Tag Archives: Japan

From samurai and ninjas to giant mecha like Gundam or the beautiful films of Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese history and culture inspire LEGO builders all over the world. With contributors fluent in Japanese, The Brothers Brick also brings you coverage of the people and events in the large LEGO fan community in Japan itself.

Calming tea to go from this adorable shop

When you look at this cute corner shop with a cherry tree in full blossom by JakobKaiserMOCs the attention to detail stands out, from the scattering of pink flower elements as fallen blossoms to the balcony on the second floor with a small bird perched on the railing. I think my favorite detail is the roof pattern, made using baseplates from the Dungeons and Dragons collectible minifigure series.

Cozy Corner

Jakob built this model live on camera, which you can go back and watch to learn about the techniques or find zen.

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Jumpei Mitsui rings out the end of an era with a massive Danjiri shrine

When we first featured builder Jumpei Mitsui 18 years ago, he was the fresh-faced star of Japan’s LEGO King Championship TV show and, soon after, the youngest person to earn the title LEGO Certified Professional builder. Now, on the eve of returning to school for a master’s program in artistic expression, Jumpei reveals his latest creation, a nearly life-size Danjiri cart buitl entirely of LEGO bricks. Carts like these, modeled on shrines, are paraded around town during Danjiri Matsuri festivals where different neighborhoods compete in pulling their decorated cart through the streets while chanting furiously. Jumpei recreates the intricate hand-carved woodworking in brick, as well as lantern decorations with flower prints and kanji script.

Jumpei, who specializes in large-scale creations (like this jaw-dropping model of the battleship Yamato), starts with a sketch, but then free-builds everything by hand. This project, consisting of over 200,000 bricks and weighting over 200kg, took six months to complete. When working on large-scale projects, Jumpei has an assistant who should be quite familiar to fans of the site – Moko – one of the most prolific and impressive mecha builders around whose we’ve featured going back nearly 20 years!

Jumpei’s creation is currently on display at the Sumiyoshi Danjiri museum in Kobe. Congratulations on this masterpiece, and best of luck in the next chapter of your art education!

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LEGO lifestyles of the rich and famous, Edo edition

When the all-star builders of RogueBricks came together to recreate Edo era Japan in an epic LEGO collaboration last fall, the results blew the building community away. We shared an overview of the full collaboration, but now Markus Ronge offers a more detailed look at his contribution, a Goza Bune. Basically a pleasure yacht of the feudal lord (think Jabba’s Sail Barge or megayacht of kindred spirit Jeff Bezos), the boat offered all the luxuries of palace life with a side of sea sickness. For the craft’s design,  there are few historical references to work from so Markus drew inspiration from several sources to create a composite that captured the spirit of the era.

"Goza Bune" – Rogue Ronin Collab

Come along to see more of Markus’ remarkable Edo-era pleasure yacht

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Music box bear causes cuteness overload in LEGO

Builder Jeunet came to LEGO as an adult in Japan shopping for their child, and in the years since they’ve found ongoing delight through the sharing of builds that combine music, cuteness, and everyday objects. Like this adorable bear playing a music box from a carousel unicorn!

The builder has a knack for finding joy in the mundane, with miniature MOCs that share the spirit of specificity you find from Gashapon machines in Japan. In addition to building, Jeunet also performs the violin music on their channel. Cozy kawaii comfort viewing.

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LEGO all-stars bring Edo-era Japan to life in LEGO in epic collab

Each year the RogueBricks community, home to many of Europe’s most accomplished LEGO builders, comes together for a collaborative build. This year’s endeavor is an immersive recreation of the Japanese city of Kumamoto during the Edo Period built atop a whopping 170 base plates (that’s 2.5 x 4.3 meters!). The massive diorama depicts the coastal city in autumn and is packed with details of life during the Tokugawa shogunate, including scenes telling the story of the famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi.

Rogue Ronin – A RogueBricks Collaboration

Attendees were treated to motorized elements and integrated lighting, as well as informative plaques describing the history captured in bricks. As a bonus easter egg for young visitors, 10 Ninjago charaters were hidden in the build. Like 2023’s Rogue Odyssey collaboration, the project took home first prize for collaborations from both jury and audience. We’ve highlighted several contributions in recent weeks, but only now can we share the complete build thanks to Hannes Tscharner. Extended highlights and builder credits follow.

Read on for a full tour of this tour de force!

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LEGO Shinto shrine offers solace in the snow

I’ve never visited Japan in winter, but it sure looks lovely in LEGO in this scene from BrickiboT. The Shinto shrine is entered via a gate in the rōmon style, which BrickiboT achieved in LEGO using 10 nets sandwiched between 1×1 red tiles on the bottom and 1×1 curves on top. (that’s over 3000 pieces just for the curved roof sections alone!) Inside the gate stand brick-built statues of Fuijin and Raijin, the gods of wind and storms.

Romon

A look at the full complex reveals more details of Shinto tradition, like the wooden ema tablets where wishes are written, strung up, and later burned.

Shinto temple

BrickiboT created this scene as part of the Roguebricks LUG 2024 Rogue Ronin collaboration at Bricking Bavaria. We also loved these entries from Mark van der Maarel and felix-workshop.

