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JAANUS

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  • (-) General Terms (55)
  • Architecture (53)
  • Art History (2)

Displaying 1 - 55 of 55
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
raigō-bashira 来迎柱

Two or four-circular pillars right and left at each corner of the Buddhist altar to define the most sacred place in a temple…

Architecture, General Terms
raigō-kabe 来迎壁 ✓

Also called raigō-heki. A clay or wooden wall erected behind a Buddhist altar *…

Architecture, General Terms
raimon kōshi 雷文格子

Lattice arranged in a fret pattern, used especially on railings of balconies.

Architecture, General Terms
ranma 欄間 ✓

A transom. A rectangular opening, longer in the horizontal direction, constructed between the lintels *…

Architecture, General Terms
ranseki 乱石 ✓

Also called no-ishizumi 野石積. Stones with an irregular shape. Those that are somewhat square are called nozura-…

Architecture, General Terms
ransekizumi kidan 乱石積基壇

Also referred to as ranzumi kidan 乱積基壇, ranzō ransekizumi 乱層乱石積, kuzure ishizumi くずれ石積 or simply…

Architecture, General Terms
ranzumi 乱積

Also called *ransekizumi 乱石積, waraizumi 笑い積. Randomly piled natural stones *…

Architecture, General Terms
renjimado 連子窓

Also written 櫺子窓. Lit. "a row lath window."

1 A window with vertical or horizontal wooden laths or…

Architecture, General Terms
rensō 連窓

Multiple windows. Two or more windows connected horizontally, or windows connected within one frame window with vertical…

Architecture, General Terms
rensōmado 連双窓 ✓

Rensōmado means double windows. Two windows in line. Also called *meotomado…

Architecture, General Terms
rō 廊

A roofed corridor or passageway that connects one structure to another. It may also encompass an open area. There are…

Architecture, General Terms
ro 炉 ✓

A sunken hearth. A square box installed into the floor of a tea ceremony room to make a charcoal fire. The standard size…

Architecture, General Terms
rō-zukuri 楼造 ✓

A gate *rōmon 楼門, that appears to have two stories, but in reality is a high…

Architecture, General Terms
roban 露盤 ✓

Commonly used abbreviation of shō roban 承露盤; also called masugata 枡形. Originally, an entire spire *…

Architecture, General Terms
rodai 露台 ✓

1 An unroofed platform, a dais, or a projected veranda or balcony.
2 A nobleman's…

Architecture, General Terms
rōka 廊下

1 A hallwayor corridor within a building giving access to various rooms.
2 A passageway…

Architecture, General Terms
roku 陸

Also riku. A synonym for suihei 水平 meaning level.
1 Level building timbers.
…

Architecture, General Terms
rokuchū-zukuri 六注造

Also called rokkaku yane 六角屋根. A six-sided roof that covers an hexagonal building *…

Architecture, General Terms
rōkyō 廊橋

Also called hashirō 橋廊. A covered bridge, often with a resting place at the central point. Rōkyō can…

Architecture, General Terms
ronji daruki 論治垂木

Also called koshikake daruki 腰掛垂木, ranji daruki 鸞翅垂木, or tenbō daruki 天望垂木.
A flying rafter…

Architecture, General Terms
ryōbiraki 両開

Also *kannonbiraki tobira 観音開扉, double doors that open in one…

Architecture, General Terms
ryōkusabi 両楔

Wedges used on the right and left sides to strengthen and to secure a penetrating tie beam inserted into a pillar.

Architecture, General Terms
ryōsage 両下

A type of gable roof *kirizuma-zukuri 切妻造. Also called…

Architecture, General Terms
ryūsha 竜車

Lit. "dragon vehicle." The round or oval section of a pagoda finial *sōrin…

Architecture, General Terms
ryūyōdana 柳葉棚 ✓

Lit. "willow leaf shelf."
A single decorative shelf constructed a little below the cabinets, tenbukuro 天袋,…

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