The 28 attendants of *Senju Kannon 千手観音. They protect those who place…

Lit. "28 lunar mansions." In the astronomical theory of both ancient India and China the path of the moon during a single…

A framework used especially in temples and shrines to sustain the roof. It is composed of double rainbow beams *…

A roof framework in which only smaller bearing blocks *makito 巻斗 are placed on…

A two-storied gate that has a flanking roof that surrounds the lower story and most frequently has a hip-and-gable roof *…

Ch: ershisixiao. Lit. "twenty-four paragons of filial piety." A popular theme in Chinese figure painting based on…

Also read niga byakudō-zu. Lit. "picture of Two Rivers and the White Path." Inspired by a parable taught by the…

A transverse tie beam positioned between the ceiling of the first storied and the floor of the second storied of a building…

A second story corridor. A corridor of this type is thought to have first existed at Tōfukuji 東福寺, in Kyoto established in…

A transparent or semi-transparent animal glue, used as a binder *baizai 媒剤, and…

Also read Jikkamon, written Nikkamon 日花門 (found in *Shōmei 匠明…

Also muken chōsō 無見頂相, chōkeisō 頂髻相, *ushitsunisha…

From the late Heian period a small circle carved at the front part of the base of the *nikkei…

Illustrations of a diary or an illustrated diary. Diaries of high literary value or writings in the form of diaries occupy…

Solar Radiance and Lunar Radiance.

1　Sk: Suryavairocana and Candravairocana. Two…

Also nikuhitsu ukiyo-e 肉筆浮世絵. A painting done with a brush and colored ink on paper or silk and not carved in a…

Also nimaiori byōbu 二枚折屏風. A folding screen with two panels. Came into use in the mid-Muromachi period with a…

Double tenons. Double tenons take many forms including individual, rectangular tenons of the same size placed side by side…

Also suikazura karakusamon; also nindō karakusa 忍冬唐草. Lit. "honeysuckle arabesque pattern." A pattern used…

1　Also pronounced suikazura. Honeysuckle.
2　Abbreviation of *…

A floral and vine design pattern that is a variation of a Chinese grass motif *…

Also called *chūhon 中本 or eiri chūgata yomihon 絵入中型読本; in the…

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 based on the Ninnō Gokoku Hannya…

Broad, concave, roof tiles set directly above and slightly back from the broad, concave, pendant tiles *…

A type of decorative pattern used for muntins on transoms *ranma 欄間. The design…

Also written 二王. Also called *niten 二天 and Niōson 仁王尊. Lit. "two kings" or "benevolent kings."…

A building or often a gate that enshrines the two guardian deities, protectors of Buddhism. They are generally placed at the…

Also written 仁王門. A true two-storied gate *nijūmon 二重門, or a high gate *…

A pictorial subject taken from "Niou no miya" ("His Perfumed Highness" or "Prince Niou"), Chapter 42 of Genji monogatari…

Lit. "Likeness picture." Kamakura period realistic portraiture of courtiers and warriors painted in the *…

Lit. "The False Murasaki and the Rustic Genji." An extremely popular mid-19th century novel written by Ryūtei Tanehiko 柳亭種彦…

A castle compound to the west of the main compound *honmaru 本丸. In a early-…

Lit. "brocade pictures." A picture that resembles a colorful embroidered silk brocade, nishikinui 錦繍. A commercial…

Brocade. A general term for a variety of flat multicolored, woven-pattern fabrics. Recently it suggests silk woven with an…

Noh mask *nōmen 能面 made for the role of the ghost of the broken-hearted…

West dormitory. In the 7th and 8th centuries, some temples had monk's quarters to the west of the lecture hall as well as…

A pair of devas *ten 天 or Buddhist guardian gods, such as *…

A middle gate *chūmon 中門 at a Buddhist temple. Usually it is an 8-…

Also Niutsuhime Myōjin 丹生都比売明神. A female mountain deity that resides in Mt. Kōya 高野. According to legend *…

The main living room *hiroma 広間, adjacent to the earthen-floored area…

Also abbreviated to niwadaikoku 庭大黒.

1　A freestanding post *…

1　A defined open space, as distinct from the natural landscape, and reserved for work of an agricultural…

Lit. "garden lantern." Lanterns, not for exclusive use in gardens, but are also placed at shrines and at roadsides. One…

1　A new cooking range *kamado 竃, or open hearth *…

Also *ara-ishi 荒石. An unprocessed stone, a rough stone, an unrefined…

An unplanned, unfinished rough timber. Generally the timbers are split with a wedge and not processed any further.

