Also kotenjō 小天井. A long narrow ceiling installed under an extended eave. This type of ceiling is constructed when three-stepped bracket complexes *mitesaki tokyō 三手先斗きょう, are used to support the extended eave. It is built between the long continuous tie beam *tōshihijiki 通し肘木, running through the bearing blocks of the bracket complex directly above the pillars and the long tie beam connecting the second stepped bracket complex *futatesakigumi 二手先組. Usually non-supportive diagonal struts with an outward curve *shirin 支輪, close the gap between the second-stepped bracket complex and the eave purlin *dashigeta 出桁. If no such struts are used, the undereave ceiling is constructed out to the eave purlin. Example: Kōfukuji Tōkondō 興福寺東金堂 (1415) and Yakushiji Tōtō 薬師寺東塔 (710) in Nara.
Yakushiji Tōtō 薬師寺東塔 (Nara)