Photos

This is the overall shot of the diorama...

This is the Torii - the gate into the shrine, built from some dowels and wood from my train collection...

Here is getting in a little closer, to the left is the basin used to cleanse yourself before entering the shrine.  The water is still drying and hopefully will be dry and not so cloudy/white by the time he presents on Wednesday....

The lions are Komainu - they are the guardians of the shrine and help keep the evil out.  The poles are green bamboo (and we used real bamboo skewers to make them), and the "ropes" between them are sacred shimenawa that indicate the presence of the shrine itself.  The pole with the zig-zagged paper is the yorishiro, which attracts the kami.  Kami is a difficult term to really quantify for us westerners, but they are kind of like gods, but not really.  

A couple more photos

Here you can see the komainu, shimenawa and yorishiro better, as well as the steps up to the main area...

And one shot peering through the trees at the one komainu...

That is fantastic!

What grade level is your son in? That is a really creative idea from the teacher's end and from your son's.

 Thanks so much for sharing that, it really lifted my day!

Grade 12

This is for Grade 12 religious studies class.  There have been some pretty creative (and intense) projects from some of the other kids, too.  I'm sure this is one of the highlights of this teacher's year to see what the kids come up with.  

Very nice work. To bad you

Very nice work. To bad you couldn't incorporate the whole thing into your layout. It would be a great honor for your son.

Grade 12!!!

Your son is in Grade 12!?  Where does the time go?

That is a great looking diorama!

Thinking of a change in prototype Dave?

Regards,

Indeed, where does the time go?

It doesn't seem that long ago I posted the blog about he and I taking a real train from Edmonton to Saskatoon.  Now he looks down on me, though I still have 100+ pounds on him.

It would be interesting to see if I could incorporate it into the layout somehow.  Maybe have a Shinkansen streaking by!  The possible problem is that this is really scaled more closely to S than HO, but removing the structures and turning it into a park, perhaps with a gazebo where the "fenced" area is, or even a cemetery might be an idea...

Does he Railroad too?

Very nice and very cool.  Good to see a teacher giving the students an opportunity to be creative and exercise their minds.  Too much "teaching to the test" these days.  Congrats to your son on job very well done. 

Jeff EL Marion 2nd Sub 1964

You could remove

You could remove the  shimenawa and turn the rest of it into a park entrance, zoo entrance, ect. Use the Torii to hold a sign for the park, zoo, or whatever. 

Good thoughts, Tim!

I'm going to have to consider that, for sure.  Would be a neat addition.

Jeff, he was quite into trains when he was younger (especially Thomas), but he's not as into them now.  He did enjoy a lot of this project, though, so he might come back to it, especially if I ever get working on a permanent layout.