High-Angle View of Worshipers

[Story] On a clear autumn afternoon in 2017, Nikami Shrine—located near the summit of Mt. Nikami at an elevation of 190 meters—is bustling with citizens. Despite it being a weekday, the crowds are so large that lines have formed for those waiting to offer their prayers. For a shrine, accidents or trouble within the precincts must be absolutely avoided. Kaori, the Chief Priest, and Haruka, a senior priest (*negi*), are keeping a watchful eye on the grounds. Worshippers are lined up in an orderly fashion, safely managed by the shrine staff. Viewed from the West Gate—a two-story *romon* gate—one can see the *haiden* (Hall of Worship) where visitors pray; beyond it lies the sacred inner sanctuary, paved with rounded stones and featuring the main shrine building, constructed just three years ago in the *Yuiitsu-shinmei-zukuri* architectural style. [Explanation] Since I anticipated many posts showing various characters visiting the shrine, and Kaori is the Chief Priest (the one receiving visitors rather than visiting herself), I depicted her in the role of a host. I chose a high-angle, bird's-eye view to clearly show the layout of the shrine grounds. Because the building layout was complex, I copied and pasted a section of the original shrine blueprint (shown in the third image) to provide guidance. However, since the blueprint didn't include details like the walls surrounding the sanctuary or the stone paving, the buildings wouldn't generate correctly unless I precisely described the spatial relationships in the prompt. Getting the sacred area positioned correctly behind and adjacent to the *haiden* was surprisingly difficult. Also, the *Yuiitsu-shinmei-zukuri* style looks simple but often results in errors—essentially "structural failures" akin to anatomical glitches in character generation. After settling on the composition, I had to run the generation four times before getting one correct image. The second image reflects Kaori's established character design. I initially made adjustments using the easier-to-use open.art, but since I couldn't nail down the composition and the number of attempts was mounting, I switched to the more affordable fal.ai to continue the work. [Generation Info] Endpoint: openai/gpt-image-2.5/sunburst/text-to-image, GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst Text to Image, 2:3, Quality: medium, 1024x1536, Duration: 30.040099s, $0.1296 = 20.57 yen / 4 images