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,…

1　One of the purlins used in a hidden roof *noyane …

A vertical timber that rises from a level or inclined surface. In modular measurement of timber *…

Lit. "large bottle strut." A strut that is used mainly in Zen style architecture *…

The trimming or hewing of the opposite sides of a log so that the surfaces become flat and parallel making it easier to join…

Also called taikobari 太鼓張, fukuroshōji 袋障子, bōzufusuma 坊主襖.
A type of paper-covered,…

Also called soribashi 反橋. An arched bridge made of stone or wood. One example is the Yoka Jinja 与賀神社 (1607) in Saga…

A door frame covered on both sides with boards or panels. The inside of the door, like a drum taiko 太鼓, is empty.…

A pillar or post that is multi-sided or cut with many facets.

Lit. "bamboo post." One that has been squared off.

Bamboo or bamboo muntins that are used for windows in dwellings where a suggestion of rusticity is needed, or in tea…

Paper-covered bamboo frames used as full-sized sliding doors *shōji 障子, or the…

The generic term for a fence surrounding the square or rectangular space containing the main sanctuary *…

A solid, single beam made from one timber. The term is used to differentiate it from a composite beam called gōseibari…

Shelves.

1　 A type of shelf, sometimes with a rack, of which there are many ordinary household…

A timber shorter than the standard length.

A single-structure storehouse constructed of triangular timber or planks set in grid plan, *…

Also written たるき. This is the simplest type of rafter, called common rafter or base rafter. It extends from the ridge *…

Lit. "rafter construction." Also referred to as odachi toriigumi おだち鳥居組. One of the two principal types of assembly…

An angled joint *shiguchi 仕口 used to insert rafters into a ridge *…

A board placed parallel to the rafters on a gable roof *kirizuma yane …

Also read tarukigake. A horizontal timber attached to the posts of an exterior wall to support the undersides of…

The various systems of placing rafters *taruki 垂木 in relation to the pillars *…

The degree of curvature on a bargeboard *hafu 破風, or on a roof between the peak…

Also read tōsho. The burial place for the remains of prominent Buddhist priests. Historically, the ashes of Buddha…

Also called sukebari. A beam which stabilizes bottle struts *taiheizuka…

Also tasukizan. Thin stips of timber san 桟 that intersect to form a criss-cross pattern or a zig-zag…

A floor covering made of tightly woven grass and straw. A standard tatami is a rectangular mat about 1.82 m (≒6')…

Also called *yosejikii 寄敷居. A small, horizontal wooden strip that is placed…

Also written 鑪. The modern character is ro 鈩, and can mean furnace. Tatara is an ancient word meaning…

A board and batten wall. Thin boards with battens attached are set vertically to hide the joints, a Zen style *…

A type of tomb made in the Tumulus period, also called Kofun period. A pit was dug and lined with cut stone such that the…

Also called nunobame 布羽目. Vertically placed wooden panels cut from the long side of a large piece of timber. When…

Also read ritchūshiki. A ceremony performed when the main post, tate-bashira, of a building is erected.…

Also written 縦縁. Perpendicular stiles on both sides of opaque sliding screens *fusuma…

Also read jūdanmen-zu, meaning "to cut vertically." Either a longitudinal or cross section drawing made along the…

Also called tatsudoi 立樋. A cylindrical or square drain pipe that allows rain water to flow from the rain gutters *…

Also read tachidokoro. The point where a structural timber begins to rise. For example, the place where the bottom…

A generic term for removable screens, doors or shutters. This includes: sliding screens *…

Lit. "vertical post shrine fence." Also called kakutamagaki 角玉垣 (square shrine fence) or *…

Also written 縦ほぞ. Usually the two tenons made on each end of a threshold *shikii…

Also written 竪蔀; also called itajitomi 板蔀. A moveable fence used in aristocratic dwellings of the Heian and…

All the basic wooden structural members produced at a building site including the ridge, and the ceremony of raising the…

Also called awasemeji 合目地. Lines made when vertical stone panels are arranged along the sides of podii *…

Also called tatehonshigesan 竪本繁桟, tatehonshigesankumi 竪本繁桟組; tateshigekumi 竪繁組. Closely-spaced…

The measurement of floor space in any traditional type building using *tsubo 坪 (3.31 meters…

The accurate alignment of posts, pillars, stiles, and trim on a door frame in order to allow for the perfect fit of a hinged…

The boards placed over rafters *taruki 垂木, to form the underside of a roof and…

Also called tatedōzan 竪胴桟. Vertical lath used for a door or window frame. Lath called san 桟 can be set…

Lit. "Secret Text on Garden Construction." A treatise on landscape design supposedly written first in the Muromachi period.…

Two large posts placed to the right and left of the *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage, kabuki …

Lit. "ceiling boards." Ceiling boards made from cypress, fir, white or red cedar, and other coniferous trees. The zelkova…

Also called *tenjō-ita 天井板. Single-panel boards side by side to…

Also tenjōkamachi 天井框. A long, light, binding beam, sometimes rabbeted, running horizontally along the wall in the…

Also called arikabe nageshi 蟻壁長押, mawaribuchi nageshi 回縁長押.

1　…

A ceiling joist. A horizontal timber to which a wooden lath *kizuri …

Lit. "ceiling." A ceiling made of cypress boughs erected over seats, according to the Engishiki 延喜式 and Yukiin 悠基院…

The distance from the floor to the ceiling.

Also read tenjōgeta. Ceiling joists that run lengthwise in a building, below the ceiling structure, to support the…

Also *tenjōketa 天井桁 or tenjō ukegeta 天井受桁. A horizontal beam which…

The placement of one planed timber on top of another planed timber without making any notches.

The Tenpyō period (710-794) begins with the transfer of the capital from Fujiwara 藤原 to Nara (Heijō-kyō 平城京) in 710, and…

A balustrade along a stairway or surrounding a shallow balcony on a high gate *rōmon…

The structured elements that cover a window, entrance, or other opening to protect them from the weather or the inside of…

The boards used for the construction of a door including: *mairado 舞良戸 (one…