The train tracks are the border of the modern/real world, while the gate is, of course, the gate to Gensokyo.
Trains are kind of symbolic of the whole industrial/modern thing, particularly since, in Japan, they were the first prolonged contact with the outside world many places had.
You could also say that it's symbolic of the perceived loss of Japanese culture that's going on these days. The train tracks, a symbol of the west, are shiny and well maintained, while the shrine arch and path are neglected.
Lime12121 said: The train tracks are the border of the modern/real world, while the gate is, of course, the gate to Gensokyo.
Trains are kind of symbolic of the whole industrial/modern thing, particularly since, in Japan, they were the first prolonged contact with the outside world many places had.
You could also say that it's symbolic of the perceived loss of Japanese culture that's going on these days. The train tracks, a symbol of the west, are shiny and well maintained, while the shrine arch and path are neglected.
Then I guessed right. Although I would put the border firmly in line of the torii, and not create a no man's land between the two.
However, your interpretation of the cultural decline s interesting, that didn't occur to me. IMHO, the transition and the loss could be better visualized if the tracks were leading away from the run-down shrine, showing how science and industrialization destroyed the old way of thinking.
I suppose it depends on whether or not you think Yukari would approve of a fuzzy boundary like that.
There's also the western (or American, specifically) concept of the 'other side of the tracks,' which might be in play. The idea of a foreign, strange place which isn't really all that far away.
If the tracks lead away from the shrine, they would also have to lead towards it. Rails go both ways :P
I think this works quite well since it shows how the modern, industrial world has been forced into a previously sacred place. In Shinto, nature is sacred and every tree has its own god, so in order to put that track in, they would have essentially been profaning the shrine.
Naturally, something like that wouldn't happen in Gensokyo. Probably because you'd get eaten by fairies for trying it.
Cute speculation, but like all the other posts in the series this is simply based on an actual location, and that's really all there is to it.
Little bit of threadromancy here, but I'd like to point out that just because it's a drawing of a real location doesn't mean there isn't symbolism in it. Photographers, after all, try to fill their pictures with symbolism while simply taking pictures of real places and things.
