| Title | Contains Image(s) | Description | Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| bai 唄 | ✓ | A circular nail head cover *kugikakushi 釘隠, placed over a nail to attach a… |
Architecture, Decorations |
| baijō 梅杖 | Lit. plum post. A wooden post used to support the heavy but structurally weak branches of old plum trees. |
Architecture, Gardens | |
| baikenmon 梅軒門 | Lit. plum eaves gate. Also written 梅見門. A type of gate used in tea gardens *roji… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| baku 瀑 | A cascade. A type of garden waterfall in which the water falls at a 90 degree angle. One common type of baku is the… |
Architecture, Gardens | |
| bakuhana 獏鼻 | ✓ | Lit. tapir nose. Also called bakugashira 獏頭. A type of nosing *kibana… |
Architecture, Decorations |
| bakuryō 曝涼 | Lit. airing. Also called mushiboshi 虫干. The practice of inspecting and airing valuables that have been in storage… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ban 盤 | A heavy wooden plank placed above the ceiling of the first story of a two-storied pagoda *… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| banbei 蕃塀 | ✓ | Also pronounced hanbei. A single, free-standing, short timber fence placed as a guard in front of the north, east,… |
Architecture, Shrines |
| banchi ばん池 | Also called hanchi 畔池 written with the character ばん池, to indicate a 'halved pond.' Lit. levee pond. A type of… |
Architecture, Gardens | |
| banjiro 番城 | Short for zaiban shijō 在番支城. A branch castle *shijō 支城, with… |
Architecture, Castles | |
| banshin 番神 | Also kyakushin 客神, ishin 夷神. Also written 蛮神 banshin. Gods that were thought to have originated… |
Architecture, Shrines | |
| banzuke 番付 | A system used to label each structural members of a building before construction, while being dismantled for repair, or… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| battari shōgi ばったり床几 | Alternative term for a shop-front shutter and folding table *agemise … |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings | |
| bentendō 弁天堂 | Also called benzaitendō 弁才天堂. A small structure that houses an image of Benten 弁天 (Sk: Sarasvati, *… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| betsugū 別宮 | Also bessha 別社, edamiya 枝宮, or edayashiro 枝社. |
Architecture, Shrines | |
| betsuin 別院 | Also called *gobō 御坊. In the Nagoya area, it is called kakesho… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| biseki 尾石 | Lit. tail stone. A stone in a rock garden that represents the tail of a tortoise *… |
Architecture, Gardens | |
| bishamon kikkō 毘沙門亀甲 | A decorative pattern composed of three joined hexagonal shapes. It is named after the guardian deity *… |
Architecture, Decorations | |
| bishamondō 毘沙門堂 | ✓ | A temple hall dedicated to *Bishamonten 毘沙門天, one of the four gods, or *… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures |
| biwa-ita 琵琶板 | Also written 枇杷板. |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| bokashi 暈 | 1 A gradation of colors or tones from dark to light or vice versa. One example is colorization of the… |
Architecture, Decorations, Art History, Painting | |
| bokuseki 墨跡 | Black ink brush writing by Zen 禅 priests, as well as by laymen who practiced Zen meditations and wrote Buddhist sermons, or… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| bokusekimado 墨蹟窓 | A window on the side wall of an alcove *tokonoma 床の間, used to provide light… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| bonjimon 梵字文 | ✓ | Lit. Sanskrit motif. A Sanskrit character, bonji 梵字, that decorates pendants *… |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles |
| bōrōgata tenshu 望楼型天守 | ✓ | A lookout tower set atop the roof of a residence *kyokan 居館, usually a… |
Architecture, Castles |
| botan karakusa 牡丹唐草 | 1 Abbreviation of botan karakusagawara 牡丹唐草瓦. A roof tile, often an eaves-end tile, whose pendant… |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles, Painting, Art History | |
| bōzumi 棒隅 | Lit. straight corner. |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| budō karakusamon 葡萄唐草文 | ✓ | Also abbreviated to *budō karakusa 葡萄唐草. A grape-patterned arabesque used… |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles |
| bugakuryū teien 武学流庭園 | Lit. garden of the Bugaku lineage. A style of Japanese garden developed in the middle of the Edo period by Ōishi Bugaku 大石武学… |
Architecture, Gardens | |
| buke-zukuri 武家造 | A style of residential architecture in use among the bushi 武士 or warrior class. As defined by the early 20th-… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| bukku 仏供 | Also jukubukku 熟仏供, butsuhan 仏飯, or butsushō 仏餉. Cooked rice made as an offering to the Buddha,… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| bunmawashi 規 | An old term for a compass used to draw circles. They were imported from Portugal. The beam compass has a large radius,… | Architecture, Tools | |
| buntōgata 分棟型 | ✓ | Lit. divided-ridge style. Often abbreviated to buntō 分棟 and sometimes referred to as betsumune-zukuri… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings |
