Keywords
Architecture
Roofing Tiles
The upper and lower rim on a broad, concave, eave-end tile *nokihiragawara 軒平瓦. The lower border is called getai 下帯 and the upper border is called jōtai 上帯. Also the term shūen is applied to the circular eave-end tiles *nokimarugawara 軒丸瓦. These eave-end tiles may be decorated with various motifs such as a raised bead or seed pattern *shumon 珠文, a zigzag saw tooth pattern *kyoshimon 鋸歯文, concentric lines *jūkomon 重弧文, or they may be plain. There may also be variations of these patterns; for example, an oval bead pattern called daenkei-no-shumon 楕円形の珠文 found on a nokihiragawara excavated at Okadera 岡寺 in Nara..