Gyoda city north of the Japanese capital Tokyo has earned a reputation for creating some of the world's largest works of art.
The pieces formed in rice paddies by carefully planting crops in patterns measuring about 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres), have been a tourist draw since 2018. But in 2021, the agricultural artists set out to highlight Japan's cultural heritage during the Tokyo Olympics. Gyoda city official Shuhei Tagashira says about 1,000 people helped plant the living installations including those featuring an iconic Katsushika Hokusai woodblock image of a wave near Mount Fuji and another of a kabuki actor in striking face paint.
