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  • (-) General Terms (58)
  • Architecture (57)
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Displaying 1 - 58 of 58
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
fuebashira 笛柱

Lit. flute post. The thick post at the right rear corner of a noh stage, *…

Architecture, General Terms
Fujiwara jidai 藤原時代

Fujiwara period. A period of approximately two hundred years corresponding to the Middle Heian period (Heian chūki…

Art History, General Terms
fukioroshi 葺下

Also written 葺卸. The extension of a roof or the elongation of eaves on the main part of a building in order to cover an…

Architecture, General Terms
fukitsuchi 吹土

The layer of clay spread on sheathing, *shitaji 下地, sometimes called …

Architecture, General Terms
fukiyose 吹寄

1 The arrangement of muntins, lattice (*fukiyose gōshi…

Art History, General Terms, Sculpture, Architecture
fukiyose daruki 吹寄垂木 ✓

The grouping of two or three parallel rafters placed closely together with a wide space between each group. The spaces…

Architecture, General Terms
fukiyose gōshi 吹寄格子 ✓

Lit. grouped or varying numbered lattice. Lattice or small beams arranged to form patterns in transoms, *…

Architecture, General Terms
fukiyosebashira 吹寄柱 Evenly spaced pillars or posts that are arranged so that two or more are in line. The amount of the space between the… Architecture, General Terms
fukubachi 伏鉢

Also written 覆鉢; also called fukuhatsu ふくはつ. The small inverted bowl-like fixture placed on the box-like cover, *…

Architecture, General Terms
fukumi 含 ✓

A channel. The part of a bearing block, *masu 斗, that is cut out either as a one-…

Architecture, General Terms
fumisagari 踏下

The distance from the ridge of a roof, *munagi 棟木, to the eave end, *…

Architecture, General Terms
fumizura 踏面

Also called fumi-ita 踏板. The horizontal surface, known as the tread, on steps or stairs. The board, plank, or…

Architecture, General Terms
funahijiki 舟肘木 ✓

A boat-shaped bracket arm placed directly on top of a pillar to carry a purlin, *gagyō…

Architecture, General Terms
funazoko tenjō 舟底天井

Also called *yakata tenjō 屋形天井, an upside-down houseboat-shaped ceiling. A…

Architecture, General Terms
furesumi 振隅

Refers to the pitch of a roof that is different on the front and back from the pitch of the sides. The hip rafters at the…

Architecture, General Terms
furesumigi 振隅木

A hip rafter, *sumigi 隅木, which cannot bisect the purlins, *…

Architecture, General Terms
furiwake 振分

The center line of a surface that has been divided equally. The line may run vertically or horizontally. This center point…

Architecture, General Terms
furoku 不陸 Lit. not horizontal. A surface which is not flat or horizontal to the ground. Architecture, General Terms
fuse-zu 伏図

A framing plan showing the structural arrangement and details of various parts of a building including the floor, ceiling,…

Architecture, General Terms
fushin 普請

Originally, the solicitation of great numbers of people to help construct Zen temple buildings. By the 14th century, …

Architecture, General Terms
fushinchō 普請帳 ✓

The ledger or account books in which material and labor costs incurred during a construction project were recorded. …

Architecture, General Terms
fushoku 腐蝕

Wood rot. Wood rot can be either dry rot, kanshoku 乾蝕, or wet rot, shisshoku 湿蝕. Wet rot is particularly…

Architecture, General Terms
fusuma 襖 ✓

An abbreviation for fusumashōji 襖障子, an opaque sliding screen, as distinguished from the translucent screen, *…

Architecture, General Terms
futakoshi yane 二腰屋根

A roof that has two different inclines between the ridge and eave ends. It changes its direction of flow without any…

Architecture, General Terms
futanoki 二軒 ✓

A double row of rafters, called base rafters and flying rafters, that appears beneath the eaves of a roof. The base rafters…

Architecture, General Terms
futate hijiki 二手肘木 A bracket arm that forms the second outward step of a two-stepped bracket complex. Architecture, General Terms
futatesakigumi 二手先組 ✓

Also called futatesaki tokyō 二手先斗きょう or futatesaki kumimono 二手先組物. A bracket complex composed of two steps…

Architecture, General Terms
futatsudo tokyō 二(双)斗斗(きょう)

Also written 双斗斗きょう and pronounced the same way, or these characters can be read narabido tokyō or sōdo tokyō…

Architecture, General Terms
uchikaeshi 打返し

Also pronounced uttegaeshi 打って返し, utasegaeshi 打たせ返し. Perfect symmetry on both sides of a center line…

