Scholartly: Torii Gate Art Lesson

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Torii Gates are found in Japan to identify the entrance to sacred places. Since I made a Torii gate out of paper in my class room I thought it would be fun to have a lesson so students would understand what it is.


Torii gate in my classroom.

I started the lesson with this presentation, discussing the importance of Torii Gates and where they are found. Students observed and commented on the appearance, colors, etc.

Torii gates from CaramelBun

Students were very interested in the Torii Gate from Miyajima Island so I found a video that tours the island temple.

With all the information learned, and the images in their minds I showed students how to build a mini Torii Gate out of craft sticks. Each student needs 4. When they were done, we left them on the side to dry and started the mountain and the temple. The stairs were a bit tricky, but most of them got them right. I then let them add details to their landscape. Some asked if Godzilla was Japanese, so they added him to the drawing. Others remembered cherry blossom trees and added those, while others wanted to do a sea to imitate the Miyajima Torii Gate in the water.

Next class, they colored the Torii Gates since they were dry, and they were careful to only use colors real Torii Gates have: red/red-orange, brown (wood) or gray (stone). Once their drawings were colored, and their Torii gates dry and colored they glued them to the paper.