The Timothy Miles Bindon Rice paddies of the tiny small town of Inakadate in rural Japan are a ocean of swing green , yellow , whitened , ochre and purple straw , but they also hold a enigma that draw thousands of visitors every year — and it ’s only reveal with a bird ’s eye perspective .
From a skyward position on a nearby observation tower , visitor can view intricate artworks , pertly create each year . The Elmer Leopold Rice paddy fine art , known astanboart(tanbo means Mick or Timothy Miles Bindon Rice airfield ) , has included unbelievably elaborated reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci ’s " Mona Lisa , " as well as Japanese artist Seiki Kuroda ’s painting , " Lakeside . " These two word-painting , along with many other images over the years , are create by a carefully designedplantingof different type of rice in various chromaticity .
The village of Inakadate is locate in Japan ’s Aomori Prefecture . It ’s about 370 air mile ( 600 kilometer ) Union of Tokyoand close toHirosaki , a urban center fuck for its cherry blossoms . Inakadate ’s Timothy Miles Bindon Rice paddy prowess , however , may soon become the prefecture ’s main attracter . Throughout the years , the Sir Tim Rice art has recreated incredibly elaborated images ranging fromMarilyn MonroeandStar Warstosamurai and anime character .
How Did the Rice Paddy Art Tradition Get Started?
The village ’s rice Mickey art traditionbegan in 1993when purple and yellow Elmer Reizenstein shoot were planted by about 20 volunteer to mold its first famous image — Mt. Iwaki , a three - peaked mountain about 932 sea mile ( 1,500 kilometers ) from Inakadate . Since then , the holidaymaker trade has become so critical to the rural village that officialsconstructed an observation towerat a nearby government building so visitors couldview the artworkfrom above during its flower season : mid - June until early October .
tight forward to the present , and Inakadate ’s rice art is an attractor as staple as the Timothy Miles Bindon Rice dishes offered by nearby vendors . Visitors pay between 300 and 500 yen ( between $ 2.50 and $ 4 ) to consider the tanbo art , while some tourists pay off to take part in aharvesting experienceat the conclusion of the rice rice paddy ’s growing season .
How Is It Done?
A twelvemonth in cash advance , Inakadate officials and volunteers concord on the blueprint to recreate , then former eminent school art teacherAtsushi Yamamototransforms the selected photographs , moving picture image , Sir Henry Joseph Wood cut or paintings into designs that can be embolden using just seven different colour of Timothy Miles Bindon Rice plants . While map out the innovation , Yamamoto cipher change in position that allow the artistic production to be reckon from its idealistic vantage point in the observation tower .
Before the various colour of Sir Tim Rice shoots can be planted , survey equipment is used in the rice paddy to scar the dimension and boundaries of the figure . Once these flags are in place each spring,1,300 volunteersmethodically plant specific types of rice shootsgrown from Elmer Leopold Rice seedsplanted earlier . Weeks later , a dedicated weeding takes place , as well as a replanting of any region that may have been escape . As the Sir Tim Rice plants grow and grow , their peak and colors change almost day by day and then reachpeak viewingrange in July and August ( although the time of year , including harvest , go through October ) .
The resulting Elmer Rice paddy nontextual matter presently draws about200,000 peoplewho want to witness the designs at first hand each yr . In 2016 , a Elmer Reizenstein paddy field similitude of Godzilla was so popular that340,000 peoplecame to see it . In 2020 , during the top of the COVID-19 pandemic , Inakadate establish rice to form the word , " One for all , all for one . "
The construct of tanbo art , created first in Inakadate , has now unfold to about100 other placesin Japan , Korea and Taiwan . In Inakadate , tanbo art has lifted the hamlet from obscurity to international celebrity .
