant variety along with purple-leafed Murasaki Daikoku, yellow-leafed Ki Daikoku, dark-green-leafed Midori Daikoku, white-leafed Yukiasobi, red-leafed Beniasobi, and orange-leafed Akaneasobi rice plant varieties. The artwork covered 10000 square meters of the rice field. Each year a different design is on show, and this year enormous stunning pictures featuring several characters from the movie ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ were created. This artwork could be enjoyed until 12th October this year.

As stated earlier, we had already purchased combined admission tickets valid for viewing both the Daiichi as well as Daini Tambo rice field artworks. So we stood in a queue of visitors waiting to go to the observation deck of the tower near Daini Tambo Art field. After just 10 minutes of waiting, we could go to the observation deck of the tower. From the observation deck, we looked down and got a perfect view of the enormous stunning artwork featuring droid characters from the recent December 18th released movie ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’. The Star Wars-themed rice field artwork of the droid characters C-3PO and R2-D2 along with the new droid character BB-8 from the recently released movie were illustrated in elaborate details. Looking down from the deck, we saw the new droid BB-8 to our left side, ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ written in Japanese in front of us, and the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 to our right side. We loved the intricate details and the color combination of the artwork. We loved seeing the Daini Tambo artwork as it was very sophisticated and futuristic themed. Also looking down from the observation deck, in one corner we saw a huge stone portrait artwork created in memory of a famous Japanese actor named Takakura Ken who passed away last year at the age of 83. The artwork is created in four colors of stone pebbles namely, black, dark grey, light grey, and white. Although the portrait looked rectangular from the observation deck, it was actually trapezoid with a vertical height of 39.6 meters, the lower (front) width of 12.3 meters, and the top (back) width of 22 meters. The artwork looked absolutely stunning from the deck. After enjoying the rice field artwork and the stone artwork from the observation deck, we left the deck and once again tried to see the artworks from the ground level but could only decipher the words ‘Star Wars’.

Star Wars-themed rice field artwork at Daini Tambo Art field as viewed from the observation deck of the tower

The new droid character BB-8 is seen on the left side, and ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ written in Japanese is seen in the middle of the field in front of us

The droid characters C-3PO (left image) and R2-D2 (right image) are seen on the right side of the field

Enlarged view of the droid BB-8

Enlarged view of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ written in Japanese

Enlarged view of the droids C-3PO (left) and R2-D2 (right)

I am standing at the observation deck along with the Daini Tambo Art field in the background

Hubby along with the droids C-3PO and R2-D2

I am standing (encircled in red) at the ground level in front of the rice field artwork. My tininess emphasizes the vastness of the artwork.

I am standing (red arrow) on a wooden walking trail in front of the Daini Tambo Art field. A portion of the droid C-3PO is also seen.

I am standing (red arrow) in front of the stone portrait artwork created in memory of the actor Takakura Ken. The artwork is as viewed from the observation deck.

Hubby standing at the ground level in front of the Daini Tambo Art field

We loved viewing the rice field artworks at Daiichi and Daini Tambo Art fields at Inakadate Village. Afterwards we had lunch at a Ramen shop named ‘Takahashi Chukasoba-Ten’ in Hirosaki City. Hubby had Zaru Chuka which is cold Ramen served on a bamboo basket. I had Chashumen (Ramen topped with braised pork Chashu) in Niboshi Dashi broth. Of course, we tasted each others dishes too. We relished the lunch very much.

Hubby standing in front of Takahashi Chukasoba-Ten Ramen shop

Hubby’s lunch of Zaru Chuka

My lunch of Chashumen

Hubby tasting Chashumen

Hubby having his lunch of Zaru Chuka

I am having Chashumen

After lunch, we started back on our way home to Yurihonjo City. After about 3.5 hours of car ride, we reached home. We had fun-filled two days of sightseeing and holiday activities.

Aomori Nebuta Festival

As written in the previous post, hubby and I went to see Aomori Nebuta Festival on 3rd August. Aomori Nebuta Festival is an annual summer festival that is held from August 2 to August 7 in Aomori City of Aomori prefecture. This festival is considered to be one of the top three festivals of the Tohoku region and is often referred to as the most colorful festival of Japan. The festival features enormous and gorgeous lantern floats shaped after famous historical and mythological Japanese characters or warrior figures. About 20 such colorful huge floats are paraded through the nighttime streets at the center of Aomori City. Each float is flanked by hundreds of dancers called Haneto who wear unique traditional colorful costume and dance around the floats to the sounds of traditional music. Nebuta Festival attracts more than 3 million people to Aomori City every year during the six day period of the festival.

