Also read gangyō, gayō, nokigeta 軒桁, or *dashigeta…

Also read gangyōbane. A single heavy beam attached at right angles to the eave purlins *…

Lit. outer garden. The area outside the sacred enclosure of a shrine, mausoleum, or temple. Typically, the approach to the…

1　The wooden rails and stiles around doors or windows. 
2　Casing, trim, or…

Lit. zig-zag ladder. A kind of ladder, hashigo 梯子(see *kaidan 階段),…

The arrangement of buildings within the precinct of a Buddhist temple constructed between the late 7th century to 12th…

An abbreviated form of sōgya ranma 僧伽欄摩 (Sk: samgha arama). Lit. A garden for monks. Also rendered as sōen…

1　The triangular frame created by joining a pair of cruck-like members *…

Also pronounced kawageta. 
1 Exterior wall purlins. Long horizontal beams *…

Also read sokuheki or kawakabe. The exterior wall of a building. An outside wall or end wall.

1　In shrine architecture, the main hall *honden 本殿 is divided…

Lit. lower space. It is a room adjoining the main rooms of the priests' quarters in a Zen temple. It is located near the…

1　The entrance gallery or porch used in the guest hall *kyakuden…

Lit. Genroku culture. The middle Edo period *Edo jidai 江戸時代 chūki 中期…

Also pronounced gibōshi, giboju, gibōshu, goboshu. A decoration in the shape of the…

Also kuregaku 呉楽. Now-lost ancient masked theatrical performances given at temples from the 7th to 9th century.…

Also called *ura-ita 裏板. The panel used to fill the space made by the…

The wooden ribs or coffers laid in a criss-cross pattern to form a coffered ceiling *gō…

Lit. a five cornered measuring box. A method used to determine the proportions of a bracket arm *…

The space created by the coffers or ribs *gōbuchi 格縁 of a coffered or latticed…

Type of a chamfers cut on a square timber or square post with a ratio of 1/20 is called gorinmen along each corner…

Also called gosho oni-ita 御所鬼板 or goshomune oni-ita 御所棟鬼板. Lit. the ridge of an imperial palace. The main…

A coffered ceiling. A ceiling with ribs framing recessed panels.

1　The simplest type of coffered…

Also read gomotsu. The emperor's property. The Imperial Collection of art objects, books, etc., which are either of…

Tuff or tufa. Popularly called shōkōseki 松香石. A porous stone composed of volcanic ash or from the material loosened…

The name for a thickly plastered area projecting from the wall below the eaves of a building. Used on storehouses, *…

Also haigi. An archaic term for *nodaruki, 野垂木 (a hidden rafter). A…

Also written 破風鐺, hafujiri 破風尻, or hafubana 破風鼻. The lower end of a bargeboard on a hip-and-gable…

Also called hafugashira, 破風頭, or hafu-no-ogami, 破風の拝. The joint between two bargeboards, hafu-ita…

Also written 搏風. Also called hafu-ita 破風板. A bargeboard. Straight or curved boards laid flat against the ridge ends…

The center of a bargeboard, *hafu 破風, which is determined by its length. It…

Also written 羽柄材. Also called hagaramono, 端柄物, 羽柄物; or yamabikizai 山挽材. A general term for trimmed boards…

Lit. abolish Buddha. It was government policy during the early Meiji period to repress Buddhism in favor of Shinto which was…

A layout drawing on a plot plan showing topography in minute detail and the position of buildings within the boundaries of a…

Also hainobi 配延び or nobi 延び. A carpenters' standard term for extensions created by slopes. Example: Where the horizontal…

Lit. stone arrangement. To arrange stones in consideration of their shape, color, and character. 
 

Also sashidaruki 挿垂木 or 指垂木. To join rafters *taruki 垂木 which is…

Also bakuchiku-bashira 爆竹柱.

1　A method. Introduced in the Edo period, of constructing the…

A single bracket arm *hijiki 肘木, which is set into a large bearing block *…

Also yatsunaka-no-korobi 八中の転. The method used to determine the incline of the main posts of a *…

A prominent box-like ridge framed in timber astride the apex of a roof. In section it resembles a miniature building with a…

The Hakuhō period (645-710) referred to in recent scholarship as the Late Asuka period, Asuka jidai kōki 飛鳥時代後期.…

Also called *chōdai 帳台 in the Heian period.

