Every year, a Japanese village in northern Aomori Prefecture creates field-sized, living, 3D paintings made of coloured rice shoots.
每年奸绷，在日本青森縣北部的一個(gè)村子，人們都會(huì)用不同顏色的秧苗種出栩栩如生的3D稻田畫错蝴，圖像有整畝田大小呜笑。
From ground level, it didn’t look like much. In fact, the scene looked like a lot of rural Japan: rice paddies with tender shoots in shades of green, rippling in the wind and stretching off into the horizon. Bucolic, surely, but nothing unusual.
人站在地面上是看不出什么圖像的，倒是和一般的日本農(nóng)村風(fēng)光差不了多少：稻田里滿是綠色的嬌嫩的禾苗殖熟，被微風(fēng)拂過后蕩著波紋一直延伸向遠(yuǎn)方局待，好一派田園風(fēng)光，并沒有什么特別之處菱属。
But as I ascended the viewing platform and took the longer view, something started to emerge. What had been patches of pale green and reddish brown started to take shape into a detailed tableau of Godzilla mid-attack, in a scene so sprawling it wouldn’t fit into my camera’s normal frame. It was so impressive it almost looked as though the monster would rise up out of the field and start crushing the little houses in the distance under his feet, perhaps crunching a few humans in his well-defined teeth.
但是當(dāng)我爬上觀景臺(tái)擴(kuò)大視野后钳榨，一些新的東西呈現(xiàn)在我眼前。原本還只是淺綠色和紅褐色的秧苗纽门，現(xiàn)在卻構(gòu)成了一幅攻擊中的哥斯拉圖像薛耻，整個(gè)畫面如此巨大，塞不進(jìn)我照相機(jī)的取景框赏陵。這場(chǎng)景實(shí)在是太震撼了饼齿，這頭怪獸仿佛就要從稻田里一躍而起，踩碎在它腳邊較遠(yuǎn)處的小房子蝙搔，也許再用尖牙咬碎幾個(gè)人缕溉。
This astonishing art form is something that hundreds of thousands of people are flocking to the village of Inakadate, in Japan’s northern Aomori Prefecture, to see.
這種令人嘆為觀止的藝術(shù)形式吸引著成千上萬(wàn)的游客，他們成群結(jié)隊(duì)的趕往日本青森縣北部這個(gè)叫做田舍館村的地方一睹為快吃型。
Tanbo art证鸥，which translates to ‘Rice Paddy Art’, consists of thousands of strategically planted rice shoots grown in concert to produce field-sized, living, 3D paintings. The imaginative undertaking started back in 1992, when the then-mayor instructed his staff to think of an event that would draw crowds to the village.
Tanbo藝術(shù)，也就是稻田藝術(shù)，由上千根禾苗組成敌土，它們按照一定的方式有序地種在田里镜硕，構(gòu)成整畝田大小的生動(dòng)的3D畫面。這個(gè)創(chuàng)意還得追溯到1992年返干，當(dāng)時(shí)村長(zhǎng)要求下屬們策劃一個(gè)活動(dòng)以增加村莊客流量兴枯。
Takatoshi Asari of the village’s tourism and planning division explained that “one employee had seen an elementary school rice paddy that was planted with yellow, purple and green rice plants in a striped pattern, and thought, ‘What if we planted a field with three colours of rice plants to make a drawing with text?’ There was no concept of art at the time.”
該村旅游企劃部的Takatoshi Asari是這樣描述的：“當(dāng)時(shí)有個(gè)工作人員曾經(jīng)在一所小學(xué)的稻田里看到過黃色、紫色和綠色的禾苗種成條紋形狀矩欠，于是他就想‘如果我們也在田里種上三種顏色的稻谷以此來組成圖畫财剖，再配上文字，那會(huì)怎么樣癌淮？’在那個(gè)時(shí)候我們還沒有形成稻田藝術(shù)的概念躺坟。”
When I asked my guide Hiroki Fukushi, “Why rice?”, he replied: “This is a village with nothing but rice fields. So we thought, let’s do with what we have.”
