Finishing off my Sarissa Mountain Village models

I wanted to personalise my Sarissa Mountain Village and make it look a bit more interesting, so I did some research on the Japanese architecture on Intertubes. Among the articles I found was this rather interesting website which has the text and pictures from a book written in 1885 by Edward S. Morse, an American professor who visited Japan in the 19th century. Entitled Japanese Homes and their Surroundings it contains a wealth of interesting information on Japanese architecture of great use to wargamers building scenery for Samurai games and which includes a section on “A Study of Roofs”

I got more inspiration by doing a number of searches on Google Images using various terms related to roofs including “Japanese thatched roofs”. This research showed that there was a great variety in the ridges found on thatched houses in Japan and that the style of such ridges varied by region. I focused my search on finding a style which I could easily replicate in miniature. I found what I was wanting in pictures taken in the Miyama area just north of Kyoto.

OK, the houses are quite distinctive and quite a bit different to the style found in the Sarissa Mountain Village, but is a historical style of ridge and it looked easy to build. I decided that was good enough for me. This is what I have come up with.

Building my Roof-Ridges

Material used: Coffee stirrers, strip-wood, paper, PVA glue.

I glue the coffee stirrers on to a strip of paper, which helps hold them all together. These will make up the sides of the roof ridge.