Also written 請花, 受華, 請華; sometimes pronounced ukehana. Flower-shaped support. A support in the shape of an open,…

Also *chūdai 中台. Middle base.

A generic term for all supporting or receiving structural members. For example, a timber that receives an eave cornice is…

The indentation in the middle of the base *kiso 基礎 of a lantern…

Lit. "floating picture." Usually a woodblock print, in which the three-dimensionality of a scene is emphasized by using one…

Formerly known as hanshutsuzō 半出像. A relief, or a method used to carve a relief on a flat surface. Halfway…

A pictorial subject taken from "Ukifune" ("A Boat upon the Waters"), Chapter 51 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

Lit. "pictures of the floating world." Paintings and woodblock prints of genre themes developed from the mid-Edo to early…

Currents of Thought on Ukiyo-e, a series of biographies of *ukiyo-e …

Lit. "books of the floating world." Printed books containing illustrated prose stories which developed from the Kamigata…

Marigold, saffron yellow. A bright yellow dye taken from the root stalk of the turmeric plant (Curcuma longa).…

A main castle gate *koguchi 虎口 with a small barrier or compound…

A castle entrance barrier. A small barrier or compound, built in front of a castle gate *…

Paintings of horses on pairs of folding screen *byōbu 屏風. Beginning in the Heian…

A standing screen *tsuitate shōji 衝立障子 decorated with horses that was…

A stable. Also written 厩. Also maya 馬屋 or 厩, keiya けいや, and kyūsha 厩舎. Applied to both a…

Also keima-zu 繋馬図. Paintings of horses tethered in a stable. Although the subject is found in a 13th-century…

A gable pendant *gegyo 懸魚 with an irregular hexagonal shape. The…

A pictorial subject based on "Umegae" ("A Branch of Plum"), Chapter 32 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Also read umeki. A wooden dowel or plug used to fill a hole in a piece of timber. If a knot or some other flaw…

To fill in any remaining open spaces with sand, gravel, soil, or other such substances, after the foundation and all…

Lit. "sea stone." A generic name for stones found in the ocean or along the seashore. Because sea stones contain salt, and…

A type of lantern. These six-sided lanterns are the same as the kasuga type, but they were carved by a stonemason…

Also written 暈繝. Also *ungen zaishiki 繧繝彩色, lit. "rainbow coloring." A…

Also written 暈繝彩色. A method of coloring used in painting as well as for decorative motifs in crafts and architecture. Also…

A decorated cloth binding used for the border of a straw mat *tatami 畳…

1　Chinese: yunqiwen.
An ancient Chinese decorative design formed from C and S shapes. It is…

School of painters, founded by the 16th-century artist Unkoku Tōgan 雲谷等顔 (1547-1618), who considered themselves to be in the…

Lit. "cloud design." A broad classification of the various designs used to represent clouds. It is known throughout Asia,…

Also hanchiku 班竹, madaradake まだらだけ, buchidake ぶちだけ, tanbahanchiku タンバハンチク, …

Lit. "rabbit-fur cover." Also *karahafu gegyo 唐破風懸魚. 

A generic term for backing boards, which are boards nailed over rafters to form a backing for the roofing. In an open roof…

Also called uragaeshi 裏返 or yobinuri 呼塗. Soft, rough plaster arakabe tsuchi 荒壁土 applied to…

Also called urame 裏目.
The scale marked on the back side of a carpenter's square, which is the square root of…

Also urappo 裏穂. A thatching material used on vernacular dwellings *minka…

Visible eaves filler placed the eave support *kayaoi 茅負, and projected slightly…

Also read uragomi. The process of filling the gaps in the rear of a stone retaining wall or stone fence with rubble…

A painting technique used to apply metal foil *haku 箔 to the back…

Also called urajiro 裏白. Type of door used for storage buildings *dozō…

A plaster wall which has mud plaster applied to the front side and then to the rear side before the plaster on the front…

A type of window named for Oda Uraku 織田有楽 (1547-1621) which incorporates short, small, vertical stripes of bamboo placed…

The hero and title of an ancient tale of a fisherman and his magical journey to a palace beneath the sea. The details vary,…

A technique used to line or back a piece of paper or fabric. Generally, a strong piece of Japanese paper *…

Also called marutagaki 丸太垣. A fence constructed with logs positioned at fairly close intervals and three horizontal…

A technique used to apply color to the reverse side of a painting. Pigments applied to the back of one part of a painting to…

A crosspiece used to secure the back or upper side of a ceiling board.

