In Winter, Cultivate the Mind: SnowArt in Echigo-Tsumari
By Ysabelle Cheung
View of the snow-blanketed Japanese Alps in Echigo-Yuzawa, Niigata prefecture, en route to the Echigo-Tsumari art field. All photos by Ysabelle Cheung for ArtAsiaPacific
Starting in December every year, miles of arable pastures in Niigata prefecture, Japan, begins transformation from fragrant, jade-green grasslands to misty, powdery snow country. Stretching from southwest to northeast along the Sea of Japan, the area’s hibernation under meters of snow is an annual event and is caused by clouds pushing against the mountain ranges of Honshu island; the humid fog is then perforated by Siberian breezes, resulting in thick, dreamy blizzards.
