shikimen 敷面

Also called *koshikake 腰掛.
A bench joint. A flat surface in front of a mortise *hozoana ほぞ穴, which receives much of the load of the tenon *hozo ほぞ. The tenon has an undercut that fits on the bench when it is inserted into the mortise. Examples include the half-lapped gooseneck joint *kamatsugi 鎌継 and the half-lapped dovetail joint *aritsugi 蟻継. The names for these joints are occasionally prefixed with the word shikimen. The tenons for these joints are then called shikimen kamahozo 敷面鎌ほぞ and shikimen arihozo 敷面蟻ほぞ.