Bricks or stones set at the back of a brick or stone wall to give it extra support. The term is an abbreviation of …

An unusual type of lantern where the flame window is shaped like a *muhōtō…

Lit. "scale pavement."
One style of *shiki-ishi 敷石 made of…

1　Painting done with colored lacquer iro-urushi 彩漆, made by mixing pigments in a base of…

Lit. "lacquer coating." Lacquerware is also called shikki 漆器 (lacquerware) or nurimono 塗物 (coated things…

Lacquer. A non-resinous sap taken from Rhus verniciflua, a tree which grows in East Asian countries.…

A wooden, gate-like entrance *torii 鳥居 of the myōjin 明神…

1　A particularly large beam that runs in a longitudinal direction, ketayuki hōkō 桁行方向 (see *…

Also *kagami-ishi 鏡石. Lit. "back stone." A stone water basin that…

The flowing curve of the rear slope of a gable roof in the flowing style *nagare-…

The placement of primary and secondary rocks in a group, so that the secondary ones are diagonally right and left and to the…

The rear stage between dressing rooms and the rear door of the main stage in a *kabuki…

A rear wing which extends from the main structure of a folk dwelling *minka…

See *nikkei 肉髻. A hemispherical protuberance emerging from the head of a…

Also usofuki, sometimes written 嘯吹. Lit. "bluffer or whistler"; a humorous mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays.…

Also abbreviated usuki 薄器. A container for weak-flavored tea. Early usuchaki had a cylindrical shape, but…

A pictorial subject taken from "Usugumo" ("A Rack of Clouds"), Chapter 19 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

A lid with a high center used for a tea ceremony kettle *chanoyugama…

Also asanikubori 浅肉彫, asaukibori 浅浮彫, teiukibori 低浮彫, usuukibori 薄浮彫. A type of…

1　An alternative term for all or part of the earth-floored area, *doma…

Ususama also Usushima 烏芻渋摩 is a transliteration of the Sanskrit Ucchusma, originally an epithet of Agni, the Indian…

Lit. "thin sills." A lintel and sill used under and above transom *ranma 欄間.…

Also written 臼当; also called dōzuki 胴付. The recessed surface of a wooden member that surrounds a protruding tenon…

1　A small-scale freestanding structure containing a mortar or hand mill, usu 臼, for pounding rice…

1　Also written 薄葉. An extremely thin piece of paper, usually *…

A series of paintings, usually in handscroll format, arranged as if in a poetry contest uta-awase 歌合, where poems…

Lit. "poem-painting."

1　A painting which illustrates the setting described in a Japanese poem, …

Lit. "singing nuns." A type of mid-Edo period prostitute who dressed to resemble Buddhist nuns bikuni and chanted…

Lit. "Utagawa school." The most prolific school of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists in the late Edo…

Also read Udennō. Lit. "King Udayana." An Indian king, reportedly the first person to commission a statue of the Buddha. The…

A hill on the border between the Abe 安部 and Shida 志太 districts of Suruga 駿河 Province (present day Shizuoka Prefecture). A…

Also written 空柱. Lit. "hollow pillar." A box-like down-spout tatedoi 竪樋 used to carry rainwater from roof gutters…

Also called tanihiragawara 谷平瓦. Lit. "broad valley tile." A slightly concave tile used in the valley formed by the…

A pictorial subject based on "Utsusemi" ("The Shell of the Locust"), Chapter 3 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

A simplification or change in the form of a painting which may occur during the copying process. When the shape or position…

A copy or a facsimile. The term refers not only to copies of calligraphy or painting, but also reproductions of ceramics. In…

Also called tenba 天端.

1　The top surface of an object, or the peak of a structural member.…

Also written 上貼, also called visible top layer keshōbari 化粧張, front side hyōmenbari 表面張 or finishing…

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

2　The upper corners of the…

Also pronounced uwagi.

1　The uppermost timber of two joined structural elements. Often…

The upper-most eave of a nokizuke 軒付 or nokiba 軒端 eave end. Each part of the eave has a name. The…

1　Also shiagenuri 仕上げ塗. The final layer applied to a decorative painting sōshoku kōji…

The top or finishing coat of a mud plaster wall, tsuchimonokabe 土物壁 or ōtsukabe 大津壁.

A temporary roof or simple structure erected over a building that is being dismantled for repairs or reconstruction. Modern…

Also called tori-no-shita 鳥の舌 (lit. "bird's tongue"). A somewhat triangular piece of wood added to a bracket arm *…

A board with a carved spiral-like uzusen 渦線 linear design. It is found on frog-leg struts *…

Also written 宇豆柱. The pillars at center, front, and rear of the main prayer hall *honden…

Also uzumakimon 渦巻文, uzugata 渦形, volute, scroll. A decorative spiral pattern found throughout the world on…

Lit. "buried gate."

1　A gate constructed within the stone walls of a castle. It was used to connect…

Lit. "curly young leaf."
A decorative pattern resembling leaves with curved tips. It has been used on ornamental roof…