1 A corridor or passageway between the main body of a residence and the veranda. It is also found in temple architecture jīn kenchiku 寺院建築. It is either covered with straw mats *tatami 畳, or long planks laid lengthwise. In the latter case, the boards of the veranda are set a step lower than passageway, and then covered with short planks set at right angles to long planks. A veranda of this type is called kirime en 切目縁 (also *koguchi 木口) meaning that the crosscut ends of the planks are visible. The depth of the passageway from the exterior to interior wall is often 2 m to 3 m in mansions or palaces.
2 The term is sometimes used for the outer sanctuary *gejin 外陣 from the inner pillars *moyabashira 母屋柱 to the outer pillars *kawabashira 側柱 of the building.