Architecture, General Terms
uchikorobi 内転

Pillars *hashira 柱 with an inward incline. Uchikorobi…

Architecture, General Terms
uchikoshi daruki ✓

Rafters *taruki 垂木 that extend from the flying rafter support *…

Architecture, General Terms
uchinorinuki 内法貫

A penetrating tie beam *nuki 貫 placed directly on top of a door or…

Architecture, General Terms
uchinorizai 内法材

Also called uchinorimono 内法物. The wooden materials used for the framework of a sliding screen *…

Architecture, General Terms
udegi 腕木

1 A relatively short horizontal timber that functions like a brace. It is attached to and extends outward…

Architecture, General Terms
uguisubari 鴬張

Lit. "nightingale floor." Floor boards which rub together when walked on to produce a pleasant and delicate sound. This type…

Architecture, General Terms
ukegi 受木

A generic term for all supporting or receiving structural members. For example, a timber that receives an eave cornice is…

Architecture, General Terms
umegi 埋木

Also read umeki. A wooden dowel or plug used to fill a hole in a piece of timber. If a knot or some other flaw…

Architecture, General Terms
umemodoshi 埋戻

To fill in any remaining open spaces with sand, gravel, soil, or other such substances, after the foundation and all…

Architecture, General Terms
ura-ita 裏板

A generic term for backing boards, which are boards nailed over rafters to form a backing for the roofing. In an open roof…

Architecture, General Terms
uragaeshi-nuri 裏返塗

Also called uragaeshi 裏返 or yobinuri 呼塗. Soft, rough plaster arakabe tsuchi 荒壁土 applied to…

Architecture, General Terms
uragaya 裏茅

Also urappo 裏穂. A thatching material used on vernacular dwellings *minka…

Architecture, General Terms
uragō 裏甲 ✓

Visible eaves filler placed the eave support *kayaoi 茅負, and projected slightly…

Architecture, General Terms
uragome 裏込

Also read uragomi. The process of filling the gaps in the rear of a stone retaining wall or stone fence with rubble…

Architecture, General Terms
urakabe 裏壁

A plaster wall which has mud plaster applied to the front side and then to the rear side before the plaster on the front…

Architecture, General Terms
urauchi marutagaki 裏打丸太垣

Also called marutagaki 丸太垣. A fence constructed with logs positioned at fairly close intervals and three horizontal…

Architecture, General Terms
urazan 裏桟

A crosspiece used to secure the back or upper side of a ceiling board.

Architecture, General Terms
urazumi 裏積

Bricks or stones set at the back of a brick or stone wall to give it extra support. The term is an abbreviation of …

Architecture, General Terms
ushibari 牛梁

1 A particularly large beam that runs in a longitudinal direction, ketayuki hōkō 桁行方向 (see *…

Architecture, General Terms, Folk Dwellings
ushirobutai 後舞台

The rear stage between dressing rooms and the rear door of the main stage in a *kabuki…

Architecture, General Terms
usushikii 薄敷居

Lit. "thin sills." A lintel and sill used under and above transom *ranma 欄間.…

Architecture, General Terms
utsubo-bashira 靫柱

Also written 空柱. Lit. "hollow pillar." A box-like down-spout tatedoi 竪樋 used to carry rainwater from roof gutters…

Architecture, General Terms
uwaba 上端

Also called tenba 天端.

1 The top surface of an object, or the peak of a structural member.…

Architecture, General Terms
uwabari 上張

Also written 上貼, also called visible top layer keshōbari 化粧張, front side hyōmenbari 表面張 or finishing…

Architecture, General Terms
uwanoki 上軒

The upper-most eave of a nokizuke 軒付 or nokiba 軒端 eave end. Each part of the eave has a name. The…

Architecture, General Terms
uwanuri 上塗り

1 Also shiagenuri 仕上げ塗. The final layer applied to a decorative painting sōshoku kōji…

Art History, Architecture, General Terms, Painting
uwanuri tsuchi 上塗土

The top or finishing coat of a mud plaster wall, tsuchimonokabe 土物壁 or ōtsukabe 大津壁.

Architecture, General Terms
uyū 烏有 ✓

Also called tori-no-shita 鳥の舌 (lit. "bird's tongue"). A somewhat triangular piece of wood added to a bracket arm *…

Architecture, General Terms
uzu-ita 渦板

A board with a carved spiral-like uzusen 渦線 linear design. It is found on frog-leg struts *…

Architecture, General Terms

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JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University