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Fall leaves when snow falls in LEGO

There is so much to appreciate about Mark van der Maarel‘s Edo-era Japanese diorama in LEGO, but it’s the red leaves against the newly fallen white snow that draw me in like an ukiyo-e woodblock print. The central cottage is charming and full of details of everyday life. A bundle of reeds over the window made from broom elements is a great touch. Towering over the cottage is an incredible wall made of interlocking brick-built stones (Mark gives credit to collaborator Marshall Banana for this technique). Down by the river, a woodcutter kneels as a samurai approaches on horseback. While Mark doesn’t offer a story, I imagine the woodcutter has a blade hidden in the cottage and soon leaves won’t be the only red splashes in the snow.

Rogue Ronin

Mark’s build was part of the Rogue Ronin collaboration displayed at the Bricking Bavaria event in Germany where over 30 members of the Rogue Bricks community participated. We also adored felix-workshop’s award-winning contribtion.

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Fall in love with this beatiful autumnal temple and waterfall

Journey back in time to Edo-era Japan with this spellbinding “Pagoda by the Lake” by felix-workshop. The part that looms largest, of course, is the majestic multi-tiered temple, with its striking red coloring and the artful curves of its pagoda roofs (inspired by the real-life Seiganto-ji temple and nearby falls). Such roofing has always been a challenge to achieve with standard LEGO bricks, at least until 21060 Himeji Castle and 10315 Tranquil Garden gave us a new upturned roof piece. However, given the minifig scale, felix-workshop opts for a more complicated—and more rewarding—technique to achieve the slopes of the roof, stacking and curving rows of rounded plates. Don’t let the artistry on display distract you from all that’s going on, however—can you spot fishermen fishing, merchants traveling, assassins planning their attack, a Buddhist monk, and a happy couple drinking tea?

Pagoda by the Lake

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LEGO noodles fit for a ninja

After an intense day of training for ninja exams, nothing satisfies like a bowl of miso ramen with chashu pork and all the trimmings. This life-size ramen bowl in LEGO from H.Y. Leung, inspired by the signature dish from Ichiraku Ramen in the Naruto anime, looks delicious enough to slurp up. From the perfect marbling of the chashu pork, to the ripples in the opaque broth, to the prominent jelly-textured egg, to the careful arrangement of bamboo shoots and spring onion, Leung’s creation is the idealized form of a bowl of ramen. The naruto fish cakes employ a novel technique of red whips on 3×5 cloud plates. The ornamentation and kanji wringing on the bowl are reproduced beautifully in bricks. Leung’s best trick is the chopsticks, cleverly suspended and decorated with rune tiles. Even more impressive, they hide a play feature, sliding up and down as they pull noodles from the bowl!

Lego Naruto - Ichiraku Ramen

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LEGO Megazord is a Mighty Morphin’ Masterpiece

Move over LEGO Voltron, there’s a new combining mecha king in town and the power is on their side. Builder Moko has been impressing us for nearly 20 years with LEGO mechs that mix style with unmatched play function. Moko’s latest masterwork will be instantly familiar to any ’90s kids and sentai fans: the Megazord from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger in Japan). Moko recreates each of the five Dinozords that transform and combine with functionality to rival the best mech toys around.

Dino Megazord

Standing 18″ (46cm) tall, the Megazord falls between the heights of Voltron and the Hulkbuster. It’s remarkable how much articulation and detail Moko achieves at this scale while also achieving a studs-free look. The model is also impressively sturdy in all three forms, with joints that allow it to hold dynamic poses. It’s easier to fully appreciate Moko’s craft by seeing the model posed and transformed in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPreAwpI-h0?si=BQ2RBd_-xhYf6B2k

Go, go power on for more pics of Moko’s Megazord! !

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A masterful build of a masterless samurai

Ronin in winter
Fuji-san and red sun rise
Shadows cut the snow

Like a haiku, Cecilie Fritzvold has found beauty in constraints with her latest LEGO creation, a vignette that plays with perspective and color to striking effect. I love the techniques of crisp brick-built shadows integrated into the snow, and the depressions of the ronin’s footsteps. The restrained use of red bricks, especially in the lovely torii gate and the red sun (mirroring the Japanese flag), add dynamism to the quiet scene. Cecilie’s pagoda is a wonderful architectural build on its own. As a whole, the vignette evokes Ukiyo-e woodblock prints with its muted palette and intense perspective. A masterful work of stillness from a builder who is always evolving.

Ronin

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This awesome Batman is a little far from Gotham City

Batman has always been a bit of a rōnin at heart: a masterless warrior honor-bound to protecting people. So it makes sense that a fusion between Caped Crusader and samurai (and LEGO) would be supremely satisfying. It’s not the first time Batman and feudal Japan have come together (if you haven’t seen the anime Batman Ninja, it’s a odd mash-up), but this build by Dad’s Bricks (Joe) at Japan’s Brickfest is just plain awesome. Every aspect of the Batsuit makes an appearance, from the blades on his arms (now the samurai’s vambraces) to the ears on his cowl (now the helmet crest). I don’t know what the Japanese term is for “whoa,” but now I might have to learn it.

［LEGO] Batman Samurai

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