Rice paddy murals of Japan — slow food for the eye

Rice paddy murals of Japan — slow food for the eye: "

Here's the back story, from the August 3, 2009 Telegraph.

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Farmers create coloured rice 'murals' in Japan

 

The creations emerge in the late summer months after the rice plants have had a chance to grow.

But the farmers first sketch out their designs on computers so that they know exactly where the rice needs to be planted.

Hundreds of villagers and other volunteers then help plant the four different coloured varieties of rice in the vast fields.

The most famous work is grown in the village of Inakadate, 600 miles north of Toyko, where the tradition began in 1993.

 

Each year a different design is on show and more than 15,000 visitors travel to see the creation.

Images that have adorned the village fields include a Japanese Sengoku warrior on horseback, a giant frog and a butterfly.

Another famous paddy art venue is the city of Yonezawa, in northern
Japan, where this year's design shows fictional 16th-century samurai
warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen.

The farmers create the
murals by planting purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with
their local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety.

The rice is planted in May and the creations are at their best in September.

In Inakadate the art covers 15,000 square metres but anyone wanting to catch a glimpse has to climb the village's castle tower.

'Paddy art' was started in the village 16 years ago as a project to revitalise the local economy.

In the first nine years, the local farmers grew a simple design of a mountain every year.

But
in 2005, when the ideas began to attract more attention, an agreement
between landowners saw the creation of much bigger artworks.

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[via Milena]

(Via bookofjoe.)