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.