Skip to main content

JAANUS

  • # (1)
  • a (30)
  • b (12)
  • c (16)
  • d (36)
  • e (23)
  • f (28)
  • g (25)
  • h (144)
  • i (46)
  • j (24)
  • k (231)
  • m (127)
  • n (117)
  • o (35)
  • r (25)
  • s (195)
  • t (126)
  • u (30)
  • w (14)
  • y (48)
  • z (11)
  • (-) General Terms (41)
  • Architecture (38)
  • Art History (5)
  • Decorations (1)
  • Sculpture (1)
  • Tea Houses (1)

Displaying 1 - 41 of 41
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
chanoyu 茶湯

Lit. the hot water for tea. Also known as sadō 茶道 or chadō. The ritual art of preparing and drinking…

Art History, Tea Houses, General Terms, Architecture
chidori hafu 千鳥破風 ✓

Lit. a plover bargeboard. Also written 鵆破風, lit. a trianglular shape. A dormer gable or a dormer bargeboard, or both…

Architecture, General Terms
chigaidana 違い棚 ✓

Staggered shelves. Considered part of the *shoin 書院 style…

Architecture, General Terms
chigomune 稚児棟 ✓

An offspring ridge. The shorter and outer of the two corner ridges which descend along the line of the adjoining surfaces…

Architecture, General Terms
chikarahijiki 力肘木 ✓

Lit. a strengthening bracket arm. An extension of an interior tie beam which terminates on the exterior as a bracket arm *…

Architecture, General Terms
chimaki 粽 ✓

The rounded-off top of a pillar. In the daibutsu style *daibutsuyō…

Architecture, General Terms
chinkuguri 狆潜 ✓

Also called inukuguri 犬潜. The opening between the floor frame of the alcove *…

Architecture, General Terms
chiri 散 ✓

A generic term used to express the distance between two flat, adjacent surfaces, between the surface of a wall and a post…

Architecture, General Terms
chō 丁

1 The age divisions of peasants recruited by the state for labor service, building or civil/military…

Architecture, General Terms
chōdōin 朝堂院

In ancient Japan, a complex of buildings within the Imperial Palace used for affairs of State, enthronement ceremonies, and…

Architecture, General Terms
chokusen yane 直線屋根

Lit. straight line roof. Roofs without any curved surfaces. A hip roof *yosemune…

Architecture, General Terms
chōnaguri 釿栗

Cutting decorative patterns with an adze *chōna 釿 on chestnut wood …

Architecture, General Terms
chōnahajime 釿始

Also written 釿初, 手斧初. Also called kozukuri hajime 木造り始め or onohajime 斧始め. A carpenter's ceremony performed…

Architecture, General Terms
chōnamekezuri 釿目削 ✓

Also called chōnahatsuri 釿斫. A decorative pattern carved into the visible surface of a timber using an adze *…

Architecture, General Terms
chūsei kenchiku 中世建築

Lit. medieval architecture. Temple and shrine buildings erected during the Kamakura, Nanbokuchō, and Muromachi periods when…

Architecture, General Terms
chūtō 柱頭

A synonym for the large bearing block *daito 大斗 placed on the tops of pillars…

Architecture, General Terms
gagyō 丸桁 ✓

Also read gangyō, gayō, nokigeta 軒桁, or *dashigeta…

Architecture, General Terms
gagyōbane 丸桁桔

Also read gangyōbane. A single heavy beam attached at right angles to the eave purlins *…

Architecture, General Terms
gaien 外苑

Lit. outer garden. The area outside the sacred enclosure of a shrine, mausoleum, or temple. Typically, the approach to the…

Architecture, General Terms
gakubuchi 額縁

1 The wooden rails and stiles around doors or windows. 
2 Casing, trim, or…

Architecture, General Terms
gangi hashigo 雁木梯子 ✓

Lit. zig-zag ladder. A kind of ladder, hashigo 梯子(see *kaidan 階段),…

Architecture, General Terms
garan haichi 伽藍配置 ✓

The arrangement of buildings within the precinct of a Buddhist temple constructed between the late 7th century to 12th…

Architecture, General Terms
garan 伽藍

An abbreviated form of sōgya ranma 僧伽欄摩 (Sk: samgha arama). Lit. A garden for monks. Also rendered as sōen…

Architecture, General Terms
gasshō 合掌

1 The triangular frame created by joining a pair of cruck-like members *…

Architecture, General Terms, Art History, Sculpture
gawageta 側桁

Also pronounced kawageta. 
1 Exterior wall purlins. Long horizontal beams *…

Architecture, General Terms
gawakabe 側壁

Also read sokuheki or kawakabe. The exterior wall of a building. An outside wall or end wall.

Architecture, General Terms
gejin 外陣

1 In shrine architecture, the main hall *honden 本殿 is divided…

Architecture, General Terms
gekan 下間

Lit. lower space. It is a room adjoining the main rooms of the priests' quarters in a Zen temple. It is located near the…

Architecture, General Terms
genkan 玄関

1 The entrance gallery or porch used in the guest hall *kyakuden…

Architecture, General Terms
Genroku bunka 元禄文化

Lit. Genroku culture. The middle Edo period *Edo jidai 江戸時代 chūki 中期…

Art History, General Terms
giboshi 擬宝珠 ✓

Also pronounced gibōshi, giboju, gibōshu, goboshu. A decoration in the shape of the…

Architecture, General Terms, Decorations
gigaku 伎楽

Also kuregaku 呉楽. Now-lost ancient masked theatrical performances given at temples from the 7th to 9th century.…

Art History, General Terms
gō-ita 格板

Also called *ura-ita 裏板. The panel used to fill the space made by the…

Architecture, General Terms
gōbuchi 格縁

The wooden ribs or coffers laid in a criss-cross pattern to form a coffered ceiling *gō…

Architecture, General Terms
gokakumasu 五角桝 ✓

Lit. a five cornered measuring box. A method used to determine the proportions of a bracket arm *…

Architecture, General Terms
gōma 格間

The space created by the coffers or ribs *gōbuchi 格縁 of a coffered or latticed…

Architecture, General Terms
gorinmen 五厘面

Type of a chamfers cut on a square timber or square post with a ratio of 1/20 is called gorinmen along each corner…

Architecture, General Terms
goshomune 御所棟

Also called gosho oni-ita 御所鬼板 or goshomune oni-ita 御所棟鬼板. Lit. the ridge of an imperial palace. The main…

Architecture, General Terms
gōtenjō 格天井

A coffered ceiling. A ceiling with ribs framing recessed panels.

1 The simplest type of coffered…

Architecture, General Terms
gyobutsu 御物

Also read gomotsu. The emperor's property. The Imperial Collection of art objects, books, etc., which are either of…

Art History, General Terms
gyōkaigan 凝灰岩

Tuff or tufa. Popularly called shōkōseki 松香石. A porous stone composed of volcanic ash or from the material loosened…

Architecture, General Terms

Contributor Login

JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University