The origin of Aomori Nebuta Festival is not known and historians are divided over its beginning. Some historians believe that the Nebuta floats were invented by General Sakanoue no Tamuramaro in the 800s, when his army created gruesome creatures from cloth and bamboo to scare away the enemy. Yet there are other historians who say that the festival originated from Toro Nagashi ritual of Tanabata Festival. Toro Nagashi is a traditional event in which lanterns made of wooden frames and wrapped in Japanese Washi papers are illuminated with lit candles and floated down a river or a sea. It is believed that this ritual of Toro Nagashi drives away evil spirits and brings good luck and good health. As time passed, the size, shapes, and colors of the lanterns evolved into the present day Nebuta lantern floats. Huge floats built in the shape of figures inspired by legends and historical characters have become the prevalent form of Nebuta floats. While the historians cannot agree on the origin of the festival, it is undoubtedly one of the most visually impressive festivals in Japan. The festival was designated as a national important intangible folk cultural property in 1980 and was also recognized as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Ministry of Environment in 1996.

As stated in the previous paragraph, the earliest Nebuta floats were dummy creatures made of bamboo and clothes, or lanterns made of wood and Washi paper. The shape and size of the lanterns have evolved with time. During Meiji period, wood or bamboo was used to make the frame of the paper lanterns and wax candles were used for light. However, the wooden frames and wax candles often caused fire during the festival and so eventually they were replaced with wire and electricity. Present day Nebuta floats are made of painted fragile Washi papers supported by hand-designed wire frames and bamboo constructs, and lit from the inside with many electric light bulbs. Also, the lantern floats of today have become bigger and much more detailed. The enormous and gorgeous floats are designed and shaped after famous Japanese gods, folklores, themes, historical characters, warrior figures, and Kabuki characters. Many floats tend to depict battles between warriors, demons, and mythological characters. Stories of gods defeating demons in epic battles are masterfully recreated in meticulous details which make for quite dramatic imagery. The Washi papers used for making the floats are beautifully and painstakingly hand-painted. As a finishing touch, hundreds of light bulbs are weaved throughout inside the floats, which illuminate the floats fantastically with amazing colors during the nighttime festival parade.

After the festival ends each year, local artists immediately get to work on the conception of the Nebuta floats for next year and spend the entire year planning and constructing the floats. The actual construction of one enormous float takes about three months and the construction cost is about 4 million yen. There are three types of Nebuta floats, namely the small-sized children’s Nebuta floats, the medium-sized regional Nebuta floats, and the large-sized local organization’s Nebuta floats. The small-sized Nebuta floats are often pulled by children and are paraded throughout the city during the first two days (2nd and 3rd August) of the festival. The large-sized Nebuta floats are enormous and can be up to nine meters wide, five meters tall, and seven meters deep. A maximum of 22 such large-sized colorful floats are constructed every year. However such enormous floats require immense strength to move, and so it is impractical to showcase them on all the days of the festival. Therefore only about 75% of the large-sized Nebuta floats are paraded on the first two days of the festival. But on other days of the festival, all the (about 20) huge colorful large-sized floats are paraded through the nighttime streets at the center of Aomori City.

Hubby and I went to see Aomori Nebuta Festival on 3rd August. As written in the previous post, Nebuta Festival was supposed to begin at about 6.30 pm but we had reached Aomori City in the afternoon itself. So we visited Nebuta Museum Warasse located near Aomori Railway Station. At about 4.40 pm, we left the museum and started walking towards the venue of the main parade event of Nebuta Festival. We reached the parade venue located in the city center at about 5.30 pm. For viewing the parade, very nice seating arrangement was done on both sides of the road along the parade route. About two weeks prior to the festival, we had purchased two tickets each worth 2600 Yen and reserved two seats along the main road. We found our reserved seats, made ourselves comfortable on the chairs, and were all set to watch the parade of the Nebuta Festival.

We passed Aomori Railway Station while walking towards the parade venue of Nebuta Festival

