Transverse roof beams that span the distance from the center posts of a vernacular house with a thatched roof to the *…

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

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…

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

Also kairen 開蓮. A lotus flower found on the head of a *Fudō Myōō …

Lit. Korean type mountain castle. A general term for castle structures in Japan that resemble those in ancient Korea.…

Also read kōzogami and kajigami 梶紙. Formerly called kokushi 穀紙 during the Heian period. Paper…

Carved lacquer. A generic term used for many carved lacquer techniques where layers of lacquer are applied to a thickness of…

Lit. hyper-naturalism. The idea of basing a garden, or a single element in it, on nature, but exaggerating the natural…

Ch: Zhutou. A painting subject depicting the Northern Song dynasty eccentric priest Zhimeng (J: Shimō 志蒙). He was known…

Ch: chaoyang duiyue. A Zen painting subject depicting a priest sewing in the morning sun (Jp: chōyō …

Lit. hand-washing stone. One of the seven trump stones *nanatsu-ishi 七つ石…

Lit. hand water bowl. A water basin used to rinse the hands or as a decorative element in gardens. Usually made of stone,…

Also written 手水屋. Also called suibansha 水盤舎 or temizuya 手水舎. Shrine or temple building for cleaning hands…

Lit. medium-size format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term chūban…

A part of the mounting of a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. The chūberi…

The central, circular part of a round, eave-end, pendant tile *gatō 瓦当…

The middle base of a lantern *tōrō 灯籠 upon which rests the flame holder and…

Middle area. In upper class residences especially from the Momoyama period and through the Edo period, seating was…

The space *ai-no-ma 相の間 between the sanctuary *…

Lit. central hall. A hall situated between two Buddhist halls or a hall with corridors attached on either side. The most…

Lit. a middle-size book. A woodblock printed book, popular during the Edo period, which is one-half the size of a …

A term used in shrine architecture: a middle area between the *honden 本殿, *…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 supposedly intended to represent the 9th-century poet and…

Metal casting. A technique used in metalwork to produce vessels or sculptures by melting down metal and pouring it into a…

Lit. middle golden hall. An image hall *kondō 金堂 located at the center of…

1　Middle gate. The second or inner gate on the north-south axis of a temple compound in the ancient period…

A type of vernacular house *minka 民家, characterized by one or more wings or…

1　A Heian-period corridor intersected by gates. In the most elaborate Heian-period shinden style…

A term for a loft or attic occupying the roof space of a vernacular house *minka…

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

A smoothing plane, used to further smooth the surface of timber after the general roughing plane *…

Also tenjō chūshinkazari 天井中心飾. Lit. center flower.

1　A group of decorative patterns in…

A pictorial subject matter taken from The Treasury of Loyal Retainers Chūshingura, an epic and well-loved story of…

Lit. center stone(s). A single stone or stone arrangement *ishigumi 石組,…

Also chūdai-no-son 中台の尊. The principal statue in a group of Buddhist statues. The central image in a triad or group…

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

Also imono 鋳物. Casting. A technique used to make cast sculptural forms. 

The base material was heated…

Also hōbachi 宝鉢 (Sk: patra). A bowl used by Buddhist monks for meals, and as a begging bowl. The hachi is rounded and deep…

Abbreviation of Tenryū hachibushū 天竜八部衆. Eight classes of Indian deities who were converted by *…

Lit. eight great youths. Eight attendants of either *Monju 文殊 or more commonly *…

Also read hachijū shukō, hachijū zuigyōgō 八十随形好 hachijū zuigōsō 八十随好相. The 80 auspicious bodily…

A washstand placed near a veranda or in the corner of an open veranda, shoin zashiki 書院座敷, or in the chief priest's…

The name for a thickly plastered area projecting from the wall below the eaves of a building. Used on storehouses, *…

A "headband" earthen embankment. An earthen embankment with a stone wall constructed on the upper portion. Also …

A pillar of the shinmei type, *shinmei torii 神明鳥居, with no…

A style of shrine architecture characterized by a structure which from the side-view gives the impression of two separate…

Refers to the books of the floating world, *ukiyo zōshi 浮世草子, published by…

The eight basic ways of positioning a hearth, *ro 炉, in a tea ceremony room, *…

Lit. eight leaves. Also hachiyō kanagu 八葉金具. A metal decoration carved into the shape of eight petals with a central…

A decorative stylized lotus-flower pattern, *rengemon 蓮華文, found on eaves…

1　The second layer of tiles that is curved and set at a same angle to the first layer of tiles, …

Lit. naked or bare yard. A term for the earth-floored area, *doma 土間, in…

Also haigi. An archaic term for *nodaruki, 野垂木 (a hidden rafter). A…

Also hafu kanagu 破風金具. Decorative metal fittings, *kazari kanagu…

Also written 破風鐺, hafujiri 破風尻, or hafubana 破風鼻. The lower end of a bargeboard on a hip-and-gable…

