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  • Architecture (135)
  • Aristocratic Dwellings (4)
  • Art History (67)
  • Buildings (5)
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  • Crafts (2)
  • Decorations (7)
  • Document (2)
  • Folk Dwellings (9)
  • Gardens (11)
  • Gates (5)
  • General Terms (49)
  • Iconography (6)
  • Joints (6)
  • Lanterns (1)
  • Painting (45)
  • Roofing Tiles (4)
  • Sculpture (12)
  • Shrines (6)
  • Storehouses (1)
  • Structures (5)
  • Tea Houses (12)
  • Tools (3)

Displaying 101 - 200 of 200
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
yokobikinoko 横挽鋸 Also read yokobiki nokogiri. A crosscut saw. A saw used for cutting wood across the grain. Architecture, Tools
yokobori 横堀

A lateral dry moat excavated crosswise in front of a mountain castle *yamajiro…

Architecture, Castles
yokobue 横笛 ✓

A pictorial subject based on "The Flute," Yokobue, Chapter 37 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Art History, Painting
yokogi 横木

Also hikigi 引木 Lit. "horizontal timber." Although the term yokogi can refer to any horizontal timber, it…

Architecture, Tea Houses
yokohaiden 横拝殿 ✓

A long, rectangular worship hall at a Shinto shrine with entrances on the front and rear sides parallel to the ridge. The…

Architecture, Shrines
Yokohama-e 横浜絵

Also Yokohama 横浜 *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. Late ukiyo-e prints which depicted foreigners at the port…

Art History, Painting
yokome-ita 横目板

Also called *oshibuchi 押縁. Narrow, thin battens placed horizontally over…

Architecture, General Terms
yokosama 横狭間

A side loophole of the *yarisama 鑓狭間 type for pike and spears. Typically…

Architecture, Castles
yokoshigezan 横繁桟 ✓

Closely spaced horizontal crosspieces commonly found on latticed doors *mairado…

Architecture, General Terms
yokoshino 横篠 ✓

1 The horizontal line of a bamboo joint.

2 The line carved into the short posts at…

Architecture, General Terms
yokoya 横矢

Lit. "side arrow."

1 Attacking from the side. Also sokusha 側射, sokubō 側防. An…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya hizumi 横矢邪

Also written 横矢斜 and 横矢歪. Lit. "distorted rampart." A diagonal projection from a castle rampart. Used by defending troops to…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya masugata 横矢桝形

Also termed demasugata 出桝形. A defensive box-shaped courtyard *masugata…

Architecture, Castles
yokoya sumi-otoshi 横矢角落 ✓

Also written 横矢隅落. A diagonally cut-away corner of a castle tower, used to launch side attacks *…

Architecture, Castles
yokoza 横座

1 The seat of the principal and most honored guest sonsha 尊者 at formal banquets in the shinden…

Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings, Folk Dwellings
yokozan 横桟 ✓

Also called nakazan 中桟. A generic term for the parallel crosspieces used to frame doors, windows, and other…

Architecture, General Terms
yokozando 横桟戸 ✓

A timber door frame into which horizontal boards are set. The seams tsugime 継目 are hidden by crosspieces nailed in…

Architecture, General Terms
yokurō 翼廊 ✓

Lit. "wing corridors." A corridor that extends outward from the side or rear of a building. Examples: Byōdōin *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Yōmeimon 陽明門 ✓

Lit. "sun bright gate."

1 One of the 12 gates located on the east side of the outer enclosure of the…

Architecture, Gates
yomezuka 嫁束

Also called *kirizuka 切束, komitatara 込たたら. A short strut…

Architecture, General Terms
yomihon 読本

Lit. "reading books." An Edo period woodblock printed novel prevalent from the mid to late Edo period that focused on…

Art History, Painting
Yomogiu 蓬生 ✓

A pictorial subject based on "The Wormwood Patch" Yomogiu, Chapter 15 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

Art History, Painting
yonkyoku byōbu 四曲屏風

Also yomaiori byōbu 四枚折屏風. A folding screen with four panels. Before the 12th or 13th century, this type of screen…

