rice paddies with a new twist

A small farming community in Inakadate, Japan, has devised a unique tourist attraction as the ultimate makeover for their area – rice murals.

The villagers have been creating impressive imagery by planting rice plants of varying colors on 2,500 sq. meters of land which have been reeling in thousands of tourists to their area.

The murals created by these enterprising farmers included pictures of a traditional Japanese warrior as well as Western icons like Napoleon.

The tradition started in 1993 when the villagers brainstormed about possible ways to spice up their surrounds. The final decision focused on an interesting combination of century-old farming tradition and creative artistry.

The villagers used rice plants of different colors to create the light and shade effects on the mural.

To this end, they used the normal lush green plants along with brown-leaved purple rice types and yellow-leaved ones.

The very first few murals were their own take of Mount Iwaki, which was created alongside the slogan “Inakadate, a village of rice culture.”

As years went by, Inakadate villagers became more daring and opted for bigger murals.

Hence in the early 2000s, they recreated the woodwork prints of famous artists like Sharaku on an expansive 15,000 sq meters of land.

The following year, they turned to computer technology for accurate planning and design of the paddy field murals.

All this effort was not in vain. The rice murals of Inakadate village are said to be the largest of their kind in Japan.

As it is, more than 150,000 eager tourists visit the village every year to catch a glimpse of the famous paddy works.