Fall traditions: scarecrow competitions

It is not only common to find scarecrows in rice fields in fall, you will also find that some of the displays are actually competitions too. If you see a line of several scarecrows in a field, there's a high chance they are competition entries. The best scarecrow wins! Generally, in my experience, September is the best month to see the entries for scarecrow competitions. However, you can usually sometimes see some in October too. 

In my local area in Saitama Prefecture there are three different scarecrow competitions annually in September. Two are displayed in rice fields, one at a community center parking lot! Furthermore, some of the high schools have a scarecrow competition, also in September in my experience, and then they display the scarecrows students made outside the school for all to enjoy. 

Another place you can see scarecrows is at some flower festivals. The featured photo in this post was taken at a flower festival. If you are going to Kinchakuda to see the famous red spider lilies, keep an eye out for the scarecrows there too! They display a few in September annually in the center of the horse shoe shaped park, by the vegetable and rice fields.

In addition, its not unusual for farmers to put one or two scarecrows in their fields at this time of year in Saitama. Particularly in rural areas where there are a lot of rice and vegetable fields. Moreover, Saitama Prefecture actually has an all year round scarecrow village too!

Can you see scarecrows / entries for scarecrow competitions in your area at this time of year?