Also called *suriage shōji 摺上障子. A sliding door frame covered with…

Also kurekugi 呉釘, kirikugi 切釘. A straight nail with both ends pointed. It is made of wood, bamboo, iron,…

Also called oreaikugi 折合釘 or mageorekugi 曲折釘. A type of double-pointed iron nail, square in section, and…

One type of *shōji 障子. A translucent screen or sliding door made by pasting…

Also written 空; kūgeki 空隙, ma 間. Lit. empty, gap, space. The space between two structural parts. For…

Evidence left on load bearing members by beams *hari 梁, *…

1　Wooden shutters constructed at the various openings of a building. They slide out from a special storage…

A gutter used to carry rainwater from the eave-ends to a downspout or hanging chain and thence to the ground. This method…

Also read mabaragumi; also written 阿麻組 amagumi. A bracket complex *…

Weather stripping, flashing, a rain guard, or any device used to prevent leaks or deflect rainwater. A hōju roban…

A curbstone that runs horizontally along the top edge of a podium *danjōzumi…

Also called amadari 雨垂り and amadareochi 雨垂れ落ち. The place on the ground, directly below the eaves,…

Also called aburashōji 油障子. A type of translucent paper-covered window found most often in tea ceremony houses *…

An ancient word for *ashiba 足場 or ashishiro 足代, scaffolding made of…

Lit. curved bargeboard. An archaic term for *chidori haru 千鳥破風, a…

Also read afuri-ita; irakaōi 甍覆.

1　A thick board attached to the edge of a veranda…

Lit. rough stone. A generic term for rough, unprocessed rock in the form in which it is found or quarried. Also read *…

Lit. rough fence. A general term to designate any kind of crude fence with widely spaced posts and crossbars. It is also…

The first layer of mud plaster applied to the lath *komai 小舞, that…

1　A narrow horizontal strip of wall between a long, light, binding beam *…

Lit. leg or foot. Also 脚, read ashi or kyaku.

1　The parts that support the main…

Also simply called *ashiage 足揚. A type of thatched storehouse set upon a…

Scaffold or scaffolding. A temporary, elevated structure used to support workmen, tools, etc. when erecting a building.…

Also written 脚固, 足堅. Strong, horizontal ties which strengthen the posts beneath the floor of a timber building by…

1　A general term for all structural members from the foundation *dodai…

Lit. split reed. A style of round-stone paving *tama-ishijiki 玉石敷 of the…

The Asuka period (538/552-645). So called because the capital of the new Yamato 大和 region was located in the Asuka district…

A type of rectangular pillar employed in the construction of a gate at a castle or dwelling. This pillar, front to back, is…

The capacity to be moved deeply, an aesthetic ideal associated with Heian period literature and aristocratic values. An…

Also pronounced azeki. Chamfered logs used to build walls for storehouses *…

The name for a thickly plastered area projecting from the wall below the eaves of a building. Used on storehouses, *…

Also haigi. An archaic term for *nodaruki, 野垂木 (a hidden rafter). A…

Also written 破風鐺, hafujiri 破風尻, or hafubana 破風鼻. The lower end of a bargeboard on a hip-and-gable…

Also called hafugashira, 破風頭, or hafu-no-ogami, 破風の拝. The joint between two bargeboards, hafu-ita…

Also written 搏風. Also called hafu-ita 破風板. A bargeboard. Straight or curved boards laid flat against the ridge ends…

The center of a bargeboard, *hafu 破風, which is determined by its length. It…

Also written 羽柄材. Also called hagaramono, 端柄物, 羽柄物; or yamabikizai 山挽材. A general term for trimmed boards…

Lit. abolish Buddha. It was government policy during the early Meiji period to repress Buddhism in favor of Shinto which was…

A layout drawing on a plot plan showing topography in minute detail and the position of buildings within the boundaries of a…

Also hainobi 配延び or nobi 延び. A carpenters' standard term for extensions created by slopes. Example: Where the horizontal…

Lit. stone arrangement. To arrange stones in consideration of their shape, color, and character. 
 

Also sashidaruki 挿垂木 or 指垂木. To join rafters *taruki 垂木 which is…

Also bakuchiku-bashira 爆竹柱.

1　A method. Introduced in the Edo period, of constructing the…

A single bracket arm *hijiki 肘木, which is set into a large bearing block *…

Also yatsunaka-no-korobi 八中の転. The method used to determine the incline of the main posts of a *…

A prominent box-like ridge framed in timber astride the apex of a roof. In section it resembles a miniature building with a…

The Hakuhō period (645-710) referred to in recent scholarship as the Late Asuka period, Asuka jidai kōki 飛鳥時代後期.…

Also called *chōdai 帳台 in the Heian period.