1　A prefix attached to the name of a structural member to indicate that the member is not visible.…

1　In a general sense nobe means the entire length of any timber used in construction.

…

Also written 展段 and 展檀. A method of stone paving in the *roji 露地 or tea garden in…

Also nobeto 延べ斗. A rectangular bearing block that is wider than usual and supports a corner bracket arm *…

Lit. "ascendance; to go up; rise."

1　A sloping line or surface and the measurements of these surface…

The sleeve or curb stones that slant along each side of the stone steps leading up to a podium *…

Lit. "rising beam," "raking beam."

1　Also *noboriki 登木 or…

Bank or climbing kiln. Built on a slope, this efficient type of kiln originated in China and was introduced to Japan from…

Also written 上り髭, Lit. "climbing beard." The name of a mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays. Noborihige has the…

Gable coping or raking coping. Coping, a protective covering, provided on sloping areas or edges such as on a gable roof *…

Also pronounced noborigi. Also called *noboribari 登梁.

1　…

Also called sobanoki 傍軒. Also called raking beams. The inclined eaves along the edge of the bargeboards *…

Lit. "ascending eave hanging tiles." The semi-cylindrical tiles *marugawara…

Also called keisha uragō 傾斜裏甲, or raking eaves filler. Hidden eave fillers attached to a bargeboard *…

A Noh stage. A stage originally constructed for outdoor performances of *Noh 能, a…

Hidden rafters. Rafters used to construct the roof framework of the main roof of a Japanese building. Hidden rafters have a…

Also 納衣, shinnōe 刺納衣 or 刺衲衣, nōgesa 衲袈裟, nō 衲.

1　A Buddhist priest's…

Also nogi 芒. A type of cut-foil *kirihaku 切箔. Gold or…

Beams used in a hidden roof framework *noyane 野屋根. Also refers to any beam which is…

Hidden roof framework above a ceiling or above an exposed roof framework.

A type of dramatic performance originating in the 14th century *Muromachi jidai…

Also noura-ita 野裏板, *no-ita 野板. Sheathing that is placed over…

Sheathing. Rough wooden boards nailed on to rafters to make a surface on which roofing material is laid. The boards are…

1　A board placed under the eaves and over the rafters of a traditional Japanese building as sheathing *…

Eave extension or eave overhang measured from the center of a pillar or post to the rafter end. The distance may be from…

Convex struts set under eaves at intervals between the eave purlins *gagyō…

Eaves. The part of a roof that extends beyond the exterior wall of a building. There are single eaves *…

Lit. "eave ends." The eave ends of a tiled roofed building which are usually obscured by decorated pendant tiles *…

A bamboo gutter usually hung by hooks from the end of an eave *nokisaki 軒先, to catch rain…

Also *nokimarugawara 軒丸瓦. A popular name for the semi-cylindrical eave-…

1　Also written 宇瓦. Eaves-end tiles. Roof tiles placed along an eaves line,…

Also *karakusagawara 唐草瓦; *…

A semi-cylindrical or half-round eave-end pendant tile. The pendant *gatō 瓦当, is…

A generic term for all the parts that compose aneave including: rafters, *taruki…

Also *nokiba 軒端. An eave edge or an eave end. The eave end of a tiled roof kawarayane…

Also kotenjō 小天井. A long narrow ceiling installed under an extended eave. This type of ceiling is constructed…

Bracket complexes which support the eaves.

Also nokishita 軒下. The underside of an eave *noki 軒, or the overhang of the roof beyond…

Curvature of the eaves. There are two types: shinzori 真反 (true curvature), in which the center eave curves from the…

A ceremony performed before a thatched roof *kayabuki yane 茅葺屋根, is hid.…

Also noji-no-kōbai 野地の勾配. The incline of straight hidden rafters *nodaruki…

A saw. Saws are the most used tool in Japanese carpentry. They divided into two broad groups: the ripsaw, which cuts along…

Also pronounced nogomai. A lath that is concealed from view. For example thin strips of lath used within the roof…

1　A hall where cinerary urns are stored and human ashes are kept.
2　A building to house…

Masks used in the *Noh 能 theater and worn by the main actor shite シテ, and his…

A chisel. A tool used by a carpenter to bore holes in timber. It is divided broadly into two categories depending in the way…

Hidden purlins used in a hidden roof structure. Visible purlins are called keshō moya 化粧母屋.

Also called nomune 野棟. A hidden ridge. The upper and true ridge in a hidden roof construction, which forms the…

Also none tenjō 野根天井. A board ceiling to which long narrow splints or strips of wood are attached. The ceiling…

1　A hanging cloth suspended from the eaves or in the openings (especially entrances) of a building as…

1　The incline of a stone wall and castle rampart. Nori ichiwari 法一割, means that for every 1 m of…

Lit. "mounting stone." One of the trump stones *yaku-ishi 役石 placed in front…