kawarayane 瓦屋根

Keywords
Architecture
Roofing Tiles

Roofing material made of fired clay tiles, first introduced with the advent of Buddhism from the Paekche Kingdom (Jp: *Kudara 百済) in Korea in the 6th century. At first tile roofing was used only on temple and government buildings. From the 14th century onward, the use of tile roofing extended to some styles of shrine buildings, palaces and castles. In the Edo period, especially in Edo (Tokyo), the advantage of tiles compared to other highly flammable types of roofing, like thatch *kayabuki 茅葺, cypress bark *hiwadabuki 桧皮葺 or *kokerabuki 柿葺, was fully recognized. Furthermore, tile roofing could be expected to last at least 75 years with only minor repairs, in contrast to other forms of roofing material that needed replacement after 20 or 30 years. For other types of roofing material: warabuki 藁葺; *itabuki 板葺; dōgawarabuki 銅瓦葺.