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…

Lit. "a long board."

1　The board used as the base of the *…

1　An early term for long boards used on roofs. Records dating from the 8th century first used the terms…

An elongated hexagon or a decorative pattern consisting of a series of elongated hexagon shapes.

Longer than standard semi-cylindrical roof tiles used as coping tiles *kasagawara…

Lit. "flowing."

1　The flow of the roof line from the ridge *…

Also nagare hafu-zukuri 流破風造. A widely used style of main sanctuary *…

A sloped tenon, which is cut into the end of a beam. The top of the tenon is flush with the top surface of the beam. The…

A term used to group a number of artists and artistic styles associated with the city of Nagasaki 長崎 from the 17th through…

Also called nagasaki-e 長崎絵 or Nagasaki prints. Woodblock prints made in the port city of Nagasaki during the Edo…

1　A sink used for washing food before its preparation, for washing utensils after a meal, or for washing…

The long side of a timber, or a timber placed in a lengthwise direction.

A room at Kumano Jinja 熊野神社, in Fukushima Prefecture, which is similar to a worshipper's hall *…

Longhouse, or row house. A house with a long ridge. Also indicates a house with a number of residences connected under a…

The smallest of three standard sizes of roof tiles yanegawara 屋根瓦, used during the 17th-19th century. The…

Also once known as Zaōdō 蔵王堂. The Nageiredō is a small building, constructed in the overhang style kake-zukuri 懸造,…

A transverse beam *hari 梁 made in two sections and coupled by a stub-tenon-…

Non-penetrating tie beams that are made to fit around pillars *hashira 柱 of…

A long rectangular beam cut along a diagonal cross-section and used as a non-penetrating tie *nageshi…

Also called naginata mayu 薙刀眉 or 長刀眉. A type of carved molding *kurigata…

A sudden strong, upward curve at the corner ends of eaves. Especially characteristic of the Zen style *…

Buddhist priests' living quarters. Higher-ranking priests had two rooms one behind the other. The inner room was called the…

1　An interior wall partition.

2　The inner surface of a wall.

Also read naishimon. Traditionally, the timbergate through which virgin attendants entered a shrine. Structurally,…

The inner sanctum located in the main halls *kondō 金堂 or *…

Also called moyabashira 母屋柱; irikawabashira入側柱. The pillars placed on the boundary between, or slightly…

The innermost compound *kuruwa 郭 of a castle. Sometimes called *…

The inner section of the pendant *gatō 瓦当, attached to a semi-…

Small entrance-gates at Yoshida Jinja 吉田神社 in Kyoto. They are located in front of two small shrines behind the octagonal…

1　A miniature shrine within the sanctuary of a Shinto shrine.

2　The innermost…

A board which is inserted between the host's mat *temaedatami 点前畳 and the…

1　A semi-formal entrance to Honmaru Goten 本丸御殿, the main palace in Edo-jō 江戸城. It was situated at the east…

According to the Shokunihongi 続日本紀, a gate leading to the waiting area for all officials, chōshūden…

1　A generic term for a door connecting two areas of a structure.

2　A door in the…

A garden wash-basin set characterized by the use of gravel surrounding it. The gravel allows the water from hand washing to…

1　Also *daimebashira 台目柱. A small pillar which stands at…

A pair of sliding doors *hikichigai 引違, separating the front…

A rain gutter placed at the bottom point where two roofs meet. Similar to *narabidō 双堂…

An urban vernacular residence *machiya 町家, characterised by a…

An inner earth-floored area found in *nakadoma machiya…

Also called nakazan 中桟. A middle rail. A horizontal rail or rails inserted into stiles tategamachi 竪框 and…

Also written 中子. Sometimes known as *ogata 雄型. Inner mould. When a metal statue…

A vertical, finishing strip of wood placed between the threshold *shikii 敷居 and…

1　A private service-oriented room in the mansions of aristocrats, warriors, retired emperors, abbots and…

A tea ceremony room or house that contains a board *naka-ita 中板, set between the host's mat…

Also *ni-no-maru 二の丸, ni-no-kuruwa 二の郭, naka-no-maru 中の丸.…

Also called sakuko 柵子, kakusaku 角柵, marutazaku 丸太柵. The stakes used to support the fencing set in…

Also *hanakugi 花釘, tokonakakugi 床中釘 (see *…

Lit. "middle wicket." Also pronounced uchisomi. It is sometimes called kuguri 潜. A type of middle…

1　A place for hanging clothes in vernacular dwellings of the Kantō 関東 region.

2　…

Also called chūgomi 中込, nakazuke or chūzuke 中付. A middle layer of plaster applied between the…

An architectural element that is bent or has a concave mid-point. A diagonal brace, for example, if less than 90 cm wide,…

Also read chūjikii. Lit. "middle sill." A sill on a shelf that divides a closet into two parts, lower and upper.…

Also called nakashōji 中障子, yoshiwara shōji 吉原障子, takeshōji 竹障子, nakanukido 中抜戸 and …

Also written 中縦桟. A vertical stile placed at the mid-point of a paneled door. A centrally placed horizontal stile is called…

Also written 中壷. The inner court between shop and living quarters in a merchant's house in the Edo period.

Also called banshi torii 伴氏鳥居. A stone entrance-gate to a Shinto shrine *torii…

Also written 中具. Secondary or intermediate supports placed in the interstices between the bracket complexes *…

A generic term for struts *tsuka 束 that are set at the mid-point between two…

A decorative shape said to resemble a sea slug, namako 海鼠. The shape is often used for the material handles of…

Also written 生子壁. A traditional finish for *dozō-zukuri 土蔵造 and *…

Lit. "Becoming bestial." A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 used for the wife taking revenge…

Pictures of a catfish, namazu 鯰. Japanese legend has it that the movement of large catfish deep inside the earth…