nokidoi 軒樋

A bamboo gutter usually hung by hooks from the end of an eave *nokisaki 軒先, to catch rain water flowing off a roof. Usually the gutter is a length of bamboo split in half. Traditionally, such gutters were seldom used. Instead, rain water flowed down the roof surface and dripped or poured on to a gravel bed or stone-lined ditch where the water could soak into the ground without splashing. If the ditch sloped slightly, the water simply flowed away from the building.