A window sill. The horizontal part at the bottom of a window frame in a wooden building. The sill is supported by the base…

The window frame into which a window sash is installed. The timber that surrounds a window.

Lit. "window decoration." A thin decoration that is hung around the outer border of a window, over the curtain, to provide…

The non-penetrating tie beams used for the frame of a window opening. One, called madoshita nageshi 窓下長押, is placed…

A floor plan. The arrangement of rooms in a dwelling, including access points, windows, hallways, verandas, toilets, and…

Posts placed on each side of a window. In the case of thatched tea ceremony houses *…

A window frame into which a window sash or casing is set. The frame consists of two vertical side pieces, tatewaku…

1　Also called kazari-ishi 飾石, tōage-ishi 灯あげ石, tōtomoshi-ishi 灯ともし石. A flat…

The front gable of a gable roof that flows directly away from the ridge and extends further than the rear gable. The long…

A large ripsaw with a blade about 60 cm long and 40 cm wide. It was first introduced in the 15th century and was used until…

Standard purpose carpenters' ripsaw. A ripsaw with a blade approximately 35-40 cm long and 12 cm wide. The blade narrows…

Also omaedachi 御前立. Lit. "standing in front." A Buddhist sculpture, positioned on the altar in front of the shrine…

Abbreviation of maedatemono 前立物. Also tatemono 立物. An upstanding decoration found on the front of a…

A transverse timber positioned at the base of the latticework *kitsune gōshi…

Also bafumi, hirami 褶. The flat top of an earthen embankment *doi…

Also written 摩崖仏. Ch: moyafo. Also known as magai sekibutsu 磨崖石仏 or 摩崖石仏. A Buddhist image carved into the…

Latticework or a grille *kōshi 格子 positioned between the hard-packed earthen…

Lit. "a true carpenter's square." A right angle or a 90 degree angle. A structural element that corresponds to a right angle…

Also pronounced magamibashira. Also called *yugamibashira 歪柱.…

Also written 曲屋. A farmhouse, nōka 農家, with a room that housed stables *umaya…

A general term for farmhouses with an L-shaped plan *magariya 曲り屋

1　Also written 勾玉. A bead with religious significance, introduced to Japan from the Korean peninsula. It is…

Round chip box. Also called wagemono 綰物 (bent round object) or himono 檜物 (cypress object). A…

Lit. "section breaks." A technique used to build a castle wall. Separate sections of the castle wall *…

Also 孫庇; matabisashi 又庇, 又廂. Lit. "grandchild aisle." A narrow additional aisle. Traditional buildings, especially…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young woman. The gracefully curved mouth…

A small section within a translucent sliding screen *shōji 障子 that can be opened…

Also called kozuka 小束. A very short strut or post used in a roof truss. Magozuka are the shortest struts…

1　The length of the front facade of a building or frontage of a plot of land from corner to corner. …

Lit. "deep black stones." A generic name for black stones found in the Nachi 那智 area of Wakayama prefecture and the Kamo 鴨…

Lintel, header or head jamb. Also magosa まごさ. A lintel without grooves or tracks, placed horizontally at the top of…

Also read maiden. Also kaguradono, kaguraden 神楽殿 or kagura 神楽. Lit. "dance hall."…

Dancing old man. A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing an old god or…

A wooden sliding door constructed of a single wooden panel *wata-ita…

Thin, parallel strips of wood about 2-3 cm wide and 1.8 cm thick affixed to the front and back of a door *…

A partition. The partitioning or dividing of an interior or an individual room into separate spaces, allowing for tremendous…

Lit. "sprinkled picture." A technique which originated in the Heian period for lacquer ware decoration in which designs are…

Pillars that are decorated with ornamental bands. The bands may be made of metal, painted with lacquer or covered with…

A pictorial subject based on "The Cypress Pillar" Makibashira, Chapter 31 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (…

U-strap. A コ-shaped metal fitting used to secure wooden joints.

Small, square, or slightly rectangular bearing blocks placed on a bracket arm *hijiki…

Ch: Magu. Two female Taoist immortals. The first is said to have lived in the Han dynasty and was sister of the immortal…

A low folding screen about 50 cm high, and usually with two panels, *nikyoku byōbu…

1　A wedge-shaped piece of wood used to join structural members.

2　Short members…

Also called makurabasami 枕挟 or makurabakama 枕袴. The non-penetrating tie beams *…

Also called keshibon 芥子本, keshigatabon 芥子形本, and hinamamehon 雛豆本. A miniature book. The…

Lit. "thrown bean stones." A poetic name for a seemingly random arrangement of stepping stones *…

Lit. "chopping board format." An extremely large size of wood-block *ukiyo-e…

Lit. "a half door." Also called hantobira 半扉 or hando 半戸, both meaning a half door. A low door, about one…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young woman in her first bloom. Very similar…