Art History, Painting
yonmaihozo 四枚ほぞ ✓ The four tenons cut into the crosscut of a beam. Quadruple tenons. The same principle is used in making double tenons *… Architecture, Joints
yōraku 瓔珞

1 A string of beads or lacework used to decorate Buddhist statues and objects. Often found on Bodhisattva…

Art History, Sculpture, Architecture, Decorations
yorikimado 与力窓 ✓

1 A rectangular window used in exterior walls, fitted with thick horizontal timber bars *…

Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings, Folk Dwellings
yorimasa 頼政

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a 12th-century warrior-poet of the Seiwa Genji…

Art History, Sculpture
yoritsuki 寄付

Also written 寄附.

1 Room immediately inside an entrance to the raised floor zone; *…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings, Tea Houses
yoroboshi 弱法師

Priest with faltering step. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a blind young boy…

Art History, Sculpture
yoroido 鎧戸

Also called gararido がらり戸. The horizontal, louver boards yoroi-ita 鎧板 of a door that run parallel to each…

Architecture, General Terms
Yōryū Kannon 楊柳観音

Also called Yakuō Kannon 薬王観音. Lit. "Willow Kannon" or "*Kannon 観音 with a willow branch…

Art History, Iconography
yose-ari hikidokko 寄蟻引独鈷

A right angle joint used to attach a horizontal member to a pillar. It combines a type of dovetail joint *…

Architecture, Joints
yose-ari 寄蟻

Also called okuri-ari 送蟻. A right angle joint *shiguchi 仕口 used to…

Architecture, Joints
yose-ishijiki 寄石敷

Stone paving in which various sizes of cut and natural stones are arranged in unique patterns. Different sizes of regular…

Architecture, Tea Houses
yosegi 寄木

1 The upper horizontal timber yosegi 寄木, in a transom, called *…

Architecture, General Terms
yosejikii 寄敷居 ✓ Also called *tatamiyose 畳寄, or abbreviated to yose 寄. A horizontal timber level with… Architecture, General Terms
yosekake 寄掛

A board fence erected to protect the exterior plastered walls of a storehouse *dozō…

Architecture, Storehouses
yosekakebashira 寄掛柱

A post set against a castle's sloping stone wall, at the same angle of incline, under the watch tower gate *…

Architecture, Castles
yoseki-zukuri 寄木造

Also read yosegi zukuri. Formerly called kiyose zukuri 木寄造 or yoseai zukuri 寄合造. Antomym of *…

Art History, Sculpture
yosemune yane 寄棟屋根 ✓

Also abbreviated to yosemune 寄棟, also called yotsuyane 四つ屋根. A hipped roof. A roof that descends from the…

Architecture, General Terms
yosemune-zukuri 寄棟造

Also called *shia 四阿 in the Nara period. Also komune-zukuri 小棟造, …

Architecture, General Terms
yoshido 葭戸 A sliding door or screen filled with reeds yoshi 葭 or ashi 葦, sometimes called match stick blinds, to admit summer… Architecture, General Terms
yoshigaki 葭垣

Also ashigaki 葦垣. Also called yoshizubei 葭簀塀 or yoshizugaki 葭簀垣. A fence made of ditch reed …

Architecture, General Terms
Yoshino jidai 吉野時代

The Yoshino period. A seldom-used, rather old-fashioned term for the Southern and Northern Courts period *…

Art History, General Terms
Yoshino 吉野

An area in Mt. Ōmine 大峰, Nara, most famous for cherry blossoms. Important not only as a place of great scenic beauty, but…

Art History, Painting
Yoshino mandara 吉野曼茶羅

Devotional paintings of the deities and landscape of Mt. *Yoshino 吉野. Yoshino…

Art History, Iconography
Yoshitsune 義経

The tragic warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune 源義経 (1159-89), whose many exploits both real and legendary are recounted in…

Art History, Painting
Yoshiwara 吉原

The licensed pleasure and prostitution quarter of Edo. First established in 1617 near Nihonbashi 日本橋 by Shōji Jin'emon…

