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  • (-) General Terms (54)
  • Architecture (50)
  • Art History (4)

Displaying 1 - 54 of 54
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
agesage shōji 上下障子 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
aikugi 合釘 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
aiorekugi 合折釘 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
akari shōji 明障子 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
aki 明

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

Architecture, General Terms
akkon 圧痕

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

Architecture, General Terms
amado 雨戸

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

Architecture, General Terms
amadoi 雨樋

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

Architecture, General Terms
amagumi 疎組 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
amajimai 雨仕舞

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

Architecture, General Terms
amakatsura-ishi 雨葛石

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

Architecture, General Terms
amaochi 雨落 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
amashōji 雨障子

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

Architecture, General Terms
ananai 麻生

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

Architecture, General Terms
aori hafu 障泥破風

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

Architecture, General Terms
aori-ita 障泥板 ✓

Also read afuri-ita; irakaōi 甍覆.

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

Architecture, General Terms
ara-ishi 荒石

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

Architecture, General Terms
aragaki 荒垣 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
arakabe 荒壁

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

Architecture, General Terms
arikabe 蟻壁

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

Architecture, General Terms
ashi 足

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

1 The parts that support the main…

Architecture, General Terms
ashiagekura 足揚倉

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

Architecture, General Terms
ashiba 足場

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

Architecture, General Terms
ashigatame 足固

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

Architecture, General Terms
ashimoto 足元

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

Architecture, General Terms
ashiwake 葦分け

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

Architecture, General Terms
Asuka jidai 飛鳥時代

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

Art History, General Terms
atsuhirabashira 厚平柱

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

Architecture, General Terms
aware あわれ

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

Art History, General Terms
azegi 校木 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
jabara ita 蛇腹板 ✓

Lit. snake belly board. The boards lined up under the thick eave ends nokizuke 軒付 of a cypress bark *…

Architecture, General Terms
jabara 蛇腹

Lit. snake's belly.

1 A cornice. Called nokijabara 軒蛇腹, at the eaves of a building and …

Architecture, General Terms
jabara shirin 蛇腹支輪 ✓

Also called honshirin 本支輪 (main shirin). A short, curved, non-supporting transitional member that connects…

Architecture, General Terms
jabara tenjō 蛇腹天井 ✓

Lit. snake belly ceiling. An open or exposed ceiling composed of curved, parallel rafters, thought to resemble a snake's…

Architecture, General Terms
jabaragawa 蛇腹皮

Lit. snake skin. The boards lined up under the thick eave ends nokizuke 軒付 of a cypress bark *…

Architecture, General Terms
jari 砂利

Gravel, small stones, or pebbles. A corrupted form of sazare 細 meaning tiny stones. Jari have been given…

Architecture, General Terms
jidaruki 地垂木

Also called omodaruki 母垂木. A base rafter that extends outward from the roof framework, generally the eave purlin *…

Architecture, General Terms
jien hikaku 地円飛角 ✓

Also read chien hikaku. Double eaves *futanoki 二軒, composed of base…

Architecture, General Terms
jifuku 地覆

1 A sleeper. The lowermost horizontal beam that spans the width of a bay *…

Architecture, General Terms
jifuku-ishi 地覆石

Also written 地幅石. A long horizontal base stone, sometimes called a sleeper, or a continuous plinth course. It is placed at…

Architecture, General Terms
jifuku nageshi 地覆長押 Also jinageshi 地長押. A non-penetrating tie beam that is shaped to fit snugly around the base of a pillar.
Architecture, General Terms
jigyō 地業

Also 地形 chikei. The preliminary foundation work on a building. Materials for this include: rubble *…

Architecture, General Terms
jikuana 軸穴

Also 軸孔; jikuzuriana 軸吊穴; jiku uke 軸受; tobira jikuana 扉軸穴. The socket into which the pivot hinge…

Architecture, General Terms
jikubu 軸部

The framework or body of a building between the foundation and the roof structure. In traditional architecture it includes…

Architecture, General Terms
jikuzuri 軸吊 ✓

Also written 軸釣, 軸摺. Pivot hinge. A metal covered wooden-core pivot inserted into a socket *…

Architecture, General Terms
jinuki 地貫

Also called shimonuki 下貫. A penetrating tie beam at the base of a pillar or a tie beam beneath a building's…

Architecture, General Terms
jisumigi 地隅木

A base hip rafter found at the corners of a roof. Ordinary rafters *jidaruki…

Architecture, General Terms
jizō gōshi 地蔵格子

A latticed door made with both horizontal and vertical laths at the same surface level. There are no recessed laths nailed…

Architecture, General Terms
jō 畳

Also written 帖.

1 A counter for screens *byōbu 屏風 and…

Architecture, General Terms
Jōdokyō bijutsu 浄土教美術

Art of the Pure Land faith. Originating in the Nara period, Pure Land Buddhism is a more personal form of the faith than…

Art History, General Terms
Jōgan gishiki 貞観儀式

The Jōgan gishiki is a ten volume collection of ceremony regulations compiled by Fujiwara Ujimune 藤原氏宗 by order of…

Architecture, General Terms
Jōmon jidai 繩文時代

Lit. cord-mark period. The Jōmon period ran from ca. 10,000 BC-ca. 300 BC. The period takes its name from the decoration on…

Art History, General Terms
jōsei kidan  上成基壇 ✓

The upper level of a two-stepped podium *nijū kidan 二重基壇. The lower level is…

Architecture, General Terms
jōyabari 上屋梁

Principal transverse beam. The beam that receives the diagonal braces at the end of a gable roof. It also supports the ridge…

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