The season of harvesting is upon us! Fall brings with it festivals that take place all over the world to celebrate the season. In Northern Japan, one festival that is prevalent at this time of year is the rice season, in which a wildly inventive and fun way to re-purpose rice straw, left over from the harvest, is turned into phenomenal art. Take a look:
Rice straw was once widely used in Japan to create various goods such as tatami mats, but it has now been replaced with wood and plastic.
Yet students from the Musashino Art University have found a way to make use of this material turning it into an intriguing form of art.
The Wara Art Festival has been taking place in Niigata City since 2008, where it started off as a creative collaboration between the city's tourism division and the Musashino Art University.
The students worked together to fill the fields of Niigata with great animal sculptures, all made of bound rice straw.
Spectacular, isn't it?