Art History, Painting
yotesaki tokyō 四手先斗きょう

A 4-stepped bracket complex found mainly on the upper part of a *tahōtō 多宝塔.…

Architecture, General Terms
yotsudate 四つ建て

Also *yoritsuki 寄付. A structural system found in farmhouses, nōka 農家, of the Edo…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
yotsumegaki 四目垣 ✓

Lit. "four-eyed fence." A generic name for a bamboo lattice fence. The poetic name derives from the quadrant of lozenge…

Architecture, Gardens
yotsutome 四留

Also pronounced yotsudome. An angled joint *shiguchi 仕口, composed of…

Architecture, Joints
yotsuwaribishi 四割菱 ✓ Also waribishi 割菱, takedabishi 武田菱. A decorative pattern that consists of a diamond shape divided into four smaller… Art History, Painting
Yotsuya kaidan 四谷怪談

A pictorial subject in *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 taken from the popular *…

Art History, Painting
yotsuya maruta 四谷丸太

Also called yotsuya migaki maruta 四谷磨き丸太 or migaki maruta 磨き丸太. A cedar log stripped of its bark and then…

Architecture, General Terms
yu-engata 油煙形 ✓

Also kōmorigata 蝙蝠形. A decorative pattern similar to the shapes found on a foliate-panel, shape *…

Architecture, Decorations
yugamibashira 歪柱

Also called *magaribashira 曲柱. Lit. "crooked or bent post." Posts that…

Architecture, Tea Houses
Yūgao 夕顔 ✓

A pictorial subject taken from "Evening Faces" Yūgao, Chapter 4 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Art History, Painting
yūgen 幽玄

Lit. "profound mystery." A multivalent and influential medieval aesthetic ideal expressing darkness, depth, mystery,…

Art History, General Terms
yūgeza 遊戯坐 ✓

Also read yūgiza (Sk: lalitasana). A seated position for a Buddhist image, usually a bodhisattva *…

Art History, Sculpture
Yūgiri 夕霧 ✓

A pictorial subject taken from the "Evening Mist" Yuugiri, Chapter 39 of Genji monogarari 源氏物語 (The…

Art History, Painting
yūgiridana 夕霧棚

An arrangement of three staggered shelves in the upper half of the recess *tokowaki…

Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings
yugitō 瑜祇塔

Lit. "jewel, prayer, pagoda."
Also called gohō hatchū 五峯八柱, lit. "five peaks, eight pillars." A circular…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Yuima 維摩

Sk: Vimalakirti (pure reputation); Ch: Weimo. Indian Buddhist layman (Ch: jushi, Jp: koji 居士) famous for…

Art History, Iconography
yūitsu shinmei zukuri 唯一神明造

Lit. "the unique shinmei style." A style of Shinto Shrine architecture characterized by the main sanctuaries *…

Architecture, Shrines
yuiwata gegyo 結綿懸魚 ✓

A type of gable pendant *gegyo 懸魚, decorated with a sculpture resembling a floss…

Architecture, Decorations
yuiwata 結綿 ✓

1 Also *watabana 綿花, *…

Architecture, Decorations
yuiwatagashira 結綿頭

Also gyakurengashira 逆蓮頭. A type of carved decoration found on the tops of newel posts *…

Architecture, Decorations
yūjo-e 遊女絵

*ukiyo-e 浮世絵 beauty prints *bijinga 美人画…

Art History, Painting
yūjo hyōbanki 遊女評判記

An Edo period "Who's Who" of prostitutes in the pleasure districts. The yūjo hyōbanki was one of two major…

Art History, Painting
yūjoya 遊女屋

The house of a procurer in the pleasure districts *yūkaku 遊廓 of Edo period…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
yukachigai 床違

Floors that have different levels. For example, the floor of the alcove *tokonoma…

Architecture, General Terms
yukadaka 床高

The distance from the top surface of a floor to the ground below. The term can also refer to the height of a building's…

Architecture, General Terms
yūkaku 遊廓

Also written 遊郭. The pleasure district of the early modern Japanese city. The earliest developed example is said to have…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
yukaura 床裏

