chigiri 千切

Also written 衽. Also called kusabitsugi 楔継 or suriawasetsugi 摺合継. A small wooden spline, cleat, tie, or tenon *hozo ほぞ made in varying shapes to connect two timber boards. They are used to join timbers placed end to end *chigiritsugi 千切継 or side by side. The most common are the arikata 蟻形, a butterfly spline and the kinekata 杵形, bow-tie spline. Stones can also be joined by splines cut from stone in the same patterns. Tradition has it that these splines have been used since the Heian period. If the splines join timbers across the grain, dovetail-shaped splines are sufficient. If they join timbers in the same direction as the grain, i.e., parallel with it, the spline is usually lengthened to increase its holding strength.