scarecrows in Japan

Scarecrows in Japan

♫Do you wanna build a … scarecrow!? “They” say that you should delete or unpublish blog posts that aren’t performing because they drag your website ranking down. But this is one post I can’t bring myself to remove from my blog even though it gets very little traffic. Because I like scarecrows! And in Japan there is such a great selection of scarecrows its a shame not to have at least a few photos of them out there. Did you know, here in Saitama there’s even a whole village of scarecrows? Its on my bucket list to visit, but I haven’t got there yet.

Scarecrows in Japan

Every September, for as long as I’ve been living in Saitama (7 years), the rice fields behind the Kawagoe Toys-r-us on Route 254, have a fine display of scarecrows. This is the first year I’ve managed to do more than view from a distance and drove through the small rice field roads to get a few photos. I had a sleeping baby in the car so we didn’t get out of the car to see them up close and personal. You might get some ideas for Halloween Costumes…

A friendly oni (demon) Scarecrows 2013 in Japan
A friendly oni (demon)
Shaun the Sheep Scarecrow Scarecrows in Japan 2013
Shaun the Sheep Scarecrow
Monsters Inc Scarecrows in Japan
Monsters Inc Scarecrow

The kids favourite was this friendly demon, called an oni in Japan, 鬼さん. Many children in Japan are terrified of this type of demon, which is usually depicted angry and menancing. They liked that he was smiling and waving. They also appreciated the Shaun the Sheep Scarecrow. It looks like an easy enough Halloween costume too. Pity I didn’t bring an Aran Sweater from Ireland! The Monsters Inc costumes look a little more time consuming.

Samurai Scarecrow / Halloween Costume scarecrows in Japan
Samurai Scarecrow / Halloween Costume

After seeing this Samurai Scarecrow I am inspired to make a samurai costume. It doesn’t look too hard.

Tending to flowers

I love the grey hair on the Obachan (granny)!

Her skirt is made out of crisp packets!
Her skirt is made out of crisp packets!

Good idea to make a skirt out of crisp packets, just not very practical!

Spiderman Scarecrow/ Halloween Costume
Spiderman Scarecrow/ Halloween Costume

Spiderman isn’t the easiest costume to make, top points for effort on this one.

A Japanese high school student
A Japanese high school student

School girl costumes were very popular in Ireland when I was growing up. They are easy to make if you have a high school student in the house.

Your guess is as good as mine!
Your guess is as good as mine!

This scarecrow is bent over, so son remarked how it was like he was leaning in the window to give us directions. Maybe that was the aim!

Obachans and Ojichans hanging out in the fields!
Obachans and Ojichans hanging out in the fields!

This is my personal favourite. From a distance it looked like a group of Obachans and Ojichans taking a break from a hard day in the rice fields.

Incidentally, the scarecrows weren’t doing much scaring. There were blackbirds everywhere. I wish I’d thought to take a photo of them! A few more photos hereafter;

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From another year:

Do you like scarecrows? Do you have any in your city / town / village?

No Comments

  1. I love this! It’s like a little showcase of local artistry.
    In my hometown, there was always the giant rolled bale of hay with “legs” sticking out of it.

    1. Author

      Haha! That sounds fun. I think its lovely the locals take the time to make and display the scarecrows.

      Thanks for the follow and the comment. 😀

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