Portraits From Nagoro, the Scarecrows’ Village

In the heart of Iya Valley, in Tokushima Prefeture, lies Nagoro, the Scarecrow Village. Half a ghost-town, half a still inhabited place, Nagoro’s main population is composed by about 300 scarecrows spread all around the village.

When Ayano Tsukimi, so the story goes, came back to her birthplace she discovered that the population had dwindled, leaving behind deserted houses, full of remnants of past lives.

Ayano san soon realised that the trend was not going to stop, this is why she started creating – and continues to do so – ‘friendly-looking scarecrows’ to replace the people who left.

The word ‘scarecrow’, though, does not do the place justice. The puppets are not intended to scare away sparrows and other birds, but rather to serve as silent companions for Nagoro’s remaining 30 inhabitants and to attract tourists to this otherwise remote location. The marketing strategy worked pretty well. Notwithstanding the remoteness of the place, it is visited by tourists from all over and youtube has plenty of videos about this village.

The puppets, I won’t call it ‘scarecrows’, replicate the daily routing of the villagers. So, some of them farm…

…some others fish…

…some enjoy a moment of tranquillity on their own…

…or under the watchful eye of a parent…

Actually though, but maybe this is just because of the photo was taken in black and white, some puppets look creepy…

…or sad.

Although Nagoro is far from the usual tourist routes, it is not impossible to get there. Especially If you’re visiting Japan for the first time, you’ll probably take the standard Tokyo-Kyoto-Osaka tour. So, by extending your journey down to Kobe and then Okayama, you can take a train to Oboke. From there, you can either hire a taxi or take a bus to Nagoro, while enjoying the natural beauty of the area during the trip.

A word to the wise, though. Be sure to book the roundtrip ticket for the Okayama-Oboke-Okayama route because Oboke station is small and has very limited staff. They are friendly and speak a little English, but in case on need things may be a little difficult. Also, be sure to have a tick wad of 1000 yen notes as the ticket machine only accepts these and it may be complicated to get a change for larger notes.

Post Scriptum: all photos were taken with a Nikon 35TI and a Ferrania P30, and some of them have been used to create an AI-powered animation. by Alessia Ambrosini, a director and producer who does magic with these technologies.

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