Shirakawa-go Gingerbread House

My Rare One had to do our annual gingerbread house by herself this year because I was away in Manitoba visiting my Mom. But she did a great job! She took as her inspiration this little Shinto shrine and its torii gate that we saw in Shirakawa-go Village in Japan --

Behold its gingerbread counterpart! Yes, My Rare One did bend the "everything must be edible" rule a wee bit by using a wooden model for the torii gate but who cares? We're not perfectionistic hard-asses about such things.

And of course, the Japanese original didn't have a Christmas wreath and red ribbons on it but again, artistic licence. The front door is a chocolate bar and the warmly glowing window panes are lemon gumdrops. I think My Rare One did a particularly wonderful job of the thatched roof, which she replicated using Sun Chips and heavy icing for the snow.

And I must point out that she bricked the chimney with genuine dry-roasted edamame (soy) beans -- you can't get much more Japanese than that!

A final shot of this year's creation! Well done, my love!

[All photos by Debra She Who Seeks]

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