Scarecrow Crusader

As a minor Tokyo bureaucrat, Senji Kataoka, 53, spends the week doing public relations chores for the Ministry of Agriculture. But every Sunday during the harvest season, he becomes an Oriental Quixote--a tireless crusader against the urban sprawl that is fast destroying Japan's rural beauty. Armed with three cameras, he mounts his Honda and chugs off to perform his duties as president (and sole member) of the Japan Scarecrow Institute. His mission: to save and celebrate scarecrows, "the silent critics of this country's devastating environmental disruptions."

Designed to scare off rice-eating sparrows. Japan's scarecrows are being replaced by smelly chemical repellents and automatic noisemakers. Kataoka believes the modern substitutes work no better than the time-honored field dummies. Moreover, he says, the decline in scarecrows is a blow to rural charm. "Scarecrows," he declares, "are the final remains of our ancestral sense of aesthetics--delicate without being pretentious, colorful yet never loud."

Kataoka was smitten by scarecrows 25 years ago, when he conducted an official study to confirm their effectiveness. He has since motorcycled all over the country, praising and photographing his favorite examples. In his modest home he has classified and filed away 3,000 photos, the best of which he will display at a Tokyo exhibit this month.

"After World War II, our scarecrows were grim and military," he says. "Many wore steel helmets and discarded uniforms." Then came an "American period"--mechanized scarecrows with waving arms affixed to crude clockwork. Now that Japan is more affluent, scarecrows are more elaborate. Some wear business suits; others, inspired by TV films, simulate fierce samurai warriors and angry student demonstrators.

Whenever Kataoka spots a fine specimen, he not only takes pictures but gives a pep talk as well. "Let's build more scarecrows," he tells bemused farmers. "Yours is great, but you could improve next year by adding a little more color here and a little more shape there."

Kataoka's quest is not always rewarded. While traveling by train across Kyushu one day, he glimpsed a "great masterpiece" standing in a paddyfield. Hurrying back to the field, he was surprised to find the beauty gone. After questioning nearby farmers, he found the sad answer: the splendid scarecrow was only the village elder in a moment of meditation.

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