我問導(dǎo)游Hiroki Fukushi“為什么當(dāng)時(shí)會(huì)選擇稻谷乳蓄？”他回答說“這個(gè)村子別的沒有只有大片的稻田咪橙，所以我們想那就用這些現(xiàn)成的稻谷吧⌒榈梗”
In this remote village of just more than 8,000 people, rice agriculture is a cornerstone of life. Rice has been cultivated in the area for around 2,000 years; Inakadate’s official flower isinenohana, or rice flower; and the village song also features the rice flower.
在這個(gè)人口只有八千多點(diǎn)的偏遠(yuǎn)小鎮(zhèn)上美侦，水稻種植是他們賴以生存的基礎(chǔ)。在這里魂奥，水稻的種植史已有差不多兩千年菠剩，田舍館村的村花就是稻花，并且村歌也以稻花為主題耻煤。
The first year, about 100 villagers helped to plant the rice there. The result was a simple geometric representation of nearby MIwakti, with the words ‘Rice Culture Village Inakadate’ in Japanese. Very few spectators turned up. Realising that they needed to create something more impressive, “every year, we increased the colours of rice plants that were used, and the technology for creating the art improved,” Asari said.
在第一年總共有大約100位村民幫忙種植水稻具壮，他們用簡(jiǎn)單的幾何圖形組成了附近Iwakti山的形狀，再配上幾個(gè)日文文字“稻田文化 田舍館村”哈蝇。當(dāng)時(shí)只有很少的人數(shù)前往參觀棺妓。人們意識(shí)到他們必須創(chuàng)造出更具影響力的圖像。"每年我們都會(huì)增加禾苗的顏色種類并提升制作技術(shù)炮赦。"Asari說道涧郊。
Atsushi Yamamoto, the art teacher at the village school, is in charge of drawing the plans.
Atsushi Yamamoto是村里學(xué)校的美術(shù)老師，他負(fù)責(zé)稻田里圖畫的設(shè)計(jì)眼五。
“My aunt worked at the village hall. In the year of Heisei 15 [2003], there was a plan to make a rice-paddy artwork of Mona Lisa, but it was complicated,” he explained. Unsure of how to create the more ambitious picture compared to the simple Mt Iwaki that they had been doing for 10 years, the village council came to seek his expertise.
“我姨媽在村公所工作。平成15年（2003年）彤灶，村里計(jì)劃在稻田里種出蒙娜麗薩的畫像看幼，但是這項(xiàng)工程太復(fù)雜了”。他說道幌陕。村子已經(jīng)在稻田里種了十年的Iwakti山簡(jiǎn)單幾何圖案诵姜，他們不知道該如何創(chuàng)造出更加精細(xì)的圖畫，于是村委會(huì)前來尋求Atsushi Yamamoto的幫助搏熄。
Yamamoto drew the Mona Lisa plans, with mixed success. The perspective was off, and some said that the famous mystery woman looked fat.
Yamamoto設(shè)計(jì)出蒙娜麗莎的稻田圖像棚唆，人們對(duì)此褒貶不一暇赤。畫面的透視效果并不好，有的人說這個(gè)有名的神秘女人看上去胖了點(diǎn)宵凌。
“At the beginning when I started rice paddy art, there were some failures, but after some trial and error, I gained experience, and now, the rice paddy art comes out the way it’s envisioned,” he said.
“在我剛開始創(chuàng)作稻田藝術(shù)的時(shí)候鞋囊，有過幾次失敗，但是在后來經(jīng)歷過更多的嘗試和失敗后瞎惫，我吸取了一些經(jīng)驗(yàn)×锔現(xiàn)在稻田里呈現(xiàn)的實(shí)際畫面跟設(shè)計(jì)稿一模一樣」侠”
The project has certainly come a long way since Mt Iwaki and Mona Lisa. The annual Tanbo art now has a planning process, which starts in autumn after rice harvest and is wrapped up in April, a month or so before planting commences, explained the village mayor, Koyu Suzuki.