Also called hafugashira, 破風頭, or hafu-no-ogami, 破風の拝. The joint between two bargeboards, hafu-ita…

Also written 搏風. Also called hafu-ita 破風板. A bargeboard. Straight or curved boards laid flat against the ridge ends…

The center of a bargeboard, *hafu 破風, which is determined by its length. It…

Lit. *Amida, 阿弥陀, with teeth exposed. An image of a standing Amida with his…

Also written 羽柄材. Also called hagaramono, 端柄物, 羽柄物; or yamabikizai 山挽材. A general term for trimmed boards…

A suffix used to describe edge joints of various types.

1　Imohagi 芋矧, a straight…

The joining or gluing together of parts when making a wooden statue or vessel. Originally the term meant sticking feathers…

Hagi ware. A general name for pottery made in the Matsumoto, 松本, area of western Hagi City, and in Nagato Fukawa, 長門深川, in…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Broom Tree," Hahakigi, Chapter 2 of Genji Monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

Lit. abolish Buddha. It was government policy during the early Meiji period to repress Buddhism in favor of Shinto which was…

A layout drawing on a plot plan showing topography in minute detail and the position of buildings within the boundaries of a…

A worship hall at a Shinto shrine, usually placed on the same axis as the offering hall, *…

Simple paintings which accompany and interact with the 17-syllable poetic verse called haiku, 俳句. Haiga is…

Also hainobi 配延び or nobi 延び. A carpenters' standard term for extensions created by slopes. Example: Where the horizontal…

Lit. worship stone. A type of trump stone *yaku-ishi 役石 from which one can…

Lit. stone arrangement. To arrange stones in consideration of their shape, color, and character. 
 

Also sashidaruki 挿垂木 or 指垂木. To join rafters *taruki 垂木 which is…

Also bakuchiku-bashira 爆竹柱.

1　A method. Introduced in the Edo period, of constructing the…

1　A trapezoidal form created on top of the posts that frame the host's entrance *…

Lit. hakama 袴 brushing stone. A name for the front stone in a stone grouping arranged around a low basin *…

A single bracket arm *hijiki 肘木, which is set into a large bearing block *…

A wide, multi-purpose brush made of animal hair attached to a wooden handle. Hake range in size from 3 cm to 18 cm…

An octagonal hall in a Buddhist temple. One or more Buddhist deities are enshrined within. The record Shizaichō…

An octagonal hall. Temple records owned by Hōryūji 法隆寺 and Gangōji 元興寺 mention the existence of a hakkaku enden as…

Lit. eight-sided circular. An octagonal circular hall *hakkakudō 八角堂,…

Also called *hakkaku endō 八角円堂. An octagonal hall. There are six…

Also yatsunaka-no-korobi 八中の転. The method used to determine the incline of the main posts of a *…

An octagonal pagoda of which there is only one in Japan. Although a plan to erect an octagonal pagoda existed at Saidaiji…

Lit. eight views. Eight scenic spots from one geographic area specifically chosen to be treated in verse or pictures. The…

Lit. biographies of eight dogs. A pictorial subjectin *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 taken from…

Also read yatsuashimon. Also called sangenikkomon 三間一戸門 or sangen sankomon 三間三戸門 depending upon…

A Buddhist image contained in a box-shaped miniature shrine. Two symmetrical rectangular wings flank a main image, carved in…

Box-shaped measuring tool used when inking and marking off a pillar in order to fit the horizontal beams surrounding a…

Also referred to as hakodan 箱段 and hakohashigo 箱梯子. A combined stairway and storage chest, common in town…

A prominent box-like ridge framed in timber astride the apex of a roof. In section it resembles a miniature building with a…

Also called Hakozaki Hachimangū 筥崎八幡宮, Hakozaki no Miya 筥崎宮 or Hizen torii 肥前鳥居. A stone pillar type of gate characterized…

Lit. foil or leaf. Gold, silver, copper, tin, or brass pounded into a thin flat sheet and used for the decoration of art…

Ch: Bo Ya Zhong Ziqi. A pictorial theme of friendship in Chinese painting. When the Zhou dynasty musician Bo Ya (Jp: …

Lit. Be Le assessing a horse. A Chinese painting subject of the 4th century horse trainer named Be Le (Jp: Haku Raku…

Ch: Bai Letian (772-846). A Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty, depicted in a tradition of imaginary portrait paintings.…

Although the term literally means white drawing, hakubyō 白描 is a technique of painting that relies primarily on the…

Kaolin. Also todo とど. A fine soft white clay produced by the decomposition of other clays feldspar. Hakudo…

Painting on silk. In ancient China, before paper-making was developed, silk or haku (also called so 繪) was…