The space made by the joists *neda 根太, between the flooring of a second story and…

Architecture, General Terms
yukazuka 床束

Short struts placed on base stones beneath a floor to support the sleepers *ōbiki…

Architecture, General Terms
yūki ganryō 有機顔料

Organic pigment. An insoluble paint material *ganryō 顔料 made from animal…

Art History, Painting
yukidomariguruwa 行留郭

A cul-de-sac compound. A long and narrow castle compound with only one gateway entrance which turns into a blind alley.…

Architecture, Castles
yukidome 雪止め

Lit. "a snow stop." 
1 A curved handle-like piece attached to the broad concave parts of a pantile…

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
yukimi dōrō 雪見灯籠

An unusual type of lantern. Like the *oribe dōrō 織部灯籠, its form is…

Architecture, Lanterns
yukimi shōji 雪見障子

Also called *agesage shōji 上下障子 (up and down shōji). Lit. "snow…

Architecture, General Terms
Yume no ukihashi 夢浮橋 ✓

A pictorial subject taken from "The Floating Bridge of Dreams" Yume no ukihashi, Chapter 54 of Genji monogatari…

Art History, Painting
Yumedono 夢殿

Lit. "Hall of Dreams." A large octagonal hall *hakkakudō 八角堂, in the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
yumi ranma 弓欄間 ✓

Also called namiranma 波欄間 (wave-patterned slats), takewaki ranma 立涌欄間 (vertical billow-patterned slats in…

Architecture, General Terms
yumiharizuki 弓張月

Lit. "Crescent Moon;" loaded or pulled bow (shaped) moon. A pictorial subject in *ukiyo-e…

Art History, Painting
yumimayu 弓眉 ✓

A type of carved molding found on the lower edges of rainbow beams *kōryō …

Architecture, Decorations
Yuminagashi 弓流し

Lit. "drifting bow." A pictorial subject depicting an incident at the Battle at Yashima *…

Art History, Painting
yumiyaeda 弓矢枝

Lit. "bow and arrow branches." The arrangement of a tree trunk and branches in which one branch grows up from the trunk then…

Architecture, Gardens
yuna 湯女

A low class of prostitutes during the Genna 元和 and Kan'ei 寛永 eras (1615-44). Typically, after meeting customers by washing…

Art History, Painting
yuniwa 斎庭

Also *saijō 斎場. A place to perform purification rituals and to worship the…

Architecture, Shrines
yuoke-ishi 湯桶石

Also called yutōseki, katakuchi-ishi 片口石, yuage-ishi 湯揚げ石, and oke-ishi 桶石. Lit. "warm…

Architecture, Tea Houses
yūraku zu 遊楽図

Lit. "depictions of amusements." A major category of genre painting *fūzokuga…

Art History, Painting
yūri odaruki 遊離尾垂木 ✓

Separated tail rafters supported by fulcrums which in turn support long purlins at their mid point and at each end. They are…

Architecture, General Terms
yūsoku mon'yō 有職文様

Traditional design motifs, used either in single units or repeated to create patterns, based on designs from Heian courtly…

Art History, Painting
yuta-zukuri 雪打造

Also written 雨打造. A style of architecture that employs pent roof. A common 13th-19th century expression for *…

Architecture, General Terms
yūyaku 釉薬

Also yū 釉 or uwagusuri. Glaze. In the heat of firing, clay particles vitrify to form a glass matter…

Art History, Crafts
yūyakugawara 釉薬瓦

A generic term for glazed roof or wall tiles.

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
yūzen-zome 友禅染

Yūzen style dyeing. A form of paste-resist dyeing with beautiful colors and pictorial designs named after the Kyoto…

Art History, Crafts
Yūzū Nenbutsu engi 融通念仏縁起

The History and Benefits of the Yūzū Nenbutsu engi. A handscroll theme recounting the early history of the Yūzū…

Art History, Painting
-zukuri 造

A suffix meaning style or type frequently used in Japanese architectural history.

Architecture, General Terms

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JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University