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I don't know about you guys, but from what I read about the assassin shinobi clan and the feudal knight samurai clan being allied under the banner of one shogunate, I made the assumption that none of this was actually intended to reflect actual Japanese history. Not entirely sure why we're picking out the small anachronistic details here when the largest, most obvious one remains as the founding basis of the rest.

Yah, this is seriously clever. Perhaps it's not enough to supply a product line of dirt pillars, but it's certainly a better use for LEGO pneumatics than the trapdoors and disk shooters that where included in the sets. Brickshelf user Tanotrooper also has a nice design for the "Toph" character if you interested. A squidward torso and KKI gray-eyed head might also be in order....

Ah, very impressive legion, mate. Not sure how well the scimitars fit in the Far East Asian setting, but I think that green ninja should keep his neon spider variety raised up just a little more to hide the "Zhongwen" printed on his tunic. Wouldn't want him to be convicted as Chinese spy, now would we? He probably wouldn't take the order for sepukku very well, either....

Yes, I did indeed incorporate (and even expand) the tea house. Thanks for your appreciation, WhiteFang. Thank you for thoughtful comments. You're right about the lamps, they're traditional Japanese stone lanterns. More decorative than practical, actually. I'll try and get some more photos in response to this demand here, but I might want to wait until after the contest entry has been accepted by CC, for I don't want to mess around with my photo count in fear of rule breaking..... Sandy and Tiny Pies mentioned the name of gate, it's a torii, a relic of Shinto spiritualism. And yes, these last couple posts have been pointing that out a lot, I did include that tea house I made a while ago, named for the titular feudal rank of lordship, daimyo. Thanks. Ah, thank you. It's only a shame I didn't take the good quality pictures you see here in time for the contest...

I have enjoyed that the three winners just consecutively posted in the order that they placed. Cheers on the victory, guys.

Hmm...Good question; man or woman. I've used a somewhat manly head, but I suppose it still could pass for a woman even so...Thanks. Yeah, Josh was very kind to blog that there. Thanks! Thank you for the thoughtful comments, Sandy. I had thought of taking a picture birds eye sort of picture from the top the main castle fortification looking out so that you got a view of all the roof tiers layered on top of each other, but since the CCC only allows three photographs, I decided to take the ones with the most detail as possible. You risk has been worth the gamble. And the flowering tree that's back by the waterfall is indeed intended to be a sakura cherry while the dark red one by the rice paddy is meant to be a Japanese Maple. Thanks again, everyone, your feedback is appreciated very much.

Ahoy. This one's a CCCVI entry, and while it's not intended to be the White Heron Castle, Himeji-jō, it has definitely been inspired by it. The angled angled wall technique has been inspired by Exotrator. Death Eater head usage inspired by Shadow Viking, black visor armor courtesy of Monkfish44. Thank you.

29. Exotrator 31. Fat Tony 36. Lord King of Everything Exo - Tony - Some of the angles on the photographs obscure the subject piece, but nice details like that much loved roofing technique, extensive use of SNOT, and effective portrayal of varied methods of piratical cruelty sell this for me. Lord King - I really like the unique inclusion of the subterranean hideout, the galleon is very finely crafted, and I find the islander sorcerer perched upon the rocky cliff summoning up the kraken to be an enchantingly cinematic display. My only gripes include some rough edges and the lack of white breakers emanating from the point of the sea monster's subaqueous emergence.

Several years ago I read a book called "Red Kayak" by an author named Priscilla Cummings. It featured Lego as a recurrent prop throughout the plot, in particular referring to the Aquanauts theme by name, but unfortunately pluralizing the brand as "LEGOs".....

I'm not entirely sure whether or not this has been mentioned previously, but I'm about eighty percent sure that the Dooku hair will look like this - It's the only piece from the Chandler, Arizona display case that hasn't yet been released (Photograph courtesy of Nadroj). Excuse me if this has already been referenced.

16. Nadroj 13. RichardAM 9. Majek

Oh yeah? Try ignoring me now. Cheers!

7. Fat Tony 14. Majek 20. Matn Many thanks to all the participants and hosts!

Welcome, welcome! I'm sure you'll enjoy it here, just make sure to stay away from our hazardously opulant supply of lead based paint chips......

Please note one more very generous transaction on the behalf of Exobuilder. Thanks again, my friend!

It's the work of a Japanese builder known to the online community as "Izzo".

Ah, I've used these for some other websites before and they're been very useful, but I probably won't need it here considering I'll be checking the frontage anyway on a nearly daily basis as a contributor to the blog. However, I am very sure others here could find this really useful, so thanks for coordinating this for us - especially those tutorials for its introduction into Firefox, Facebook and Feedreader. All those screenshots must have taken quite a little bit of time!

I hope you're aware that this builder hasn't logged in for almost two years now. I find it very unlikely that he would make a sudden return to settle your query or read your compliments.

Thanks so much for sharing that martial arts knowledge of yours, Captain Tau. Intrigued by you tip about the katana rack, I went on to run a few google searches on the topic only to find a good number of conflicting statements! Even I myself wonder whether that technicality is dictated by one's manual dexterity, for a left handed daimyo lord it might be easier to draw as is. Thanks again to all else, it was also interesting to hear your conflicting opinion, Mr. Kenobi, I can see where you're coming from but yet feel that that the increased clutter constitutes further realism, which I don't feel is a terrible thing here.

Nah, I think I'm the one that's four months late.

With pleasure!

The masonry is definitely the highlight of the splendor. I did see this magnificent piece on The Bother's Brick earlier today, however I was reluctant to bring it here as I couldn't figure out whether it was actually intended by the builder to be pirate themed or not. To me, the historical context seems rather mismatched and after performing a few Google searches I have been lead to wonder whether it is in fact somehow based off of wordy and historical inspiration or rather that of Warhammer, a tabletop game fantasy universe about which I know very little.....

Thanks very much, guys. Here's another shot of the bridge I just uploaded -

Thanks again everyone, and you're probably right about the small size that defines "bonsai". And uh, today I have another update - flickr link.

Thanks, I am indeed continuing to update, however I've gotten caught up in some other things first including the expansion of my Japanese teahouse so it's likely that pictures of those will be coming before more of this. Thank you. Thank you so much Mr. B, it's always so great to read your comments, regardless of their timing. It's also interesting to hear that you think my Western creations are my pinnacle along with that old old Halloween diorama - I don't get such solid statements of opinion very often. Thanks again, everyone!