Also written 曼陀羅 or 曼拏羅. Mandala. A diagram that depicts Buddhist deities according to certain geometric formats and…

Also Taimadera *Hondō 当麻寺本堂. Mandaradō literally means a hall…

The administrative offices housed in the refectory of an ancient temple. During the Heian period, and continuing through the…

A style of gable roof, manekiyane 招屋根, in which one side is a standard normal length from ridge to eave ends and…

An arrangement of bargeboards *hafu 破風 on a gable roof *…

Also called *nehijiki 根肘木. Bracket arms used to support the shorter side…

A descending corner ridge that connects the main ridge with a lower main ridge. This corner ridge, also known as …

The shorter eave on the rear section of a gable roof. The shrine style *nagare-…

Braces that extend outward from the central posts to support the eave end *manekinoki …

Edo period sketches usually done impromptu or in fun, often of unusual or humorous subjects. In modern times manga…

Lit. "full moon shelf." A type of shelving *chigaidana 違い棚,…

Also read maniaishi, maniai 間似合. A rough paper of poor quality attached to sliding partitions *…

Mullions *kumiko 組子 in a decorative pattern of connected,…

Also written 卍文. A decorative pattern symbolizing good fortune, popularly known as the swastika motif. It is thought to have…

Also written 満字繋, 卍つなぎ. A pattern *mon'yō 文様, or mullion *…

Lit. "a bean-jam dumpling shape." Also called hanjukei 半珠形. A half-spherical shape.

1…

Ch: manhuahui. Lit. "gathering amid myriad flowers." A Chinese painting subject showing the peony procession of…

Also shusokushi manmōsō 手足指縵網相. A web-like membrane between the fingers and toes found on sculpted Buddhist…

The name used for the images of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ in the guise of *Kannon…

Also referred to as Christian lanterns *kirishitan dōrō キリシタン灯籠.…

Transliteration of Sanskrit Marici, the name of a Buddhist goddess representing an amalgamation of several Hindu antecedents…

A type of defensive gateway barrier *umadashi 馬出 consisting of…

Also called enchū 円柱.

1　A circular pillar or post. In the early periods (7th-13th…

A statue completely carved in the round, as opposed to relief *ukibori 浮彫. A…

Also *itchū 一鋳. A metal casting technique where the statue is cast in one…

A special type of plane used for paring a curved wooden surface. A sotomaruganna 外丸鉋 is used for paring a concave…

Also written 円瓦. Also called *ogawara 男瓦, especially in the 6th-…

Also written 丸窓, also called yoshinomado 吉野窓. A window which is circular or a circular window with a flat…

To expose the whole wale or rib next to the binding on a straw mat *tatami 畳.…

Also written 円面. A type of chamfer with rounded edges or corners, for example, on an otherwise square post. To produce this…

A circular, decorative design used either as a single unit or repeated to create patterns for textiles and family crests. A…

A type of striking chisel *tatakinomi 叩鑿, with a thin, arc-shaped…

A log or pole. Some scholars believe that this term replaced maruhada 丸肌 (log skin). A generic term for a log,…

A post made from a log, that has either the bark remaining or its bark stripped off but is not pared off smoothly.

Sometimes referred to as Kyō-ha 京派 or the Kyoto school. A painting school in Kyoto which was popular during the…

Cylindrical struts. One example is a bottle strut *taiheizuka 大瓶束, used…

Also written 政. An abbreviation of masagami 柾紙, also written 政紙. A smooth grain, lightweight, off-white paper…

A carpenter's hewing ax. It is smaller than a tree-felling ax, tazuki 多都岐, and weighs between 750 and 1300 g. The…

Straight grain. The grain that runs parallel to the growth of the tree or at right angle to the tree rings. The quality of…

Traditional Japanese paper *washi 和紙 made from hemp, asa…

A gradual increase in the height of such structural members as rafters *taruki…

Mashiko ware. A modern pottery type made in Mashiko 益子 village, Tochigi prefecture. The Mashiko kiln was started around 1853…

1　A Chinese temple Sōfukuji 崇福寺 in Nagasaki prefecture, called Masodō, which enshrines a deity called…

A unique gate at Sōfukuji 崇福寺 (rebuilt in 1827) in Nagasaki prefecture. The size is unusual for an eight-legged gate *…

One or many small subsidiary Shinto shrines belonging to a main shrine. If the buildings are located within the precincts of…

Also read to, sometimes written 枡. A box for measuring.

1　Any bearing block that is square…

Stones cut into a cube or close to a perfect cube. Shaped like the square wooden measuring device *masu…

An alcove room *tokonoma 床の間, usually 91 to 95 cm square, equal…

Also written 増髪. Long, tangled hair. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面…

Also written 升形. Lit. "square measuring box." A square enclosed by an earthen embankment, stone wall, moat or gates used to…