Rice paddy artwork in Japan

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Naruto Tanbo Art
Naruto Tanbo Art

Move over crop circles, there’s a new craze coming to seemingly vast fields of rice in Japan.

Tanbo art (田んぼアート or rice paddy art) was conceived in 1993 when the villagers of Inakadate, Aomori wanted to reinvigorate their community. As the novelty caught on, other towns in neighbouring prefectures began planting their own tanbo art.

What you’re seeing isn’t computer generated or chemically modified to alter the colour of the plants, but rather different varieties of the grain grown together to produce the contrasting shades that make up the design. This image of Naruto was recently found in Tsuyama City, Okayama Prefecture.

While Naruto is one of the more recent pictures to pop up, others fields have works from Japanese history and mythology, and figures from around the world — Napoleon, for example.

Source: Kotaku, Wikipedia, Twitter

 

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