While waiting for the main parade event of the Nebuta Festival to begin, we had some snacks and read a pamphlet about the festival. We realized that on 3rd August, the second day of the festival, about 15 small-sized children’s Nebuta floats and 15 enormous large-sized Nebuta floats were to take part in the festival parade. At about 6.30 pm, the festival parade began with many performers and musicians playing Taiko drums and flutes. The traditional music was so nice to listen to. This was followed by the parade of many enormous large-sized colorful Nebuta floats along the road. Each large-sized float was pulled by about 50 people. One after the other huge floats paraded down the road. In between the large-sized Nebuta floats, there were parades of many children’s floats and medium-sized floats also. We appreciated the full splendor of all the Nebuta floats. The colorful floats painted with striking traditional designs of Japanese gods, folklores, themes, historical characters, and warrior figures looked absolutely stunning. We soaked in the artistry and admired the craftsmanship that went into the construction of such colorful vivid floats. The colors and the details of the floats were simply amazing and made for a vibrant spectacle. We loved seeing the parade of one gorgeous float after the other. Each float was flanked by performers and musicians playing traditional music on flutes and Taiko drums. In addition, hundreds of Haneto dancers, wearing unique traditional colorful costume and flower hats, merrily jumped and danced around the floats to the sounds of traditional festival music and chanted ‘Rassera Rassera’. It was a wonderfully spectacular sight to behold. In addition, we also saw three young ladies dressed in pink Kimono waving elegantly to the crowd as they sat in an open car during the parade. These ladies were declared this year’s ‘Miss Nebuta’ and they are responsible for promoting Nebuta Festival and tourism in Aomori prefecture. After about an hour or so of the parade, we gave up our reserved seats and moved to a different location along the roadside to get a better view of the parade of the Nebuta floats. It should be mentioned that when the parade began at 6.30 pm, it was still daytime and the sun was still out. The huge colorful Nebuta floats looked very impressive by the day. But during the parade, the sunlight gradually disappeared and the colorful lit Nebuta floats looked dazzlingly breathtaking in the nighttime. We thoroughly and immensely enjoyed the parade and it took about 2 hours to finish one round of the parade of all the Nebuta floats. We clicked many photos of all kinds of floats, Taiko drums, and Haneto dancers during the first round of the parade. We were too busy and immersed in watching the parade, and so missed taking photos of a few of the floats. Below are the photos we clicked and I have numbered the Nebuta floats for the sake of simplicity. Hope you all also enjoy the colorful extravaganza.

It was daytime when the parade of the Nebuta floats began. The parade started with Nebuta Float number 1.

Float 2

Float 3

Backside of Float 3

Float 4

Float 5

Backside of Float 5

Many Haneto dancers in colorful costumes

Float 6

Backside of Float 6

Float 7

Backside of Float 7

Float 8

Backside of Float 8

Many Haneto dancers in colorful costumes

Float 9

Backside of Float 9

Float 10

Backside of Float 10

Many flute players in the parade

Taiko drums

Haneto dancers merrily dancing

The sunlight gradually disappeared and during the parade of Float 11 it had become completely dark nighttime

Many participants pulling Float 11

Backside of Float 11

Float 12

Floats 13, 14, and 15

Float 16

Backside of Float 16

Participants playing Taiko drums

Yet other participants playing Taiko drums

Float 17

Float 18

Backside of Float 18

Float 19

Backside of Float 19

Float 20

Float 21

Backside of Float 21

Float 22

Backside of Float 22

Float 23

Backside of Float 23

Float 24

Float 25

Float 26

Float 27

Float 28

Float 29

Float 30

Taiko drums

Three ‘Miss Nebuta’ waving to the crowd

We continued watching the parade of the Nebuta floats during the second round of the parade also. Now it was nighttime and completely dark everywhere, and so the colorful lit Nebuta floats looked absolutely dazzling and stunning. We admired the artistry of the workers who constructed and handcrafted the enormous floats with painstaking details. We were overwhelmed by the colors and the details of the vivid Nebuta floats. We once again enjoyed seeing the parade of one amazingly gorgeous float after the other. It was also enjoyable to again see the performers and musicians playing traditional music on flutes and Taiko drums, and the Haneto dancers dancing with gay abandon. About quarter way through the second round of the parade, we moved to yet another location along the roadside to get a still better view of the parade of the Nebuta floats. The parade event ended exactly at 9 pm about halfway through the second round of the parade. We absolutely loved watching the parade of the Nebuta floats, which was a wonderful experience and made a lasting impression on us. During this second round of the parade, we clicked photos of only the enormous large-sized Nebuta floats. Please enjoy the photos of the colorful magnificent floats. For the sake of consistency, I have marked the Nebuta floats as numbered in the first round.

Performers playing a huge Taiko drum

Another view of the huge Taiko drum

Nighttime view of Float number 1

Parade of Haneto dancers

Float 2

Backside of Float 2

Float 3

Backside of Float 3

Haneto dancers

Float 5

Many Taiko drums

Float 6

Backside of Float 6

Float 7

Backside of Float 7

Float 8

Backside of Float 8

Float 9

Backside of Float 9

Float 10

Backside of Float 10

Float 11

Backside of Float 11

Float 16

Backside of Float 16

A few remarkable faces on the backside of Float 16

I am enjoying the Nebuta Festival

Hubby clicking photos of the Nebuta floats

Clicking away

We loved seeing Aomori Nebuta Festival. The parade of enormous vivid Nebuta floats was amazing. No wonder the festival is referred to as the most colorful festival of Japan.