sarato 皿斗

Lit. "plate-like bearing block." A relatively flat, wooden block set beneath the large bearing block *daito 大斗, on top a pillar *hashira 柱. The earliest extant example is at Hōryūji *Kondō 法隆寺金堂 (rebuilt 693) in Nara. During the medieval period with the introduction of the new daibutsu styles *daibutsuyō 大仏様 from China, the sarato and the large bearing block were hewn as one piece and the edges were given a concave molding. From the 17th century onward, the plate-like block became large in proportion to the bearing block with an exaggerated top edge, that looked like pudding spilling over the edges of a dish.