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,…

Also called iga いが. Lit. cusp.

1　The point where two curved lines or forms meet. The…

A ladder hewed from a single log during the Yayoi period.

A single window or door opening. Also, a single door or window. They may swing on hinges one way, both ways, or slide.

A term used in all parts of Japan in the Edo period, for a straight shelf *tana…

1　A generic term for any group of structural members set in a grid pattern.　

2　The…

Also abbreviated to ijō 居定. The degree of pitch on the underside of a rafter support *…

Lit. to keep flowers alive. Flower arrangements. Originated in Buddhist flower offerings kuge 供花 from the 6th…

The aesthetic ideal of the Edo merchant class during the late 18th and 19th centuries, combining material sensuality and…

Slip fasteners. The wooden or bamboo pieces used on the reverse side of the overlapped boards of a board-and-batten ceiling…

Also sasuzuka sasuzaoshiki 扠首束扠首竿式, *sasuzao 扠首竿, *…

Also written 犬行. Lit. dog run. A narrow inset in wall ramparts, or in an embankment of earth forming a footpath or ledge.…

Also pronounced inubōgi.

1　In temples and shrines, a lattice *…

Also called komafusegi 駒防ぎ. Concave screens about 60 cm high and of varying length made of closely-spaced bent…

General drawings which reflect all the contents of a building, its plan and design. Such drawings must depict the function…

Also called *wata-ita 綿板. Thin panels of wood inserted between the rails …

Also called moyabashira 母屋柱 or 身舎柱. Pillars that are erected inside and parallel to the pillars positioned on the…

A door frame made of a head lintel and vertical door jambs to which doors are attached with hinges.

Pillars *hashira 柱 at the inner boundary of a pent roof…

1　A corridor or passageway between the main body of a residence and the veranda. It is also found in temple…

Purlins, *keta 桁, placed along the tops of pillars surrounding the…

The bargeboards on the gable end of a hip-and-gable roof *irimoya yane…

A hip-and-gable roof. In Japanese architecture, the gable part is usually over the core area of the building, *…

A hip-and-gable roof construction, or a building with this roof construction. A gable type roof has a ridge and gable…

The internal angle made by the junction of two planes, such as walls, a wall and ceiling, or the inside angle made by the…

Also kanokodate 鹿の子建 and ishitsuki 石付. A technique used at a folk dwelling to attach a pillar to a…

The point at which a base stone and a pillar are joined. The upper surface of a plinth stone on which another stone may be…

1　The cutting and arrangement of stones.

2　The layout of masonry.

Also written 鈑 or 版. Originally a relatively thin flat timber, stone, or sheet of metal. In the medieval period (1185-1568…

A thin, flat stone resembling a board. Also called a plate stone. The stone can be divided into three types depending on the…

Traditional transoms that are made of wood and have sections filled with a single board, or one or two parts are filled with…

Also called itabari tenjō 板張天井 or *hariita tenjō 張板天井…

A wooden board or plank fence. Wooden fences made of planks and set directly into the ground are called hottate itabei…

One type of pagoda or stupa, tōba 塔婆, in the form of a flat stone stele that became prevalent in the early 13th…

Wood shingles. Widely used in Japan for buildings of many kinds, ranging from palaces, elite residences, shrines, and…

A roof structure covered with boards or planks. Various names are used depending on the size of the boards. A large plan…

Wooden panels with the grain set in alternating directions in a coffered ceiling *…

1　The boards covered by tightly woven straw mats *tatami 畳,…

An Edo period term for wooden planks with a rectangular cross-section, between 5 cm and 30 cm thick. These planks were cut…

A common type of wooden board flooring commonly used before thick straw matting *tatami…

Also read itagarado; also called itatobira 板扉. A 6th-7th century door made of a single, thick wooden plank…

Thick boards used to cover exposed base rafters visible under eaves. Examples: Eihōji Kannondō 永保寺観音堂 (1315), Gifu…

Also read itaoshi. Battens used to prevent boards from moving. They are long, thin strips of wood set vertically…

A shortened form of itomasame 糸柾目. Straight, narrow grained wood. Two examples are Japanese arborvitae, nezuko…

A very narrow, chamfer about 3 mm wide, made by planing the corners of posts. The term has been used from the 17th century…

A rare five-stepped bracket complex found at a temple on Sado 佐渡 Island, Niigata Prefecture.