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The story
A student-made recreation of the “Yomeimon Gate” at Saitama Prefectural Urawa High School’s cultural festival went viral on social media, and after a news article dated September 18, 2026, it also sparked a huge reaction on 5ch’s Geinou/Sports News+ board. Amid a flood of comments amazed that something this intricate could be handmade, the discussion spread in many directions — covering material costs, safety concerns, speculation about whether AI or 3D printers were involved in the design, and debate over whether it’s appropriate for a school this focused on exam prep to pour so much effort into it.
“Did high schoolers really make this…?” Yomeimon Gate built for Urawa High School’s cultural festival stuns viewers — craftsmanship “too impressive to be handmade” called “next-level power”
9/18 (Fri) 10:01
The “Yomeimon Gate” created for the cultural festival at Urawa High School (Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture) is drawing huge attention on social media.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
They're just students — can't have had that big a budget.
This is amazing.
Last year's Western-style one was kind of meh, but this year's was worth seeing.
If it's a 'Danborghini' (a famous cardboard-supercar builder), sure…
Wonder how much it cost to build.
Too good to just throw away.
Ship it off to Nikko Toshogu (the shrine housing the real gate).
Yeah, that is a bit worrying.
Maybe it's cardboard, so it's lightweight lol
Less worried about it breaking, more worried about it
toppling over and crushing someone underneath.
Also arson.
Given how massive this thing looks, even if it were a 'Danborghini'-style build, not sure that'd save you.
Even the day before the Center Test (the old national exam), third-years were practicing like their lives depended on it just to beat the teachers' team in the school rugby tournament.
Their Tokyo University acceptance rate isn't even that great these days, so it feels backwards.
Urawa High School's university placement record
The Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) numbers are impressive.
Guess not many of them go abroad.
I thought festivals were just classroom haunted houses or cafes, that level of thing.
Even so, this is amazing.
That dragon alone — how many hours would that take someone?
I think they're using a 3D printer. Apparently there's a tradition of spending a whole year building the gate.
Prefectural Urawa has a high rate of students taking a gap year to re-study (ronin), so I guess the studying happens after graduation.
Come on, at least know what a 3D printer is.
I bet AI or alumni (OB) are involved in the design — you can tell by looking at the gates from past years.
Teacher involvement is 100% for sure, but their enthusiasm seems to vary.
Hensachi (deviation score): 73
Ranked 9th nationally among all-boys high schools by hensachi (2nd among public schools)
Won the 'High School Quiz' championship three times (2005, 2006, 2015)
The only school in Saitama Prefecture with a win
The 'Lucky☆Star' school (their quiz win under a Lucky Star-themed team name was big news at the time)
'wow, they actually had the budget to buy all these materials'…
that's the part.
Yeah, they seem to be using wood and all kinds of other materials.
There's probably a safety expert overseeing it too, so they likely spent a fair amount.
Maybe they're even angling for this kind of news coverage as publicity.
Saitama Prefecture's board of education had a policy to make it coed, but
alumni and current students ran an opposition campaign and single-sex status was kept.
Same goes for Urawa Daiichi Girls' High School and others.
Knowing them, 'sorry, the giant lantern's in the way, you can't walk through' lol
Background and Key Points of the Debate
The Yomeimon Gate is a National Treasure structure at Nikko Toshogu Shrine, famous for its intricate carvings and vividly colored decoration. Saitama Prefectural Urawa High School is known as a top boys’ prep school, and within 5ch it’s already recognized as having a tradition of building elaborate gates for its cultural festival every year — the thread itself notes “there’s a tradition of spending a whole year building the gate.” Debate mainly split over “how much of this is really handmade,” with some posts speculating about 3D printers or AI design assistance, alongside others praising the clear manual labor behind the assembly and carving. Opinions were also divided on whether it’s appropriate for a college-prep school to pour this much effort into something other than exam study, with some framing it as a proud tradition and others calling it “putting the cart before the horse.” One point readers could easily get wrong: this is an official annual school event, not a one-off special project this year, and no official figures on material costs or safety measures were ever presented in the thread — those remain pure speculation.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Cultural Festival] ‘Did high schoolers really make this…?’ Yomeimon Gate built at Urawa High School stuns viewers — craftsmanship ‘too impressive to be handmade’ called ‘next-level power’.”
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