Japanese Straw Monsters

Growing up, we'd go to the beach every year to see the sand sculpture competitions.  How did it never occur to me that people would do the same thing with straw?

Every year, farming communities in Japan's Kagawa and Niigata prefectures hold a Straw Art Festival, where artists create sculptures out straw left over from the rice harvest.

Now, we've all heard the "3 Little Pigs" enough to ask the important questions. How do the sculptures withstand the elements, let alone babies and dogs climbing all over the place? All the wolf had to do was huff...and puff...and he blew the house down.

Well let me tell you a thing. These sculptures aren't just piles of straw, but wooden frames upon which the hay is laid. (Arguably the little pig also did the same thing but this analogy is spiraling way out of control so we'll lay it to rest like dried grass on an arrangement of dead tree.) Just look at the pretty pictures - that's what the Internet is for, right?

via My Modern Metropolis

Japanese Straw Monsters