Review of Torahime Rice Paddy Art in Nagahama City and the Measurement of the Changes in Rice Leaf Color

Abstract

Rice field art is a huge artwork of figures or letters drawn in the rice field by planting rice cultivars that have leaf color mutations or colored panicles. These rice cultivars show many kinds of leaf or panicle colors, such as yellow, purple, white or red, but the time at which the colors appear varies with both the rice cultivar and the environment of cultivation. We surveyed the rice field art in Torahime District in Nagahama City and the changes of the rice leaf colors. The changes of rice leaf colors were evaluated using a color measuring instrument, and anthocyanin and green color meters. The leaf colors and the time the color appeared for each rice cultivar are reported in this paper.