SEPTEMBER 29, 2024 / JOHNNY

photos courtesy Wara Art Festival

Autumn is officially upon us. It’s the season of shorter days, brighter moons and bountiful harvests. Niigata prefecture, in Northern Japan, is known for its rice paddies and rice production. Around this time of year the rice harvest becomes a big deal, as well as the tons of rice straw, or wara, that is leftover. It can be plowed down as soil improver, fed to livestock, or even woven into decorative ornaments.

But before any of that, for the past 10 years Uwasekigata Park has hosted a Wara Art Festival by teaming up with art students to create creatures, both real and mythical, from rice straw.

the “Wind God” is depicted here enjoying Niigata sake and leaning back on an empty bottle

This year, art students constructed a total of 5 giant wara sculptures each modeled after a mythical creature with ties to the region. There’s a thunder god, wind god, cat yokai, spirit duck and giant snake.

The 2024 Wara Art Festival is on view through October 31, 2024. It’s located within the grounds of Uwasekigata Park.

the “Nekomata,” a type of cat yokai, stands in protection of the people of Niigata. Local folklore is filled with tales of cats, all of them vicious, but all loyal to those who treat them with love, and mercilessly treat those who do not as prey

The Wara Art Festival all started in 2006 when the local district reached out to Musashino Art University to seek guidance on transforming their abundant amount of rice straw into art. And in 2008, the very first Wara Art Festival was held. Since then, every year the school sends art students up to Niigata to assist in creating sculptures made out of rice straw. […]

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