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 *…

A type of worship hall *haiden 拝殿 which is attached to the main…

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…

A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 that is vertically oriented; in…

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

Lit. "under construction pagoda." A pagoda at Kanshinji 観心寺 in Osaka that has only its first story. Kusunoki Masashige 楠木正成…

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

Also written 立子 or 建子, read tatego.

1　 A generic term for the vertical muntins on lattice…

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 read tatewaki or written 立枠. A design motif made of vertical, tate 立, curvilinear lines which bulge…

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

1　An abbreviation of tatōgami, or tatamigami. Also known as…

Lit. "multiple-island style." More than two islands constructed in a chisen 池泉 (pond and stream) type garden.

Also written 龍田川 or 立田川. The lower reaches of a tributary of the Yamato 大和 River in Nara. Long famous for its maple leaves,…

A painting shop *eya 絵屋 or atelier founded by Sōtatsu 宗達 (?-1640?), who is thought…

One of the gates in the inner enclosure of the old Edo-jō 江戸城. It preserves the *…

Lit. "hand box." Introduced from China as a comb box before the Heian period, they were popular with court women through the…

Ch: Zheng Siyuan. A Chinese sage depicted riding a tiger and accompanied by a tiger cub who carries his books. The tiger…

Lit. "paintings of Teika's poems of the flowers and birds of the twelve months." According to his diary Meigetsuki …

Lit. "ladder-shaped compound plan." Short for teikakushiki nawabari 梯郭式縄張. A plan that fortified a castle entrance…

Ch: dijiantu. The genre of paintings of advice and admonition *kankai-zu…

Also dainaisha 第内社. A shrine within the estate or premises teinai 邸内 of a nobleman. The mansion, …

Ch: dingtou shuweimiao. Lit. "nail head-rattail drawing." A brush stroke technique used to create the clothing of…

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

Also tekō, yubitsugai 指番. A protective piece of leather or metal used to protect the back of a soldier's…

Also called *dōgu-datami 道具畳, or kyo-datami 居畳. The straw mat…

Also *shō 摂. Clay statue. An old term used in the Nara period to…

An Indian god (Sk: deva) or goddess (Sk: devi) of non-Buddhist origin. When referring to such deities, the character "bu…

A pictorial subject based on "Tenarai" ("At Writing Practice"), Chapter 53 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

Beams used to support a heavy lower ridge *jimune 地棟. They are…

Lit. "mudra for turning the Dharma-wheel." A mudra or hand gesture *in 印…

1　A prehistoric pit dwelling *tateana jūkyo …

The upper part of a piece of paper is referred to as the "heaven" or ten 天, and the lower part as the "earth"or…

Also tenchigen. A facial expression found on *Fudō Myōō 不動明王, where the right…

Lit. "heavenly youth," also warabemai 童舞 (dancing child). A dance mask representing a young boy with parted hair…

1　Also sangai 傘蓋, hōgai 宝蓋, kagai 華蓋, kengai 懸蓋. Sk: chatra…

Lit. "celestial dog." A bird-like goblin frequently encountered in Japanese folk-beliefs, literature and their pictorial…

Also written 天具帖, 天宮上, 天久常. Fine Japanese paper made from high quality fibers (see *…

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

Lit. "heaven people."

1　The heavenly gods as opposed to the gods of earth, chigi 地祇.
…

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.

Paintings on a ceiling. The coffered ceilings *gōtenjō 格天井 of…

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…

Also hōkandai 宝冠台. A decorative band around the head found on *bosatsu…

Also tenkei jinbutsu 点景人物. Small-sized human figures and animals added as secondary elements to a landscape…

Chinese Tianmu tea bowls. Black-glazed stoneware bowls, with a conical shape, small foot and thin walls, divided into types…

A stand for a *tenmoku jawan 天目茶碗. Tenmoku 天目 stands were imported from China…

A black glaze used on straight-sided conical teabowls known as tenmoku ware *tenmoku…

Also tenne 纏衣. A long, narrow strip of ornamental cloth, found on images of *…

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…

Lit. "tower central pillar." A pillar found in the main structure of castles, sometimes used singly and sometimes in pairs.…

Also called tenshukaku 天守閣, tenshuyagura 天守櫓. Also written 天主, 殿主, and 殿守. The principal tower-like…

The independent raised foundation upon which the principal tower *tenshu 天守 was constructed.…

Lit. "flat iron stone." A type of andesite quarried in the Suwa 諏訪 and Kitasaku 北佐久 regions of Nagano Prefecture. The flat,…

Also called jūgan 銃眼 (loophole). A gun loophole or gun port. An opening through which to shoot a firearm from…

A term for an alcove or recess of the *oshi-ita 押板 type found in…

Lit. "musket fence." A type of *sodegaki 袖垣 or *…

Also termed nawadarumi 縄だるみ (slackened rope). A concave shaped stone wall with a curved surface that resembles a…

1　A term used to count the number of steps of a bracket complex. For example, futatesaki 二手先, …

Lit. "candlestick stone." One of the *yaku-ishi 役石 of the *…

Ch: tiexianmiao. Lit. "iron-wire line drawing." A technique used to render the thin, even lines commonly seen in…

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

A Buddhist statue made of cast iron. Cast iron statues were not as common in Japan as bronze (see *…

A unique gate at Himeji-jō 姫路城 'Nu'-no-mon 'ぬ'の門 (1601-10), Hyōgo Prefecture. It is tall and has a double story and…

Ch: Tao Yuanming (365-427). The Jin dynasty poet and quintessential Chinese scholar-recluse. A virtual prototype for the…

Ch: Du Fu (712-770). A Chinese poet, considered to be one of China's greatest. An innovator of both poetic style and subject…

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

A whetstone, grinder, or grindstone. A tool used to sharpen the blade of a plane or chisel. Carpenters used a set of ranging…

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

Also called tōba 塔婆, sotoba 卒都婆 or *tasōtō 多層塔 (many-layered…

Also called toyose 戸寄. A door stop.

1　A thin strip of wood attached to and projecting…

A caricature picture *giga 戯画 which was popular in the…

A manifestation of *Bishamonten 毘沙門天 said to have appeared in the Central Asian…

Lit. "stepping stones." As the key material for the path of the *roji …

Lit. "stepping stone stairs." A type of stepping stone *tobi-ishi 飛石, placed on a slope to…

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…

Ch: Dongfang Shuo (ca. 154-93 BCE). A Chinese Daoist immortal of the Western Jin associated with the peaches of immortality…

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

A box-like structure into which the rain shutters *amado 雨戸 are stored when not…

Tea contest. Competitive parties featuring taste and classification of tea developed by Heian period aristocrats and wildly…

A type of board roofing *itabuki yane 板葺屋根, whereby boards …

The main, east gate of a temple compound.