Rice Paddy Art Masterpieces –Splendor in the Grass

This Hub is about innovation, art and creativity – three ingredients many of us (including scientists and mathematicians) would like to incorporate into our lives and our careers.

We know that many employment opportunities just don’t allow for self-expression and artistic thinking. But it doesn’t have to be that way. It is possible to hold even the most physically challenging position and still feel creatively fulfilled. This has been happening in Japan for over 15 years where farmers, workers and villagers have been implementing a highly innovative, uplifting, mind-blowing solution to what some may consider a back-breaking, mind-numbing job. That job is planting rice, but it’s being carried out in a brilliantly creative way.

Have a look at the following series of time-lapse photographs taken in Inakadate, Japan (about 900 kilometers outside of Tokyo). Throughout the crop growing season, from May to September, Rice Paddy Art emerges magically like an invisible ink drawing. Far from being made of ink, or a Photoshop creation, these living masterpieces are the ultimate garden art form.

Photo credits: karaponeyami

It's not known just how many villages and towns have taken on rice paddy artistic ventures inspired by the original Inakadate project, but the number is growing each year.

The idea to strategically plant yellow, and black kodaimai rice along with the local green-leafed tsugaru roman variety to form crop art started in 1993 when farmers and villagers began some creative brainstorming at meetings of the village committees. Although the Japanese are known for their staunch work ethic and rice paddy workers may very well enjoy bending over for hours shin-deep in water, one can only be inspired at the fact that the hundreds of workers planting these rice paddies now have a creative, community enhancing agenda as well.

This Sengoku warrior on horseback was created from hundreds of thousands of rice plants of different varieties.  Wild rice takes on a whole new meaning.

Here’s Napoleon on horseback as seen from a high tower. The Google Earth resolution is still too fuzzy. They really should get on this one!

If you do want to visit Inakadate, here’s the location on Google Maps.

In the town of Yonezawa, in the Yamagata prefecture of Japan, two popular television series characters, the fictional warrior Naoe Kanetsugu and his wife, Osen emerge from the fields each Summer.

Here’s one of my favorites – an edible tribute to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa :)

Both traditional rice planters, and volunteers have precisely planted the paddy fields to create these amazing images.

From ground level, the designs are invisible, although the detail and effort is apparent. In Inakadate, viewers have to climb the mock castle tower of the village office to get a glimpse of the work.

The owner of the rice field, Ryuji Sato — who also happens to be the former mayor of Inakadate and a member of the committee, explains the true motive of this highly imaginative project.

“The idea has always been to create art that attracts lots of visitors and stimulates the economy,” says Sato.

In that instance, they have succeeded, hosting over 240,000 visitors to Inakadate in 2006 alone.

The world can take a lesson from the illustrious rice paddies of Japan. What was once a single focused, highly laborious job has now become a more lucrative, creative effort producing the country’s most important food staple.

Although solving the “problem” of a repetitive, boring task may not have been the original objective behind these artistic rice fields, it does make us think. Can businesses everywhere improve profits and worker morale with a little creative brainstorming?

If we consider the Rice Paddy Art Masterpieces, the answer is, "Yes", as this remarkable project has proven to be an ongoing, successful collaborate between farmers, their employees and the community.

Hope you enjoyed viewing these amazing works of living art!

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