Tanbo Rice Art

MISAWA ITT

TaNbo Art,

Kokeshi doll museum & seibien garden

35th

TANBO (RICE PADDY) ART HISTORY

For over 2,000 years, people in the small town of Inakadate, Japan have grown rice. Unfortunately, growing rice was all the town was known for until 1993. In an attempt to generate attention and tourist revenue, the townspeople began working on a public art project.

By embracing their agricultural past, and adding a little 20th century technological knowhow, Inakadate was able to create massive living art, made out of colored rice stalks. Called Tanbo (paddy) art, the designs are wondrous. Spanning entire fields, the rice paddy art takes 1,200 people from the community and $35,000 to create. The end result is an amazing multi-colored design, stretching hundreds of feet and featuring incredible detail.

In 1993, the first work of art was a depiction of a mountain, using a few colors. Since then, the town has become much more bold, even incorporating multiple fields to create a dramatic battle scene between a monk and a samurai. Each year the rice is planted and a new image is created. For the most part, the images reflect Japanese culture and traditions.

However, to draw more tourists to the town, the Mona Lisa was also attempted in 2003.

To provide the full effect for the designs, the town invested in a small 20 meter observation deck in front of the fields. Over 200,000 visitors per year come to marvel at the artistic fields. Given the success of the project in Inakadate, other rural Japanese towns have followed suit, creating other Tanbo art in a similar fashion, incorporating words and pictures to add flavor to their work.

TSUGARU KOKESHI DOLL MUSEUM Tsugaru Kokeshi Doll Museum was opened on April 15, 1988.

The first floor is a multi-purpose hall, where exhibits of traditional craftworks of Tsugaru (Tsugaru kokeshi dolls, Kogin sashi, Tsugaru lacquer ware, Tsugaru yaki, wooden toys, akebi vine craft, etc.) and a two meter tall jumbo Kokeshi doll are on display. The first floor also features a shop, resource center, hands on learning area, and Fureai corner. Visitors can watch the making of Kokeshi dolls as well as try their hand at painting a doll. The second floor houses an exhibition of Kokeshi dolls from not only Tsugaru but from around the nation along with about 4,000 wooden toys. There is also a corner providing information about late Hidetaro Mori, who was an early maker of Tsugaru Kokeshi dolls, and late Zenji Sato, who rendered significant service in the construction of the Kokeshi Doll Museum.

Seibien is located in Hirakawa City which is in the Tsugaru area of Aomori Prefecture. It was built by the local landlord Moriyoshi Seito, who invited the master of gardening, Teiju Obata, to create the garden which took 9 years to complete. Seibien consists of the building Seibikan, Japanese garden, and Gohoden, the mausoleum of the Seito family. Gohoden is thoroughly covered with gold leaf to preserve this precious treasure.

Seibien is known as being a model of the animation movie The Borrowers Arriety of Studio Ghibli, written by Hayao Miyazaki.

Seibien has a distinctive atmosphere with a combination of western architecture and Japanese horticulture.

SEIBIEN GARDEN

Misawa ITT Office Location: Bldg. 973 Phone: 226-3555

Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Closed Sundays & federal holidays