ogawara 男瓦

Lit. "male tile." Also written 雄瓦, called *fusegawara 伏瓦, tsutsugawara 筒瓦 (barrel tile). A half-round tile, that generally ends with a lip *tamabuchi 玉縁, used to cover the seam made by broad concave tiles *hiragawara 平瓦; or *megawara 女瓦. The term ogawara is found in the Shōsoin Monjo 正倉院文書 (mid-8th century). In the ancient period these tiles were also used as coping tiles for ridges. Tile size varied with the dimensions of the roof and to an extent with the particular period it was cast. Nowadays, scholars tend to use the term *marugawara 丸瓦 while tile makers and tile setters use the term *sumaru 素丸.