chigomune 稚児棟

An offspring ridge. The shorter and outer of the two corner ridges which descend along the line of the adjoining surfaces that form the hip line on a hip-and-gable roof *irimoya yane 入母屋屋根, hip roof *yosemune yane 寄棟屋根, or pyramidal roof *hōgyōyane 宝形屋根. The long main section of the corner ridge *sumi kudarimune 隅降棟 terminates with either an ogre-face tile *onigawara 鬼瓦 or a lion-mouth tile *shishiguchi 獅子口 called the second ogre-face tile ni-no-oni 二の鬼. Extending from this, almost to the end of the corner eaves, is the offspring ridge, which is also finished with a terminating tile referred to as the first ogre-faced tile *ichi-no-oni 一の鬼. In the 8th-12th century, the offspring ridges were considerably shorter than the main descending ridge and were also lower because they had fewer layers of stacked tiles *noshigawara 熨斗瓦.The first ogre-faced tile was also smaller and narrower than the second. It is assumed that when double eaves *futanoki 二軒 were constructed, the offspring ridge was made to fill the gap left between the end of the descending corner ridge and the end of the corner of the roof itself. Before the invention of the hidden roof *noyane 野屋根, the roof and the corner ridges were relatively low with gentle curves. Examples can be seen on the multiple pagoda roofs such as Daigoji *Gojū-no-tō 醍醐寺五重塔 (952) in Kyoto; Hōryūji *Daikōdō 法隆寺大講堂, (reconstructed 990) in Nara; and Himejijō 姫路城 Daitenshu 大天守 (1608), Shōtenshu 小天守 (1602-11) in Hyōgo Prefecture.