這個(gè)藝術(shù)項(xiàng)目在Iwaki山和蒙娜麗莎之后取得了進(jìn)一步的進(jìn)展⊥σ妫現(xiàn)在每年的稻田藝術(shù)有了一個(gè)設(shè)計(jì)流程，從秋天收割完稻子后開始乘寒，一直到四月打包完成望众，此時(shí)距離開始種植還有一個(gè)月左右的時(shí)間。村長(zhǎng)Koyu Suzuki說道伞辛。
“The theme is decided at the Village Revitalization Promotion Council. We try to choose a design that will be enjoyable to many different people,” Suzuki said.
“畫面主題由村振興促進(jìn)委員會(huì)決定烂翰，我們盡量選擇大部分人都喜歡的圖像∈济”Suzuki說刽酱。
Next, Yamamoto makes the drawing, and a survey company in the village produces a computer-aided design (CAD) blueprint, which helps ensure that the perspective of the artwork will look right when viewed from the observation points.
接下來Yamamoto開始設(shè)計(jì)圖像，村里的一個(gè)調(diào)研公司會(huì)做出CAD圖紙瞧捌，這樣能夠確保從觀景點(diǎn)看去棵里，稻田里的圖像透視正確。
The planting occurs in late spring, and the paddies, in two locations in the village, grow from May to October. “There are 12 varieties of rice plants used, and seven colours. Right after planting the seeds, you can’t tell the difference between the colours, but once the rice plants start growing, you can tell the difference quite distinctly,” said Inakadate tourism section chief Masaru Fukushi, who is also in charge of paddy maintenance.
春末時(shí)分禾苗會(huì)在村里的兩處稻田里種下姐呐，然后從5月生長(zhǎng)到10月殿怜。“一共使用了12種水稻曙砂，共7種顏色头谜。剛種下去的時(shí)候是看不出顏色有何不同的，但是隨著水稻的長(zhǎng)大鸠澈，你能很清楚的辨認(rèn)出顏色來柱告。”田舍館村旅游事業(yè)部主管Masaru Fukushi說道笑陈，他同時(shí)也 負(fù)責(zé)維護(hù)稻田里的圖像际度。
The images begin to emerge from the mud sometime in June, but the living paintings reach peak splendour in July and August, when the viewing areas are crowded with spectators. From the humble numbers of the 1990s, a total of 340,000 visitors came to the two viewing sites in 2016. The town has even built a train station, Tanbo Art Station, and a special viewing tower to accommodate all the people.
圖像會(huì)在六月里的某一天拔地而起，但是要到七八月才能達(dá)到頂峰涵妥，那時(shí)周邊會(huì)聚集很多游客乖菱。前往兩處觀光點(diǎn)的游客數(shù)量從90年代少得可憐的幾人增長(zhǎng)成2016年的34萬(wàn)。鎮(zhèn)上甚至建造了一個(gè)火車站——稻田藝術(shù)火車站，還特設(shè)了一個(gè)可以容納所有人的觀景塔窒所。
The themes over the years have included scenes from Star Wars and Gone with the Wind, but increasingly, the villagers are tending toward Japanese motifs. In 2016, the year I visited, the main pictures were of Godzilla and actors from the TV drama Sanada Maru, a historical samurai show that was popular last year.
多年來圖像的主題包括取自《星球大戰(zhàn)》和《亂世佳人》的場(chǎng)景鹉勒，但是村民們逐漸傾向于具有日本元素的圖像。在我前往參觀的2016年吵取，當(dāng)年的主要圖像就是哥斯拉禽额，以及2015年人氣很高的歷史武士劇《真田丸》中的演員。
Suzuki was coy when I asked for a hint of this year’s artwork, but did say that “it will be a Japanese style design. Like something out of the Kojiki [Japan’s oldest extant text, dating from the 8th Century].”
當(dāng)我問及能否透露今年的主題時(shí)海渊，Suzuki 表現(xiàn)得很靦腆绵疲，但他說“今年的主題會(huì)走日本風(fēng)，和《古事記》有關(guān)（《古事記》是日本現(xiàn)存的最古老的文學(xué)作品臣疑，創(chuàng)作于8世紀(jì)）盔憨。”
The Kojiki and rice: what could be more quintessential Japan?
用稻谷展示的《古事記》讯沈，還會(huì)有什么比這個(gè)更加日本呢郁岩？
*原文來自BBC Travel頻道，僅做翻譯練習(xí)之用缺狠。*
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