Sad news from our friend Ruaraidh Sackville Hamilton, IRRI’s genebank manager.
With sadness I [share] this news about the death of Mitsuaki Tanabe, famed for his lifetime of work promoting the conservation of rice diversity through sculpting and drawing huge grains of wild rice. Many of you frequently, perhaps daily, see the works that he donated to IRRI, FAO, the Crop Trust, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and others. He is surely unique in the way he used his artistic talents to further the cause of rice conservation, and the dedication he showed to both.
My own strongest memory of him is his enthusiastic participation in a scientific meeting organized by the Green Energy Mission in Nepal in 2002 on the conservation of wild rice. He donated a 10 metre long drawing of a wild rice grain, which all participants signed. An exceptional person.
Mr Tanabe was 76. He established a museum for his work last year in Yokohama. This is him seated by the sculpture he donated to the Crop Trust in 2006. It’s on the second floor of the FAO building in Rome, facing the Viale Aventino.
It is very sad indeed to here of Tanabe San’s passing.
I had the pleasure of sharing many moments with him here in the Northern Territory. he worked tirelessly for many months over the past 9 years carving native animals in the granite on the Arnhem Highway (120km east of Darwin, Australia) Sadly his last work is incomplete.
82mt carving in granite of a wild rice stalk.
We will miss him sorely.
Lynda
I had the pleasure of working with Tanabe San when he visited IRRI, Philippines to repair his MOMI (7 ton wooden sculpture of a wild rice germinating seed) at Riceworld Museum. He is a marvelous man and a passionate and incredible artist. You will always be remembered and honored.
Sad news indeed! I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Tanabe last year when he donated two sculptures to Bioversity. One of a wild banana that is hung outside the Sakura meeting room of our Rome office (required retrofitting of the wall and foundation to support its weight), and a smaller piece of a wild banana seed that graces our foyer in the Montpellier office.
Our sympathies to Mr. Tanabe’s family, and a continued thanks for bridging science, agriculture and the arts – a reminder we get every day as we enter the office.
Fabrice
J’apprends aujourd’hui seulement sa disparition. J’éprouve bien évidemment de la tristesse. J’ai eu à le connaître au cours d’un voyage en train en direction de Paris, il y a de cela au moins 45 ans. Je me souviens qu’il portait une énorme sac à dos rouge. Et, aujourd’hui encore, je retrouve la carte qu’il m’avait laissée en souvenir de notre rencontre et quelques mots écrits en japonais avec son adresse, à l’époque au 477. J’ai souvent pensé de lui rappeler vivement
ce voyage et je le regrette car , déjà à l’époque de son jeune âge, c’était quelqu’un de très humain. Ce devait être sa nature.. Le train de la vie serait arrivé en laissant derrière lui , de son “sac à dos”, une magnifique œuvre. Avec sincérité de cœur à sa famille et consolation.
Antoine BORG