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

1　Lit. earthen bridge. An earthen bridge, which is made by leaving an unexcavated section of moat in front…

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

The movable face plate. The most elaborate gimmick used on the bugaku mask, *…

Lit. body carving. The carver of woodblocks for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints who was…

A title of artistic or cultural advisors in the Ashikaga 足利 shogunate, established about the time of Yosimitsu 義満 (1358-1408…

1a.) Furring strips made of thin wood or bamboo that are nailed horizontally to posts to form the base for…

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, *…

A man's hip-length jacket, generally worn over other clothing or armor by high-ranking samurai 侍 from the late…

Rotating eyes, a gimmick used for many bugaku masks, *bugakumen 舞楽面…

Lit. implement mat. The straw mat, *tatami 畳, on which the host sits when he…

Also dorui 土塁. An earthen embankment, earthwork, or rampart. A defensive embankment surrounding a castle or a…

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

The foundation bed, shiki 敷, of an earthen embankment, *doi 土居. It has…

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

Lit. child, young boy.

1　A boy between 8 and 20 years old living in a Buddhist temple. He studies…

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 (a form of mandara centered…

The decorated 'belts' around the upper, middle, and lower circumference of the stem, sao 竿, of a lantern.

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

A temple of the Tendai 天台 sect in Hidaka 日高, Wakayama Prefecture. The setting of a dramatic old Japanese tale first recorded…

Also called hikidokko 引独鈷; hikidokko ari 引独鈷蟻. One type of *…

Also written 洞戸, 道幸, 道古, 堂庫、or 道籠. A storage space for utensils used for the tea ceremony. The earliest type was probably a…

Lit. independent donjon or keep. Also called dokuritsushiki tenshu 独立式天守, dokuritsu tenshukaku 独立天守閣. A…

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

Lit. Daoist-style gardens. A general term designating gardens which incorporated Chinese Daoist ideas or motifs. The Daoist…

1　Alternatively called *niwa 庭 or dōji どうじ. An area…

Decorative drapery used on statues in the Kamakura region from the late Kamakura period. The drapery was made in clay relief…

Also written 純子. Patterned damask weave. A thick and glossy silk variety of shusu 繻子 (satin), with the design made…

Any painting produced with a type of thick, opaque paint made from inexpensive pigment and the white pigment, *…

A technique where a mixture of animal glue, *nikawa 膠, and powdered burnt clay…

Also 礬沙, 陶砂. Sizing. Dōsa is made by dissolving animal glue, *nikawa 膠…

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

Lit. Daoist Buddhist paintings. A genre of painting on Daoist (Taoist; Jp: Dōkyō 道教) and Buddhist (shaku 釈 from *…

Also Sae-no-kami 塞の神 (also read Sai-no-kami), Dōrokujin 道陸神, and other less common names. A folk deity associated with roads…

1　The flat top of an embankment, *doi 土居, also called *…

Also called tsuchi-no-tō 土の塔 or dantō 段塔. Lit. earthen pagoda. Dantō means stepped pagoda. A…

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

Lit. saw with attached spine. A tenon or back saw. A saw designed especially to cut the shoulder of a tenon. The blade is…

1　A type of floor found in vernacular houses, *minka 民家, used…

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

Bronze work. Bronze casting has been very important in Japan since ancient times, and was used for Yayoi period dōtaku…

A form of storehouse which provided a fireproof place to keep valuables which were otherwise always at risk in highly…

Also referred to as *kura-zukuri 蔵造. A fireproof building construction…

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…