Lit. "shirakawa stone." A type of granite quarried from the Shirakawa 白川 area north of Kyoto. Soft and easily…

Also written 白木柱, pronounced shiroki bashira. A tree trunk with its bark removed and used as a pillar. Its surface…

Also written 白木 and pronounced shiroki. A generic term for a natural timber that has been stripped of its bark…

Also kijizō 素地像. A wooden statue with a natural wood surface. Shirakizō may be a Buddhist or Shinto…

To paint a surface with plaster *shikkui 漆喰, or a plastered surface.

1　The upper end of a roof tile. Also referred to as *kawarajiri…

Also called sedo 背戸. Backdoor, rear door of a building or a stable.
Also written 尻戸. The doors that constitute…

A nail or spike driven through a hole at the rear of a roof tile yanegawara 屋根瓦 to prevent it from slipping. In…

Also written 枝輪. A short, curved, non-supporting member that forms a diagonal transition between two parallel horizontal…

Also read shira-e byōbu. A folding screen bearing motifs painted in ink or mica *…

The process of castle construction, from site selection to the layout of the compound. Early modern military technicians…

1　A white, finishing coat of plaster *shikkui 漆喰 applied to a wall. It…

Also pronounced *shiraki bashira; also written 素木柱. A tree trunk…

Also goryō torii 御陵鳥居, shiroki torii 白木鳥居 or *shimaki torii…

Chinese temple lion. Refers to the role and the mask representing a temple lion shishi 獅子. The oldest variety are…

A style of nosing *kibana 木鼻 carved to resemble the head and…

1　Lit. "lion-mouth tile." An ornamental tile placed on each end of a main ridge, instead of the more common…

Also written 獅子児, called haeharai 蝿払. Gigaku masks *gigakumen…

1　A large window in the front wall frame of a principal living room *…

Ch: sishen. Ancient Chinese mythical animals associated with the four cardinal directions: green/blue dragon (Ch:…

Sk: simhasana. A base *daiza 台座 for a Buddhist image in…

Four types of mandala, the dai mandara 大曼荼羅 (great mandala), *Sanmaya mandara…

A private residence for high-ranking priests within the confines of a Buddhist temple. During the Heian period, this type of…

Ch: sishui. Lit. "four sleepers." A painting subject of the Tang dynasty eccentrics *…

A detailed preliminary drawing prepared before undertaking an actual painting hon-e 本絵. The first step in creating…

Small prints of actors, or genre scenes with actors produced around the mid-19th century which bear seals reading shita-…

Also pronounced the kafuku setchin. A functional toilet placed in the outer tea garden *…

A temporary shed used by carpenters, stone masons, and plasterers to prepare structural members for a building. Often parts…

1　The layer of plaster or paint applied to a wall to create the proper surface for the finishing coat *…

Also written 助枝窓. Also called nurisashimado 塗さし窓, nurinokoshimado 塗残し窓, kakisashimado 掻さし窓. A…

1　The lower corners of any beam cut at an angle.

2　The lower corners of the…

Also pronounced shitagi or kaboku. The lower of two or more joined timbers. Shitaki is the…

Lit. "girl sticking out her tongue." A mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays and representing a young woman with her tongue…

Clapboard or weather board. Horizontal siding boards, laid in a slightly overlapping row.

Also called *jinuri 地塗り. A base coat. An undercoat applied during the…

The bottom rail of a door or gate door. The toprail is called uezurizan 上摺桟 or uebazuri 上端摺. The term …

The four pillars placed around the central pillar to form a square area on the first story of a pagoda. Four pillars also…

A fulcrum. The support point or prop upon which something can revolve. The point of load transfer from one structural…

Lit. "four guardian kings stones." Four stones placed in each corner of a garden. The stones serve the same apotropaic…

Four Guardian Kings. Pre-Buddhist Indian deities including *Taishakuten…

Lit. "Shitennōji 四天王寺 style"; also called Tachikawa-ryū 立川流. A school of carpenters during the Edo period. The…

A stone entrance gate *torii 鳥居 of the myōjin type *…

Lit. "four guardian king trees." A poetic title referring to the maiden-hair or gingko ichō 銀杏, camphor …

Painting where the tip of the finger or a long finger-nail is employed instead of a brush. Also called shiga 指画 (…

1　A generic term for timber shutters or doors that generally have vertical and horizontal lattice attached…

Also called hajitomi 半蔀 or *shitomi 蔀. Wooden shutters with crisscross…

The technique of keeping *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print paper moist during…

Lit. "gem or precious stone base." The most common base for an image of *Fudō Myōō…

Wrinkled old man. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a dignified,…

Rafter interval system. A measuring method begun in the mid-13th century used to determine the proportions of a building's…

Lit. "four leaves." Abbreviation of *shiyōza 四葉座. A decorative pattern carved…

Also read yotsubaza. A metal nailhead cover *kugikakushi 釘隠 with…

Also shiisō. Lit. "meditative posture." A position used in Buddhist images to symbolize thinking, where the fingers of the…