| burō 廡廊 | A corridor that enclosed an open area or surrounded a space in which buildings were erected. A term from the 7th-9th century… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| bussharitō 仏舎利塔 | Also called *sharitō 舎利塔. A reliquary in a stupa or pagoda. These could be… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| busshōya 仏餉屋 | ✓ | Also called gokusho 御供所. A Buddhist building used to prepare ritual food offerings called busshō 仏餉, *… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures |
| busshudana 仏守棚 | Lit. Buddha protecting shelf. A type of decorative shelf with sliding-door cabinets on the bottom and an ogee-shaped… | Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings | |
| butaigamachi 舞台框 | Lit. stage framework. A framing member that runs the entire width of the upper part of a *… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| butaikabe 舞台壁 | Lit. proscenium wall. The wall at the front part of a *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage. |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| butsudan 仏壇 | ✓ | An altar or tabernacle in the form of a podium, table, recess, or cabinet used in the sanctuaries of temples and in private… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings |
| butsudan-no-ma 仏壇の間 | ✓ | A room in traditional vernacular houses *minka 民家, in parts of Hyōgo Prefecture… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings |
| butsuden 仏殿 | ✓ | Also *daiyū hōden 大雄宝殿. The main hall of a Zen temple. Butsuden… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures |
| butsudō 仏堂 | Also called *butsuden 仏殿; bukkaku 仏閣, *… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| butsuma 仏間 | A room for Buddhist images (either two- or three-dimensional images) or, especially in a residence, an altar or tabernacle… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures, Folk Dwellings | |
| butsumon 仏門 | Architecture, Gates | ||
| buzai 部材 | A generic term for the structural members which form the framework *honegumi… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| byōbudana 屏風棚 | A type of decorative double hanging shelf *tsuridana 釣棚, placed in an alcove… |
Architecture, Accessories | |
| byōbuori 屏風折 | Also termed *orihei 折塀 (folding wall). A castle wall that zig-zags… |
Architecture, Castles | |
| byōmon 廟門 | ✓ | Also called reibyōmon 霊廟門. An entrance gate to a mausoleum. It can be an elaborate gate in two-storied or simulated… |
Architecture, Gates |
| byōtō 廟塔 | Lit. mausoleum pagoda. |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| ō-ita 大板 | ✓ | A board which is placed on the host's mat *temaedatami 点前畳,… |
Architecture, Tea Houses |
| ō-itabuki 大板葺 | Large wooden shingles which are about 30 cm wide and are laid from the ridge to the eaves. Where the shingles need to be… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ōatsuzai 応圧材 | A load-bearing structural member. Refers to any structural element which supports the roof including pillars *… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ōbaku kenchiku 黄檗建築 | Architecture introduced at temples of the Ōbaku 黄檗 sect, in the Edo period. This sect is one of the three Zen 禅 sects. The… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| ōbaku tenjō 黄檗天井 | ✓ | Also called wadaruki 輪垂木. An open ceiling found in Buddhist temples of the Ōbaku 黄檗 sect. The architectural style… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| obido 帯戸 | ✓ | Also called obisando 帯桟戸. A simple wooden door made of thin boards with rails at top and bottom and stiles, left… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| obiguruwa 帯郭 | Lit. "belt compound." A long narrow castle compound. Obiguruwa were often constructed on the top of an earthen… |
Architecture, Castles | |
| ōbiki 大引 | ✓ | Also obiki 尾引. Sleepers about 10 cm sq. that extend horizontally at right angle to posts that are erected on a sill… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| ochi-en 落縁 | ✓ | A outer veranda constructed a step lower than the adjacent floor. It may also be constructed one step lower than a broad… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| ochi-ishi 落石 | Lit. "falling stone." Also pronounced otoshi-ishi. One of the trump stones *… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| ochigakari 落掛 | The junction point of a horizontal and diagonal structural member. For example, the point where the bottom of the hip rafter… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ochima 落間 | Also kiriotoshi 切落. |
Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings | |
| ochimune-zukuri 落棟造 | A design incorporating a projection from a major building with a roof ridge *mune… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings | |
| ochitenjō 落天井 | ✓ | Lit. "dropped ceiling." Also called otoshitenjō 落し天井. A ceiling in a tea ceremony room above the host's mat *… |
Architecture, Tea Houses |
| odaruki 尾垂木 | ✓ | A tail rafter. A large rafter which usually extends through the second step of a 3-stepped bracket complex *… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| odawarabuki 小田原葺 | Also called da-itabuki 駄板葺. A shingled roof which has bamboo battens and or stones to hold the shingles in place.… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ōdo 大戸 | ✓ | 1 Lit. "great door." Also called *ōdoguchi 大戸口. The door… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings |
