Dec 13th, 2017: I Ain’t Scared of no Straw

In Japan the annual rice harvest is a big deal… a very big deal.
A failed, or even a bad, harvest means a lot of people starve. A good harvest is cause for celebrations.


For the 10th edition of the Wara Art Matsuri, a festival celebrating the rice harvest in Niigata prefecture in Japan, rice straw is
transformed into gigantic animal sculptures! Lion, gorilla, or crocodile, these creations by art students pay tribute to the work of
local farmers before rice straw is recycled as fertilizer or forage.
Actually that's bullshit, many of the things traditionally made of that straw are now made of plastic or wood and don't have to
be replaced each year. But you get the sentiment.


You may have heard of other straw sculptures around the world, some of which are destroyed with fire by hooligans and
ne'er-do-wells. But the Japs are a gentle people, who would never stoop to such savagery as sneaking up on and destroying
other people’s property.

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