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 The artist Mitsuaki
Tanabe brought a large drawing (9 x 1.3 meters) of a wild rice sprout
and 41 photographs related to wild rice to the International Conference
of Wild Rice held in Katmandu, capital of Nepal, in October 2002. This
conference was organized by the Green Energy Mission, a Nepalese NGO,
with the moral support of the International Rice Research Institute,
headquartered in Manila, and the Ministry of Agriculture of Nepal. Most
of the participants were scientists and agricultural experts, including
agronomists, biologists, and geneticists, so it was somewhat usual for
a person like Tanabe to participate.
Since Tanabe began
making sculpture on the theme of wild rice ten years ago, he has been
devoted to the study of this plant, visiting places where it originated
and current habitats in tropical areas of Asia. In 1922, together with
the agronomist Yoichi Sato, he advocated "in situ conservation of wild
rice habitats." Since then, he has shown works of art (mainly sculpture)
that support this policy. Wild rice is being preserved through ex situ
conservation and gene banks, but Tanabe is promoting the conservation
of wild rice in its natural habitat rather than cultivating it in a
place removed from nature.
 Institutions
outside of Japan that own works of art related to wild rice by Tanabe
include: The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Republic of Korea,
Seoul; Zhe Jiang Provincial Museum and He Mu Du Ruins Museum, China;
International Rice Research Institute headquarters; the royal house
of Thailand; Pathum Thani Rice Research Center, Department of Agriculture,
Thailand; Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Maryland, U.S.A; and the Central
Rice Research Institute, India. In preparation for making these works,
he has visited Yunan province in China, the Mekong River, and Banaue
in the Philippines, a world heritage site famous for its terraced rice
fields.
The photographs he
brought together with the drawing are pictures of the wild rice habitats
he has visited and inspected during these travels, the scholars and
scientists he has met, and conditions of wild rice sites and rice-related
customs and rituals he has observed in these areas. Tanabe's display
of art and photographs at the conference hall was designed to support
the civil organizations in Nepal who sponsored the first international
conference on wild rice. They will provide visual encouragement for
the proceedings of the conference and offer a beneficial message from
a higher perspective that transcends the narrow areas of interest of
the specialists.
One of the photographs,
for example, is a microphotograph of grains of wild rice excavated from
the ruins of He Mu Du, one of many ruins along the Chang Jiang (Yang-tze)
river basin, known as the oldest rice-growing area in the world. These
grains of wild rice found among grains of cultivated rice are 7000 years
old, the oldest authenticated rice grains ever. They were identified
in a joint study by a member of the staff of the Zhejiang Provincial
Museum in China and Dr. Sato after they were brought together by Tanabe.
Among the 86 grains of rice examined, five were grains of wild rice.
Judging from the high
proportion of wild rice in this sample, it is thought that wild rice
and cultivated rice were grown together in the early Neolithic period
7000 years ago. If this is the case, there must be an earlier period
in which wild rice was the main source of sustenance. The history and
culture of the people who use rice as their main food source have their
beginnings in wild rice. There are peoples who respect wild rice by
calling it "the father of rice," eating it in special rituals, and painting
pictures of rice and other crops with rice flour on the earthen walls
of their houses in the manner of the cave mural artists of Altamira.
Photographs of these are included in Tanabe's display.
 There
is a strong life force emitted by the rice grains from He Mu Du ruins
that is truly amazing. The ruins are found in a low lying area, so the
old strata under the ground water level are airtight and well suited
to the preservation of buried artifacts. Even so, it was remarkable
that the 7000-year-old rice grains had kept a golden color until they
were excavated. There is something awe-inspiring about the appearance
of the wild rice grains photographed under a microscope. They had carbonized
after excavation but were gold plated by a special process for the photograph.
Traces of the pointed beard are clearly visible, and there is a sense
of vitality in the bristles and rigid bumps and hollows on the surface.
The fibrous material covering the surface is seen under the microscope
to be intricately intertwined, presenting a grotesque appearance that
is as much like an animal as a plant.