1　Catalogs of temples and temple properties compiled from the year 783 by various state-sponsored temples,…

Lit. "natural stone water basins." A generic name for a water basin *chōzubachi…

Lit. "natural stone bridge." A type of stone bridge *ishibashi 石橋 made from…

Also shichōkanzō 紙張貫像. A figure made from layers of glued paper. A number of paper Buddhist statues are preserved…

Ch: Zhong Liquan. One of the Daoist Eight Immortals *hassen 八仙. Originally a…

Also read setsu, also *ten 捻. An old word for modelling or molding often…

A special mat for one or more guests, shōban 相伴, who are companions to the guest of honor, shōkyaku…

Pictures of town fire-fighting units. These were first organized in 1719 and comprised construction workers and carpenters.…

The ridge on an undulating bargeboard, nokikarahafu 軒唐破風. Supported by beams called shōbugeta 菖蒲桁.

Also written 少仏師. The term first used in the early Heian period for Buddhist sculptors working in a team, subordinate to a…

A technique used to join the blocks in the center of a wooden sculpture made by the hollow joined block technique *…

Also pronounced seiden.

1　The center building of a palace, also called omotegoten…

Also seidō.

1　The fare hall or worshipper's hall of a temple, in contrast to the rear hall…

An ancient Chinese philosophy which holds that calligraphy and painting are two aspects of a single art that springs from…

The ornamentation of a Buddhist hall. A Buddhist statue made in a dignified and beautiful style by adding features such as a…

Also, pronounced shōbyōga (although rarely). Paintings on large surfaces of architectural structures. The term…

Lit. "paintings on screens 'shō 障' and walls 'heki 壁.'" Partition or interior wall painting, although…

Also daichō 台帳, daihon 台本. In the Kyoto-Osaka area kamigata 上方, it is often called *…

An Edo period novel which imitated the style of *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage books *…

The garden which faces or surrounds the *shoin 書院. No special features are used in shoin…

1　A large reception room developed in the Momoyama period, used by military leaders, daimyō …

One of Japan's most important residential architectural styles, shoin-zukuri was established in the Momoyama period…

Lit. "paintings on screens *shōji 障子." Shōji-e is a term…

Also called sōji, a term prevalent in the medieval age. A generic term for partitions that can divide the interior…

Also termed kakubori 角堀 (a moat with squared off ridges), or unebori 畝堀 (the general term for a furrowed…

1　An archaic term taken directly from the Chinese for a ceiling board. Usually,…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a good-luck sea sprite, fond of…

Also read seijōseki, called nozoki-ishi 覗石 or kiyome-ishi きよめ石. Lit. "pure stone."

…

Sk: Aryavalokitesvara. Also written 正観音. This is the term for the simplest form of *…

Ch: Zhuge Liang (181-234). Also known as Kongming (Jp: Kōmei 孔明). A counsellor to the Chinese Han emperor Liu Bei (Jp: Ryū…

Small-scale, close-up painting of landscapes. The scenes generally depict misty fields and rivers or lakes and may also…

Ch: Zhongkui. A god in the Chinese Daoist pantheon known as the Demon-queller, often depicted in sculpture and painting. A…

Also read sokuji-in (Sk: bhusparsa-mudra). Also gōma-in 降魔印. Earth-touching mudra. A type of hand…

Illustrations of people of various occupations in their workshops, which became popular in the Momoyama and early Edo…

Lit. "plants." The various plants, trees, bushes, and flowers placed in a garden. The term also is used to refer to gardens…

Lit. "clarification for the artisan-builder." The best known manual of construction and building design. It is based on oral…

The form of a work of art made for contemplation from the front. This style is often found in Japanese Buddhist sculpture…

Also known as Seishoku Daikongō Yasha 青色大金剛薬叉. A deity who protects against diseases believed to be caused by…

Also tsuyazuri つや摺 (lustre printing), and sometimes written 上面摺. Lit. "printing from the front." A printing…

Also written 勝南院座, 小南院座, 小波座. One of the painting studios or guilds, za 座 of the *…

Lit. "list of objects acquired and brought back." Lists and other records of Buddhist objects brought back to Japan from…

Also written 将来品. Buddhist implements, statues shōraibutsu 請来仏, or writings brought back to Japan by…

Also called shūrō; kanetsukidō 鐘突堂, lit. "bell hitting hall"; and tsuriganedō 釣鐘堂, belfry. A…

Also read shūrōmon. A two-storied temple gate in which a bell is hung, often found in Tendai 天台 sect temples. A…

A hall dedicated to the soul of Shōtoku Taishi (see *Shōtoku Taishi-zō 聖徳太子像) at…

Also shosaijiku 書斎軸 or saijiku 斉軸. Associated with *shigajiku …

Enlarged drawings that render particular parts of a building in minute detail. This includes complete sectional, partial,…