When we think about art, our minds instantly get directed to the walls of famous art galleries in the world, and rarely do we think that it might be hidden in agricultural fields across the world, and quite literally.Across rural Japan, farmers have changed a simple summer crop into something extraordinary, using nothing but different varieties of rice to “paint” enormous images across their paddies. From a distance, a flooded field looks like any other. But climb up to a viewing platform in the right season, and entire portraits, characters, and scenes can be seen and admired, all grown, not painted.
Tokio Nakano (Photo: Soranews24)
Meet Tokio Nakano : The 81-year-old paddy rice artist behind the work
The mastermind behind it all is 81-year-old rice paddy artist Tokio Nakano. According to SoraNews24, he narrated the entire procedure behind this art-making, which involves four main stages.First, he sketches a blueprint of the design while considering the field’s size and the angle from which people will view it. Next, he selects from eight rice varieties, each with different leaf colours and growth speeds, to figure out where each type should go.He then projects the blueprint onto the field at night and marks out the zones by hand, which he describes as a step where precision matters enormously. Finally, the whole family plants each rice seedling by hand, a slow and physically demanding process that can take an enormous amount of time to complete.
His family has been turning fields into canvases for sixteen years
In Nasushiobara, a town in Tochigi Prefecture, the Nakano family has spent sixteen years now transforming their rice paddies into public art. According to SoraNews24, part of what drives the project is a wish for visitors to “discover the charm of the northern Kanto region,” the stretch of perfect landscape that sits north of greater Tokyo but south of the Tohoku region, that doesn’t always get the tourist spotlight.
This year’s design pays tribute to local figures
This year’s main artwork opened to the public on June 18 and honours two figures tied to the area: local singer Rie Utagokoro and Chika Ozeki, the real Meiji-era woman who inspired the nurse lead in NHK’s current morning drama, Kaze, Kaoru. The kanji character for “wind” sits between the two figures in the design, a nod to the show’s title.
A new second field art debuted this year
For the first time in the project’s history, a second art site opened on July 1. It features Ujikoji, a comedian duo from Tochigi, and Kaminari, a duo from neighbouring Ibaraki Prefecture. Ujikoji returns to the rice fields after a two-year gap, while Kaminari is making its debut in paddy form entirely.
Till when does the art last?
Nakano also shared that although the rice is harvested at the end of September, a second crop grows in afterward, meaning visitors can keep enjoying the artwork right up until the season’s first fros