| ōdoguchi 大戸口 | 1 The main entrance to traditional vernacular houses *minka 民家… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings | |
| oga 大鋸 | Also pronounced ōga. A ripsaw thought to have been introduced to Japan from China at the beginning of the 15th… |
Architecture, Tools | |
| ōgaki 大垣 | Lit. "big fence." Large, continuous fences in distinction to short screen fences *… |
Architecture, Gardens | |
| ogami 拝 | Lit. "praying." |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ogami karakusagawara 拝唐草瓦 | ✓ | The roof tiles positioned like hands joined in prayer covering the triangular framework of a Japanese roof structure. Broad… |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles |
| ogamidomoe 拝巴 | A peak tile. A semi-cylindrical, elongated, barrel-shaped, hanging tile which covers the broad, concave, eave-end tiles *… |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles | |
| ogawara 男瓦 | ✓ | Lit. "male tile." Also written 雄瓦, called *fusegawara 伏瓦, tsutsugawara… |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles |
| ogawara 男瓦 | Lit. "male tile." A semi-cylindrical cover tile *marugawara … |
Architecture, Roofing Tiles | |
| ōgi-no-kōbai 扇の勾配 | ✓ | Lit. "fan slope." Also ōgikōbai 扇勾配 or miyakōbai 宮勾配 (shrine slope). The concave pitch of a stone… |
Architecture, Castles |
| ōgi-no-nawa 扇の縄 | Also written 扇子の縄. A castle plan shaped like a folding fan wherein the fortifications are distributed on either side of the… |
Architecture, Castles | |
| ōgidaruki 扇垂木 | ✓ | Fan rafters. There are two arrangements: those that radiate from a center point on each side of the building; or those that… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| oigata mon'yō 笈形文様 | A pattern drawn on a wall on both sides of a type of post called *kentozuka… |
Architecture, Decorations | |
| oigata taiheizuka 笈形大瓶束 | ✓ | A bottle strut *taiheizuka 大瓶束, with a sculptural decoration called … |
Architecture, General Terms |
| ōire ariotoshi 大入蟻落 | ✓ | Also called kageire ariotoshi 陰入蟻落; ōire arikake 大入蟻掛. A joint made to connect a purlin *… |
Architecture, Joints |
| ōire 大入 | ✓ | Also written 追入 or 尾入. A dadoed or housed, angled T-joint, which is used to join beams to posts. A shallow square or… |
Architecture, Joints |
| ōji-zukuri 王子造 | Also written 皇子造. A style of construction used for a Shinto shrine sanctuary *honden… |
Architecture, Shrines | |
| ōkabe 大壁 | A wall which is completely plastered so that the pillars or posts are not visible. This method is common for the… |
Architecture, General Terms | |
| ōkabe-zukuri 大壁造 | ✓ | 1 A style or method of constructing a wall, in which the basic framework for plastering is made on the… |
Architecture, General Terms |
| okajō 丘城 | Lit. "hillcastle." Also termed kyūryō jōkaku 丘陵城郭. |
Architecture, Castles | |
| Ōkakudai 黄鶴台 | A sukiya style *sukiya-zukuri 数寄屋造 bathhouse, yokushitsu… |
Architecture, Buildings, Structures | |
| okamabashira 御竃柱 | Also written 御釜柱. A pillar which is erected opposite the main central support pillar *… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings | |
| okami 御上 | 1 A room that abutted the earth-floored area *doma 土間, at its… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings | |
| Okazarisho 御飾書 | Shogun Ashikaga's 足利 book of tea ceremony implement arrangement, thought to have been written by Sōami 相阿弥 (1455-1525), a… |
Architecture, General Terms, Document | |
| okiawase 置合 | The arrangement of tea ceremony utensils in preparation for a tea ceremony. It is more rarely called okitsuke 置付.… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| okidoko 置床 | Also *tsukedoko 付床. An early type of removable alcove formed by placing a… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| okidōrō 沖灯籠 | ✓ | A lantern placed in the water or near the water's edge. These can be clearly viewed from rocks or a boat, and boats use them… |
Architecture, Lanterns |
| okigata 置形 | The part of a ceramic tea bowl decorated with pattern. When used in a tea ceremony, the okigata is positioned… |
Architecture, Tea Houses | |
| okiro 置炉 | ✓ | A portable brazier used for a tea ceremony. It is usually 42 cm square with a height ranging from 21-24 cm. The hearth bed… |
Architecture, Tea Houses |
| okiya 置屋 | The houses of procurers keeping teams of yūjo 遊女, female entertainers and prostitutes in the authorised pleasure… |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings | |
| okiyane 置屋根 | ✓ | The upper roof erected over storehouses, kura 倉, of the *dozō … |
Architecture, Folk Dwellings |
| okkake daisentsugi 追掛大栓継 | ✓ | An oblique, housed (dadoed) and rabbeted scarf joint. The upper and lower pieces are exactly the same but reversed. The… |
Architecture, Joints |
| okkake manji 追掛万字 | ✓ | Architecture, Decorations | |
| ōkoboshi shiki-ishi 大零し敷石 | Lit. "large scattered paving stones." |
Architecture, Tea Houses |
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