Tanabe's drawing effectively
expresses this mysterious life force of the rice grain. He intended
this drawing as an accurate representation to be presented to scientists,
placing the model rice grain under a microscope and drawing it from
close and careful observation. However, the result is not an ordinary
realistic illustration of the kind that appears in botany textbooks
but a bold form extending across the large sheet of paper like an animal
ready to attack, hair on end, teeth bared, and sharpening its claws.
There is more to it than super-realism. The artist has tried to give
visual form to the invisible power contained within a single grain of
rice that cannot be seen with a camera or under a microscope.
The wild rice of the
Chang Jiang river basin eventually disappeared because of changes in
climate, but the cultivated rice that inherited its indomitable vitality
showed great adaptability. Through the patient labor of many people,
it spread and conquered the warm regions of the world.
Tanabe's drawing is
a large image, blown up to a size that reflects the artist's deep love
and respect for this grain of wild rice, a source of sustenance and
a concentrated form of life. The image expresses the generosity and
depth of his thinking, observing and understanding the significance
of preserving the habitat of wild rice and passing it on to later generations.
The value of Tanabe's
thought and art were recognized by Dr. Klaus Lampe, former director
of the International Rice Research Institute. Tanabe was invited to
the institute to create a large sculpture, Momi 1994, Sprouting Wild
Rice, for the new Learning and Vistors Center, using 8 tons of red lauan
wood. On the occasion of a research conference, Japan IRRI Day, in Tokyo
that same year, Tanabe was asked by Dr. Lampe to create a display of
his own design in Nikkei Hall, the site of the conference. Tanabe made
a new drawing of a wild rice grain of the same size as the current work
and displayed two forged stainless steel sculptures portraying wild
rice seeds to create an appropriate atmosphere for the meeting. Then,
after a proposal by Tanabe and the agreement of everyone present, these
works were presented to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
of Thailand, the sponsor of the conference.
 Immediately
after the conference, in situ conservation of wild rice was adopted
as a special project of the royal house of Thailand, and Tanabe participated
in this project by creating two wild rice sculptures for the Pathum
Thani Rice Research Center in Thailand. One of these sculptures, created
in 1997, was a large outdoor monument to wild rice. It was made of forged
stainless steel and measured 33 meters in length.
The mission of in
situ conservation of wild rice is specifically to preserve the natural
habitat of wild rice, which is gradually being destroyed in recent years
because of excessive economic development. From a wider perspective,
however, it is also a proposal for overall preservation of the natural
environment and the diversity of life. The natural habitat of rice,
a water plant, is mainly found in wetlands, around lakes, rivers, and
marshes, so this movement is inevitably involved with the many environmental
issues related to water. These habitats are also watering places and
foraging areas for animals, including elephants, rhinoceroses, and water
buffalo. Many different kinds of animals are born in or come to these
places. In situ conservation is important for maintaining the diversity
of the animal population as well as preserving wild rice. Unfortunately,
there are as yet no scientists specifically studying the varied animal
life of wild rice habitats.
In order to comment
on this situation, Tanabe has been using symbolic animals - birds, insects,
centipedes, and spiders -- as the subjects of his recent work. Examples
include the great snake of Mekong River (installed on the grounds of
Yokohama Municipal Shimoda Elementary School) and the figure of the
large lizard with the word "Crisis" engraved on its legs. These reptiles
are symbolic because they signal the danger of extinction. There are
a number of interesting snapshots connected with these recent works
displayed in the conference center in Katmandu.
One photograph shows
the habitat in Bhubaneshwar, East India. A thin man is seen wandering
through the parched wetlands in the dry season, parting dry stalks of
wild rice with a stick. Wearing a white turban and a white robe, he
has the appearance of someone like Moses or Aaron from the Old Testament.
He has the serene air of someone who lives in harmony with nature, a
grace that almost seems religious.
 However,
this man is not a prophet or anything of the sort. He is a farmer looking
for tortoises, poking the ground with his stick as he walks along. And
this seemingly innocuous (or pleasurable) action could very well lead
to a crisis, the extinction of the animals.
Tanabe wishes to dedicate
the drawing, signed by all the participants in the conference to indicate
their support for in situ wild rice conservation, to the abundant natural
environment of Nepal, calling it Himalayan Project No. 1.
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