1　A low…

Also written 嵌石. A stone panel. A component of the formal style podium *danjōzumi…

Also written 嵌板. A wooden panel or board used as wall covering. It may be horizontally or vertically set. The boards may…

Lit. half non-penetrating horizontal beam. A non-penetrating beam which is 3/5 the diameter of a building 's main pillar…

Also kameimado, *oribemado 織部窓, *…

Lit. nose. Also called hanasaki 鼻先. The end or tip of a structural member such as a beam, rafter end, ridge end,…

Lit. flower bracket arm. A decorative bracket arm *hijiki 肘木 that appeared in…

A fascia board. A board nailed flat against the rafter ends, characteristic of the daibutsu style *…

Also sorimashi 反増; terimashi 照増. The gradual increase in height toward the ends of rafters *…

Lit.flower path. A long elevated walkway on the left side of a *kabuki…

Pole plates. Horizontal members that are positioned on the outer end of raking beams *…

Lit. half column. Also katabutabashira 片蓋柱 (half-covered pillar). The half visible column on the exterior or…

Also read banchiku. A method of making the core of a podium *danjōzumi…

A cantilever. A heavy, rough member used in a hidden roof *noyane …

Lit. a cantilever pillow. A transverse beam supported by the eave purlin *dashigeta…

A beam running at a right angle to the cantilevers *hanegi 桔木, used in a hidden…

Also called hakamagoshi yane 袴腰屋根, or kabutoyane 兜屋根. A style of roof similar to the hipped roof *…

A simple style of balustrade placed around a low, step-like veranda *hamayuka…

The distance between two rafters of this type is equal to the sum of the height of a rafter plus the width of its bottom…

A sliding screen made of a light wooden frame covered with translucent paper. It is about 1 m-1.3 m high. 1.3 m hanshōji…

Also called han-akarishōji 半明障子. A pair of sliding screens with a lattice frame covered with translucent paper *…

Lit. belly. The concave underside, of a curved beam, for example, a curved transverse beam *…

A transverse or cross beam positioned at a right angle to a roof ridge. It stretches the width of a building to receive the…

Also called haritsunagi 梁繋. Tie beams that run parallel to the roof ridge. One is positioned across the upper…

A ceiling which is embellished with wooden squares of different kinds placed in a checker-board pattern. The ribs of a…

Also called kōka 構架. The beam system of a roof.
 

A plain board ceiling. When paper or silk are pasted over the ceiling boards for decorative purposes, the ceiling is called…

Also referred to as *hariyuki 梁行; also written 張り間.…

Transverse beams that run at right angles to lengthwise beams. In Japanese architecture hariyuki usually run the…

Also read kizahashi, kidahashi. Lit. a step, stair, stairway, staircase. Hashi is used to refer…

Also written hashibame 端嵌. Narrow long strips of wood made to cover the top and bottom of doors composed of several…

1　A pent roof built above the stairs on one side of the annex tai-no-ya 対の屋 in aristocratic style…

Also hikakushi-no-ma 日隠の間, hashi-no-ma 階の間, or mihashi-no-ma 御階の間. The space between the posts at…

The generic term for any type of pillar, column, post, pier, and strut, the basic members of Japanese timber architecture.…

A pillar base. A long beam which forms the base for pillars or posts in the upper part of a building.

A generic term in traditional architecture referring to any architectural element with an interior finish found within a bay…

A bay or span. The distance between pillars, measuring from the center of the pillars.

An ancient word meaning the same as *hōdate 方立, a vertical member placed on…

Also read hire-ita but this reading is considered to be incorrect according to the Kaokuzakkō 家屋雑考 (…

Also called hakkaku yane 八角屋根. The eight-sided roof of an octagonal hall *…

The place on a noh stage *nōbutai 能舞台 where three or four musicians sit,…

1　Also read sama-ishi. Rough stones placed between pillar base stones when a building is erected…

Also written 剥板; sogi-ita 殺板, 曽木板.

1　Thin strips of plaited cedar or sawara…

The Heian period (794-1185), during which Heiankyō 平安京 (later, Kyoto) became the political and cultural capital of Japan.…

Heian Imperial Palace, located in the northern part of the Heian Capital. Enclosed by clay walls, buildings included the…

Also hezuke or henzuke 辺付. Thought to be a corruption of a term used in Shōsōin documents Shōsōin…

Rafters laid parallel to each other from the ridge almost to the eave ends. When parallel rafters reach the corner of the…

1　Also *fuse-zu 伏図. The two-dimensional drawing of…

Also written 壁體. The material from which a wall is made, excluding any added exterior veneer or covering. It can also mean…