Lit. Indian style. The style of architecture introduced to Japan when the priest Chōgen 重源 (1121-1206) returned from China.…

Also daibutsuyō tokyō 大仏様斗きょう. Lit. Great-Buddha-style bracket complex. A bracket system introduced by the priest,…

Also called wakibashira 脇柱; taishōbashira 大将柱. Initially, the square post placed at the right front corner…

Also called daikagurabashira 太神楽柱; *kudabashira 管柱 or…

Carpenter.

1　Often pronounced daikō. Also ōtakumi or ōkitakumi in old…

A center joint. An oblique scarf joint combining a housed *daboso 太ぼそ joint and blind tenons. The mortises are…

The largest type of bearing block *masu 斗, usually placed directly on top of a…

A large bearing block *daito 大斗 with a bracket arm *…

1　A wall plate or top plate placed along the top of head-penetrating tie beams *…

1　Also written 反. A step. The level part or tread of a flight of stairs. When made of wood, the tread is…

1　A generic term for a level mound or platform raised above the surrounding ground. An earthen mound may be…

A simple step-ladder, also called hashigo 梯子 or hashigodan 梯子段. Examples include a *…

1　A roofing method that uses copper sheets laid in a step-like pattern.

2　A roofing…

Also written 壇正積; danjōzumi kidan 壇上積基壇. A style of podium introduced to Japan from Korea in the latter half of the…

Lit. a section. A vertical section scale drawing of a building or architectural detail shown either transversely, …

Also yokodanmen-zu 横断面図, also read ōdanmen-zu. Lit. a cross section drawing on the longitudinal axis. …

1　Also called *gagyō 丸桁 or gangyō. A round-eave purlin…

1　Also deha 出端. Any architectural member which protrudes, projects, or extends outward. When…

The framing of opaque sliding screens, *fusuma 襖, and translucent sliding…

A one-stepped bracket complex parallel to but separated from the wall by the extension of a rainbow beam, *…

Also called de 出.

1　Also called *noki-no-de…

Lit. three-on-one at right angles. Sometimes called crisscrossed 3-on-1. A bearing block and bracket complex consisting of…

Lit. things from overseas.

1　Objects brought from abroad, including numerous art works. See *…

Lit. things from past generations. Art works or antiquities which have been treasured among people for long period of time.…

Also pronounced dezumi. Also written 出角. The external corner where two walls join to form an angle. The interior…

Entasis. The bulge in the center of a circular pillar to make it appear straight. In Japan, circular pillars called *…

Also read tsuchibei. Also called *tsuiji 築地. An earthen wall or…

A sill, ground sill, or footplate. Generally the heavy timber members laid horizontally at the base of a wooden building…

Also called tsuchidomesan. Narrow timber strips nailed horizontally to roof sheathing, *…

1　Generally a base for tile roofing, *kawarabuki 瓦葺. A…

The process of spreading clay on the prepared surface of a roof in order to lay roof tiles, *…

Lit. guardian boy's stones. Two symbolic garden stones (see *yakuishi 役石）…

Independent post. An internal freestanding post, *hashira 柱, not attached to…

Also written dōzuri 胴摺. The widest horizontal stile in the door of *heijūmon…

Also read dodome-ita, and called *seki-ita 堰板. The sheathing boards…

A large, heavy horizontal timber attached to the tops of posts, *hashira 柱,…

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

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

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…

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…

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…

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

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…

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

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

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

The Hakuhō period (645-710) referred to in recent scholarship as the Late Asuka period, Asuka jidai kōki 飛鳥時代後期.…

Also called *chōdai 帳台 in the Heian period.

1　A low…

Also written 嵌石. A stone panel. A component of the formal style podium *danjōzumi…

Also written 嵌板. A wooden panel or board used as wall covering. It may be horizontally or vertically set. The boards may…

Lit. half non-penetrating horizontal beam. A non-penetrating beam which is 3/5 the diameter of a building 's main pillar…

Also kameimado, *oribemado 織部窓, *…

Lit. nose. Also called hanasaki 鼻先. The end or tip of a structural member such as a beam, rafter end, ridge end,…

Lit. flower bracket arm. A decorative bracket arm *hijiki 肘木 that appeared in…

A fascia board. A board nailed flat against the rafter ends, characteristic of the daibutsu style *…

Also sorimashi 反増; terimashi 照増. The gradual increase in height toward the ends of rafters *…

Lit.flower path. A long elevated walkway on the left side of a *kabuki…

Pole plates. Horizontal members that are positioned on the outer end of raking beams *…

Lit. half column. Also katabutabashira 片蓋柱 (half-covered pillar). The half visible column on the exterior or…

Also read banchiku. A method of making the core of a podium *danjōzumi…

A cantilever. A heavy, rough member used in a hidden roof *noyane …

Lit. a cantilever pillow. A transverse beam supported by the eave purlin *dashigeta…

A beam running at a right angle to the cantilevers *hanegi 桔木, used in a hidden…

Also called hakamagoshi yane 袴腰屋根, or kabutoyane 兜屋根. A style of roof similar to the hipped roof *…

A simple style of balustrade placed around a low, step-like veranda *hamayuka…

The distance between two rafters of this type is equal to the sum of the height of a rafter plus the width of its bottom…

A sliding screen made of a light wooden frame covered with translucent paper. It is about 1 m-1.3 m high. 1.3 m hanshōji…

Also called han-akarishōji 半明障子. A pair of sliding screens with a lattice frame covered with translucent paper *…

Lit. belly. The concave underside, of a curved beam, for example, a curved transverse beam *…

A transverse or cross beam positioned at a right angle to a roof ridge. It stretches the width of a building to receive the…

Also called haritsunagi 梁繋. Tie beams that run parallel to the roof ridge. One is positioned across the upper…

A ceiling which is embellished with wooden squares of different kinds placed in a checker-board pattern. The ribs of a…

Also called kōka 構架. The beam system of a roof.
 

A plain board ceiling. When paper or silk are pasted over the ceiling boards for decorative purposes, the ceiling is called…

Also referred to as *hariyuki 梁行; also written 張り間.…

Transverse beams that run at right angles to lengthwise beams. In Japanese architecture hariyuki usually run the…

Also read kizahashi, kidahashi. Lit. a step, stair, stairway, staircase. Hashi is used to refer…

Also written hashibame 端嵌. Narrow long strips of wood made to cover the top and bottom of doors composed of several…

1　A pent roof built above the stairs on one side of the annex tai-no-ya 対の屋 in aristocratic style…

Also hikakushi-no-ma 日隠の間, hashi-no-ma 階の間, or mihashi-no-ma 御階の間. The space between the posts at…

The generic term for any type of pillar, column, post, pier, and strut, the basic members of Japanese timber architecture.…

A pillar base. A long beam which forms the base for pillars or posts in the upper part of a building.

A generic term in traditional architecture referring to any architectural element with an interior finish found within a bay…

A bay or span. The distance between pillars, measuring from the center of the pillars.

An ancient word meaning the same as *hōdate 方立, a vertical member placed on…

Also read hire-ita but this reading is considered to be incorrect according to the Kaokuzakkō 家屋雑考 (…

Also called hakkaku yane 八角屋根. The eight-sided roof of an octagonal hall *…

The place on a noh stage *nōbutai 能舞台 where three or four musicians sit,…

1　Also read sama-ishi. Rough stones placed between pillar base stones when a building is erected…

Also written 剥板; sogi-ita 殺板, 曽木板.

1　Thin strips of plaited cedar or sawara…