Pimp my rice paddy
Each year, farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture create works of crop art by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety. This year’s creation — a pair of grassy reproductions of famous woodblock prints from Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mount Fuji — has begun to appear (above). It will be visible until the rice is harvested in September.
The residents of Inakadate have been drawing pictures with rice since 1993. Here are a few crops from the recent past, found at this site.
2006
2005
2002
While Inakadate is Japan’s most famous rice paddy decorating town, a couple of other places in Japan have joined in the fun.
Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture, 2007
Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture, 2006
Nishio, Aichi prefecture (2005, 2006)
UPDATE (Oct 1, 2007): Check out photos of the 2007 harvest HERE.
Holy heck, that’s awesome!
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its really very different imagimation about the harvested rice……great………..:)
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That’s like SO photoshopped, it’s not even funny.
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wow, they look good
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That’s why we need more art education in schools. Somebody sees an imaginative work of art, and they think it is Photoshopped because there is no way that people can create art with almost anything. People are beginning to not even believe what is in front of them. This is awesome. I’ve always admired the artistic sensibilities of the Japanese…
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????????? ?????? ??? ??????:))
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Reminds me of corn mazes: http://tisinger.wordpress.com/2007/07/12/sweet-corn-mazes/
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rofl at everybody who thinks any of that is not photoshopped
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WOW that’s cool. While they look kinda real they look too perfect to be. They still look neat even if someone photoshopped these. If they were real they’d be like 100 times cooler then crop circles/corn maze/any other corn-related design ^.^\/
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Bravo! Absolutely brilliant! Thank you for putting this together. I have seen one rice paddy like this while flying over Japan and had so many questions about the planning and logistics of this project. It appears that the farmers who do this have a tremendous job ahead of them when taking on this sort of work but that’s what makes them so amazing.
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For those who insist that it’s photoshopped, take a look at the time series:
http://www.vill.inakadate.aomori.jp/ricecroptour/html/ricecroptour_progress_h18.html
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Everything in the whole wide world is not photoshopped. The Japanese are very artistic and I applaude this work. I have a friend who has seen one of these from the air.So I had heard about the pictures without knowing how they were done. Thank you for sharing this.
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wow, mediocre photoshoping…. i’m so excited
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It’s real and has been for years. It’s on Japanese local news TV every year, there are MANY MANY towns that do this, and people come from all over Japan to see it. I know, because I have been living in Japan for over 8 years. Those of you who think it’s Photoshoped are just sad ignorant people. Your lives must be empty.
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k mamada piche photo shop tan mas trukeado. lo k es no tener k hacer!!!!
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Anyone who bothered to click through the links would have seen this, disproving the sad and cynical photo shop theory.
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The images are photoshopped: everyone knows that rice grows in 25 lb bags at the Asian grocery mart.
But I didn’t realize that “mediocre photoshopping” was pronounced FARMING.
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Go to the town’s website and there’s pics of it being planted. No photoshop.
http://www.vill.inakadate.aomori.jp/
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ESPECTACULAR
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Wow. All I can say. It made me think we should turn the whole world into a canvass….. :o)
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Bravo! Great work !
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Do you think these will be on google earth?
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very happy
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making of in video ????
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Anyother culture I’de say photoshop, but this is the japanese…
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How many people do the originals feed?
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For the planning and logistics of this project ahead of planting rice, you have to make a fine map(probably from a high resolution picture in computer). It appears that the farmers who do this have a tremendous amount of job. But I don’t think this is worth as the art.
What for do they do this ? Is this project for the tourism promotion ? If not, I find it ridiculous because this project doesn’t produce anything. There are so many problems in the world to solve. I wonder they don’t have anything else to do in Inakadate Village in Aomori prefecture ?
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Doesn’t Anonymous have anything better to do than be hypercritical on the internet?
It’s art for fuck’s sake. Do you know what art is?
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I’m afraid there’s no high-rez shots of the area in google maps:
(link)
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Those are the coolest rice patties I have ever seen.
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BEAUTIFUL .. AWESOME …INCREDIBLE
advanced Japanese technology is indeed magnificent
KUDOS to the rice farms that obviously excel in many area’s
i trust the next generation will maintain these traditions
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looove it.
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Woah. Insanely cool :)
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[…] Got Rice Bitch? […]
I guess that is an appropriate response to “Pimp my rice paddy.”
FYI, “pimp” means to sell someone into prostitution. Pimps call women ‘bitches.’ Think about what you write and how it affects people. “Pimp” isn’t a good way to describe interesting works of art. It isn’t a good way to describe anything positive.
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Maaa, mezarashi, subarashi!!!!!
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Gorgeous! Thanks so much for posting these photos. I came in via a link from Food History.
Great stuff.
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These are beautiful. I had no idea that they did this. I can not phantom the work that goes into planting rice just so for these pictures to appear.
I now think I know where aliens got the idea for crop circles ;0)
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Amazing! O_O
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Doesn’t the artwork have to be stretched out to be viewed as foreshortened from above? I mean, like those chalk paintings?
http://www.coolopticalillusions.com/chalk-art/globe-sidewalk-chalk-paintings.htm
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Thanks,
I will be sure to show this to my students who are learning about public art!
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Joe Lindley
Do you think these will be on google earth?
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yupp. The Crop Circles and even you can count car park beside the road.But the pproblem is google earth only provide zooming at this level only at certain location.
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http://www.airkita.my
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this page is shopped, noone heres actually said anything, some grandmaster shopper has faked this whole ordeal. I know cuz ive seen many shops of this magnitude.
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Go and have a quick look on Google (or search engine of your choice) Type in “rice paddy art”.
Do you really think this “High magnitude grandmaster shopper” faked all those sites as well?
Oh, and learn to use some punctuation fool.
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I wish I could see these in person – I certainly enjoyed looking at them on my compter. Perhaps someone would like to sponsor my coming to Japan – I will be attending middle school this coming fall.
Thank you again for sharing with us.
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They’re broadcast live on the news. What’s the sense in photo-shopping when people would just go and not find them? They are quite a tourist draw for the area.
There’s a couple in every crowd, aren’t there? The ‘everything is fake!’ crowd. Get outside a little more often, it’ll be good for you…
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After many months of research and travel I have learned the true nature/source of these pictures. They are real. No Photo-Shoppe in these at all. I have actual pictures of the real thing I will be glad to produce/share. It blew me away enough to make me want to prove/disprove it’s existance. PROOF is in the eyes of my family and I as well as many pictures and writings as well as some video into the history and nature of this cultural art. I spent 8 months in Japan, in the area of Inakadate/Aomori, and spoke with the residents/farmers who are more than proud of their work. For a better understanding of the art pleae visit ashita-sanuki.jp/arttakamatsu/.
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