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 *…

1　One of the purlins used in a hidden roof *noyane …

A vertical timber that rises from a level or inclined surface. In modular measurement of timber *…

Lit. "large bottle strut." A strut that is used mainly in Zen style architecture *…

The trimming or hewing of the opposite sides of a log so that the surfaces become flat and parallel making it easier to join…

Also called taikobari 太鼓張, fukuroshōji 袋障子, bōzufusuma 坊主襖.
A type of paper-covered,…

Also called soribashi 反橋. An arched bridge made of stone or wood. One example is the Yoka Jinja 与賀神社 (1607) in Saga…

A door frame covered on both sides with boards or panels. The inside of the door, like a drum taiko 太鼓, is empty.…

A pillar or post that is multi-sided or cut with many facets.

Lit. "bamboo post." One that has been squared off.

Bamboo or bamboo muntins that are used for windows in dwellings where a suggestion of rusticity is needed, or in tea…

Paper-covered bamboo frames used as full-sized sliding doors *shōji 障子, or the…

The generic term for a fence surrounding the square or rectangular space containing the main sanctuary *…

A solid, single beam made from one timber. The term is used to differentiate it from a composite beam called gōseibari…

Shelves.

1　 A type of shelf, sometimes with a rack, of which there are many ordinary household…

A timber shorter than the standard length.

A single-structure storehouse constructed of triangular timber or planks set in grid plan, *…

Also written たるき. This is the simplest type of rafter, called common rafter or base rafter. It extends from the ridge *…

Lit. "rafter construction." Also referred to as odachi toriigumi おだち鳥居組. One of the two principal types of assembly…

An angled joint *shiguchi 仕口 used to insert rafters into a ridge *…

A board placed parallel to the rafters on a gable roof *kirizuma yane …

Also read tarukigake. A horizontal timber attached to the posts of an exterior wall to support the undersides of…

The various systems of placing rafters *taruki 垂木 in relation to the pillars *…

The degree of curvature on a bargeboard *hafu 破風, or on a roof between the peak…

Also read tōsho. The burial place for the remains of prominent Buddhist priests. Historically, the ashes of Buddha…

Also called sukebari. A beam which stabilizes bottle struts *taiheizuka…

Also tasukizan. Thin stips of timber san 桟 that intersect to form a criss-cross pattern or a zig-zag…

A floor covering made of tightly woven grass and straw. A standard tatami is a rectangular mat about 1.82 m (≒6')…

Also called *yosejikii 寄敷居. A small, horizontal wooden strip that is placed…

Also written 鑪. The modern character is ro 鈩, and can mean furnace. Tatara is an ancient word meaning…

A board and batten wall. Thin boards with battens attached are set vertically to hide the joints, a Zen style *…

A type of tomb made in the Tumulus period, also called Kofun period. A pit was dug and lined with cut stone such that the…

Also called nunobame 布羽目. Vertically placed wooden panels cut from the long side of a large piece of timber. When…

Also read ritchūshiki. A ceremony performed when the main post, tate-bashira, of a building is erected.…

Also written 縦縁. Perpendicular stiles on both sides of opaque sliding screens *fusuma…

Also read jūdanmen-zu, meaning "to cut vertically." Either a longitudinal or cross section drawing made along the…

Also called tatsudoi 立樋. A cylindrical or square drain pipe that allows rain water to flow from the rain gutters *…

Also read tachidokoro. The point where a structural timber begins to rise. For example, the place where the bottom…

A generic term for removable screens, doors or shutters. This includes: sliding screens *…

Lit. "vertical post shrine fence." Also called kakutamagaki 角玉垣 (square shrine fence) or *…

Also written 縦ほぞ. Usually the two tenons made on each end of a threshold *shikii…

Also written 竪蔀; also called itajitomi 板蔀. A moveable fence used in aristocratic dwellings of the Heian and…

All the basic wooden structural members produced at a building site including the ridge, and the ceremony of raising the…

Also called awasemeji 合目地. Lines made when vertical stone panels are arranged along the sides of podii *…

Also called tatehonshigesan 竪本繁桟, tatehonshigesankumi 竪本繁桟組; tateshigekumi 竪繁組. Closely-spaced…

The measurement of floor space in any traditional type building using *tsubo 坪 (3.31 meters…

The accurate alignment of posts, pillars, stiles, and trim on a door frame in order to allow for the perfect fit of a hinged…

The boards placed over rafters *taruki 垂木, to form the underside of a roof and…

Also called tatedōzan 竪胴桟. Vertical lath used for a door or window frame. Lath called san 桟 can be set…

Lit. "Secret Text on Garden Construction." A treatise on landscape design supposedly written first in the Muromachi period.…

Two large posts placed to the right and left of the *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage, kabuki …

Lit. "ceiling boards." Ceiling boards made from cypress, fir, white or red cedar, and other coniferous trees. The zelkova…

Also called *tenjō-ita 天井板. Single-panel boards side by side to…

Also tenjōkamachi 天井框. A long, light, binding beam, sometimes rabbeted, running horizontally along the wall in the…

Also called arikabe nageshi 蟻壁長押, mawaribuchi nageshi 回縁長押.

1　…

A ceiling joist. A horizontal timber to which a wooden lath *kizuri …

Lit. "ceiling." A ceiling made of cypress boughs erected over seats, according to the Engishiki 延喜式 and Yukiin 悠基院…

The distance from the floor to the ceiling.

Also read tenjōgeta. Ceiling joists that run lengthwise in a building, below the ceiling structure, to support the…

Also *tenjōketa 天井桁 or tenjō ukegeta 天井受桁. A horizontal beam which…

The placement of one planed timber on top of another planed timber without making any notches.

The Tenpyō period (710-794) begins with the transfer of the capital from Fujiwara 藤原 to Nara (Heijō-kyō 平城京) in 710, and…

A balustrade along a stairway or surrounding a shallow balcony on a high gate *rōmon…

The structured elements that cover a window, entrance, or other opening to protect them from the weather or the inside of…

The boards used for the construction of a door including: *mairado 舞良戸 (one…

Also called toyose 戸寄. A door stop.

1　A thin strip of wood attached to and projecting…

Also called tobimono 飛物 or hiryō 飛梁. A beam that extends from the eave purlin *…

A pivot-hinged door. *To 戸 refers to sliding doors. However, in a compound word such…

The structure or composition of a door fitting.

Also called tobiradōri 扉通. The alignment of gate pillars *hashira…

Also sūjiku 枢軸. An almost obsolete term for pivot *jikuzuri 軸吊. The…