Each year, farmers in the town of Inakadate in Aomori prefecture create works of crop art by growing a little purple and yellow-leafed kodaimai rice along with their local green-leafed tsugaru-roman variety. This year's creation -- a pair of grassy reproductions of famous woodblock prints from Hokusai's 36 Views of Mount Fuji -- has begun to appear (above). It will be visible until the rice is harvested in September.

The residents of Inakadate have been drawing pictures with rice since 1993. Here are a few crops from the recent past, found at this site.



2006



2005



2002

While Inakadate is Japan's most famous rice paddy decorating town, a couple of other places in Japan have joined in the fun.



Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture, 2007



Yonezawa, Yamagata prefecture, 2006



Nishio, Aichi prefecture (2005, 2006)

UPDATE (Oct 1, 2007): Check out photos of the 2007 harvest HERE.