Keywords
Architecture
General Terms
1 A king post. A generic term for a roof strut, koyazuka 小屋束, that rests upon a transverse beam *hari 梁, at the center of a building. The king post supports the ridge purlin *munagi 棟木. The truss post *udatsu 卯立, of some of the older thatched vernacular houses *minka 民家, of the Kinki 近畿 district is a type of shinzuka. Also the term is applicable to the framework of tiled roofs.
2 In traditional temple and shrine architecture, the king posts or center posts placed on the uppermost transverse beams to support the ridge pole. In such buildings, the king post often carries a large bearing block *daito 大斗, or a bracket complex *tokyō 斗きょう, that consists of a large bearing block, a bracket arm *hijiki 肘木, plus small bearing blocks *masu 斗.