GPS art of a snake drawn at one of Yamagata’s popular Hatsumode spot🐍✨
This GPS art course takes you to the area around Uga Shrine, a Yamagata’s spot associated with snakes, where you can draw a snake, the animal of the Chinese zodiac.
Uga Shrine, located in the town of Mikawa in Yamagata Prefecture, has a legend of a snake. About 200 years ago, a two-headed snake appeared from a straw nio that washed ashore during a flood in the Aka River, and was enshrined as the messenger god of Uga Shrine. The villagers heard the sound of rice cakes being made during the night, and when they investigated, they found a lion’s head inside the Nio, which was then passed down to the lion dance. There is also an anecdote about a young man who appeared at the time of a fire and saved the family’s property, and was regarded as an incarnation of the god. The tradition that Nio was swept away by a flood and returned to its original position and that a white snake appears as a god have deepened the belief in the village.
Since 2025 is the Year of the Snake, Uga Shrine may become a popular spot. Please try it during your first visit to the temple 🐍✨
DETAIL (EXTERNAL LINK)
A PIONEER IN GPS ART.
1st work was authorized by Guinness World Records as “the Largest GPS Drawing”.
He is the only Japanese person to be featured in a Google documentary as an innovator. He is fascinated by the idea of drawing with GPS and has published more than 2,500 works.
