Oniki Tanada Festival

The Oniki Tanada Festival is held every year on the first day of autumn. Oniki Tanada are the terraced rice paddies in a town about 30 minutes east of Sasebo called Hasami.  The festival is a celebration of fall and the main event is a scarecrow contest. We saw a few dozen scarecrows but there had to have been at least 100 on the winding streets through the paddies.

 

Here is my favorite scarecrow with the festival in the background.

 

There were lots of Olympic themed scarecrows. Most had a picture of the actual athlete who won beside them.

 



I liked this group of 3 because of the scarecrow tending her field in the background.

 

There was a voting booth set up to see which scarecrow was the winner. We weren't around until the end when they announce it, but I'd love to find out which one won.



 

 

The Hasami area was just beautiful! There were many waterways like this one that ran down the mountain. You can see some of the terraced rice paddies, too.

 



 Leo posed with a fan.

 

 

We had some homemade Udon noodles for lunch - yum!

 

 

This is how you eat Udon if you're one.

 

 

Thanks Oniki Tanada, we'll be back next autumn!