oni-ita 鬼板

A wooden board or an undecorated tile used in place of ogre face tiles *onigawara鬼瓦 at each end of the main ridge. Originally, in the 7th-8th century, tiles were used as a device to prevent leaks and general weathering on the ridge ends. According to some scholars, these were rarely decorated with an ogre face, but were left plain. Oni-ita are believed to have appeared first in the 8th century and became very popular during the Heian period. Many oni-ita were covered with copper sheeting in later periods. The name in later periods, is also used for a ridge-end plate with an ogre mask. A few examples can be seen on miniature shrines *zushi 厨子 placed within the *hondō 本堂, the chief sanctuary, of a temple. One example of wooden oni-ita with an ogre mask attached is found at Jōkōji Hondō 定光寺本堂 (between 14th-16th century) in Aichi Prefecture and Hōjūji Kokūzōdō 法住寺虚空蔵堂 (1485) in Nagano Prefecture.