1　A low…

Also written 嵌石. A stone panel. A component of the formal style podium *danjōzumi…

Also written 嵌板. A wooden panel or board used as wall covering. It may be horizontally or vertically set. The boards may…

Lit. half non-penetrating horizontal beam. A non-penetrating beam which is 3/5 the diameter of a building 's main pillar…

Also kameimado, *oribemado 織部窓, *…

Lit. nose. Also called hanasaki 鼻先. The end or tip of a structural member such as a beam, rafter end, ridge end,…

Lit. flower bracket arm. A decorative bracket arm *hijiki 肘木 that appeared in…

A fascia board. A board nailed flat against the rafter ends, characteristic of the daibutsu style *…

Also sorimashi 反増; terimashi 照増. The gradual increase in height toward the ends of rafters *…

Lit.flower path. A long elevated walkway on the left side of a *kabuki…

Pole plates. Horizontal members that are positioned on the outer end of raking beams *…

Lit. half column. Also katabutabashira 片蓋柱 (half-covered pillar). The half visible column on the exterior or…

Also read banchiku. A method of making the core of a podium *danjōzumi…

A cantilever. A heavy, rough member used in a hidden roof *noyane …

Lit. a cantilever pillow. A transverse beam supported by the eave purlin *dashigeta…

A beam running at a right angle to the cantilevers *hanegi 桔木, used in a hidden…

Also called hakamagoshi yane 袴腰屋根, or kabutoyane 兜屋根. A style of roof similar to the hipped roof *…

A simple style of balustrade placed around a low, step-like veranda *hamayuka…

The distance between two rafters of this type is equal to the sum of the height of a rafter plus the width of its bottom…

A sliding screen made of a light wooden frame covered with translucent paper. It is about 1 m-1.3 m high. 1.3 m hanshōji…

Also called han-akarishōji 半明障子. A pair of sliding screens with a lattice frame covered with translucent paper *…

Lit. belly. The concave underside, of a curved beam, for example, a curved transverse beam *…

A transverse or cross beam positioned at a right angle to a roof ridge. It stretches the width of a building to receive the…

Also called haritsunagi 梁繋. Tie beams that run parallel to the roof ridge. One is positioned across the upper…

A ceiling which is embellished with wooden squares of different kinds placed in a checker-board pattern. The ribs of a…

Also called kōka 構架. The beam system of a roof.
 

A plain board ceiling. When paper or silk are pasted over the ceiling boards for decorative purposes, the ceiling is called…

Also referred to as *hariyuki 梁行; also written 張り間.…

Transverse beams that run at right angles to lengthwise beams. In Japanese architecture hariyuki usually run the…

Also read kizahashi, kidahashi. Lit. a step, stair, stairway, staircase. Hashi is used to refer…

Also written hashibame 端嵌. Narrow long strips of wood made to cover the top and bottom of doors composed of several…

1　A pent roof built above the stairs on one side of the annex tai-no-ya 対の屋 in aristocratic style…

Also hikakushi-no-ma 日隠の間, hashi-no-ma 階の間, or mihashi-no-ma 御階の間. The space between the posts at…

The generic term for any type of pillar, column, post, pier, and strut, the basic members of Japanese timber architecture.…

A pillar base. A long beam which forms the base for pillars or posts in the upper part of a building.

A generic term in traditional architecture referring to any architectural element with an interior finish found within a bay…

A bay or span. The distance between pillars, measuring from the center of the pillars.

An ancient word meaning the same as *hōdate 方立, a vertical member placed on…

Also read hire-ita but this reading is considered to be incorrect according to the Kaokuzakkō 家屋雑考 (…

Also called hakkaku yane 八角屋根. The eight-sided roof of an octagonal hall *…

The place on a noh stage *nōbutai 能舞台 where three or four musicians sit,…

1　Also read sama-ishi. Rough stones placed between pillar base stones when a building is erected…

Also written 剥板; sogi-ita 殺板, 曽木板.

1　Thin strips of plaited cedar or sawara…

The Heian period (794-1185), during which Heiankyō 平安京 (later, Kyoto) became the political and cultural capital of Japan.…

Heian Imperial Palace, located in the northern part of the Heian Capital. Enclosed by clay walls, buildings included the…

Also hezuke or henzuke 辺付. Thought to be a corruption of a term used in Shōsōin documents Shōsōin…

Rafters laid parallel to each other from the ridge almost to the eave ends. When parallel rafters reach the corner of the…

1　Also *fuse-zu 伏図. The two-dimensional drawing of…

Also written 壁體. The material from which a wall is made, excluding any added exterior veneer or covering. It can also mean…

The arrangement of things (buildings, temples, paintings, sculptures, etc.) chronologically according to historical period…

Also called shirata 白太. Sapwood. The part of a tree trunk miki 幹 that is just beneath the bark juhi…

*Tatami 畳 edging. A cloth border attached to tatami mats. Varieties…

1　A room specifically designated for the use of a particular person or a group of people of the same status…

The edges hata 端 on the sides of grooves, troughs, or channels hi 樋 made in a sill or head jamb. Usually…