Also called suberihatsugi 滑刃継; hauchitsugi 羽打継. A scarf joint. A simple butt joint made stronger by…

Special bodily characteristics of the Buddha which symbolize his superhuman nature. These include many aspects of Buddha's…

One of the most popular Shinto deities, who is shown in the form of a Buddhist monk and who protects warriors and the…

Lit. "Sōhen fence." A simple type of open fence named after tea master Yamada Sōhen 山田宗へん (1627-1708). Thin bamboo slats are…

Term used in the Nara and Heian periods for a red color obtained using madder akane 茜 dye.

A system of rank or title given by the imperial court to men and women in a Buddhist order who were also eminent scholars.…

Ch: caoyi chushui; also sōibyō 曹衣描. Lit. "wet-clothing drawing." A style of figure painting in which…

Also written 惣社. Also pronounced sōsha or subeyashiro. A shrine that contains many deities, which may…

A hairstyle where the hair is divided into two bunches, and tied on top of the head. The hairstyle is found on Buddhist…

A ditch surrounding a property, usually dug between a road and private land.

Lit. "bottom-cleaning chisel." A chisel designed to clean out the wooden shavings which have accumulated in the base of the…

A dry lacquer statue. During the Nara period, the term soku was used in documents to refer to dry lacquer statuary…

An ink painting brush stroke that uses the body of the bristles rather than tip to create a thick line. Generally, in…

Also called sunakake 砂かけ, sunasukui 砂掬い, and ezue え杖. Also written 束杖. A thin wooden board…

An anklet. A decorative ring or rings *kansen 鐶釧 found on the ankles of…

Also called wakiku 脇区. The borders on the ends of the pendants *gatō…

Also read somakaku. Timber that is made square by hewing and shaving with a hatchet *…

The moment when tree felling begins to obtain the wood to be used for a statue.

*Bugaku 舞楽 dance and mask *bugakumen…

Blue-and-white ware. A white pottery with indigo patterns. On the surface of white pottery, mainly porcelain, designs are…

A fishnet-like design used to adorn the base of a Buddhist sculpture. The character 藻 (also read mo) means duckweed…

1　The main entrance gate for many Zen temples. They are large, single-storied, 8-legged or 4-legged gates…

Also read sōna. A signature in cursive script. During the Nara period, signatures were written in formal square…

Also written 備. Also called kumimono 組物 or *tokyō 斗きょう. A set of…

Lit. "mandala in the form used for worship." Devotional paintings (usually on large hanging scrolls) showing the deities of…

An upper floor extending over the entire area of the ground floor of a building.

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 that evolved from the cult centered…

An object of veneration or worship, usually a statue or painting.

Also pronounced sorihashi. Lit. "curved bridge." A general term for an arched bridge. Soribashi include…

A plane used for moulding curved, wooden architectural elements such as gable boards or projecting rafters. The sole of the…

Also called terihafu 照破風. A generic term for bargeboards *hafu 破風 with…

A dance piece in *bugaku 舞楽 and the abstractly painted paper of cloth mask *…

Lit. "pagoda finial." The vertical shaft which protrudes from the top of a pagoda. The sōrin, whether made of…

Also called soriwatarō 反渡廊, taikobashienrōka 太鼓橋縁廊下. Roofed, open-sided corridors with a convex…

A roof with a concave curve that extends from the base of the ridge *munagi 棟木…

A set of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints published in a series with a common title *…

Lit. "foundation stone." A base stone which receives the dead load of a pillar. The upper side of the base stone was made…

Paintings (or sometimes printed illustrations) e 絵, that usually illustrate narrative tales, waka 和歌…

Ch: Zhuangzi (369?-286? BCE). A famous Taoist philosopher, born in Meng 孟, Henan 河南 province. His real name was Zhou and his…

Important Buddhist teachers, high priests, and founders of Buddhist sects; often worshipped by followers. Statues and…

A hall dedicated to the founder of a temple, especially at Zen 禅 temples.

The diaries of Kamiya Sōtan 神谷宗湛 (1551-1635), a wealthy merchant and tea ceremony master in Fukuoka Prefecture. Written…

A tea ceremony legend that probably dates from the first half of the 17th century. An old fox, the story goes, lived in the…

Also called sōtei zashiki 宗貞座敷. A 3-mat tea ceremony room *chashitsu…

A generic name for a pagoda (Sk: stupa) which has several roofs. Invariably they have an odd number of roofs. Most…

Also called Sakuradamon 桜田門. An entrance gate constructed 1664 at Edo-jō 江戸城 in Tokyo that preserves its…

The outer moat of a castle that has two or more moats. Generally, the inner slope, nearer the castle, is steep while the…

Lit. "outer fence." A generic name for any fence that encloses a tea ceremony house and garden *…

Also termed sōtō tenshu 層塔天守. A multi-storied castle tower. A technically advanced tower employing the same careful…

A lantern built for gardens in the form of a multi-storied stone pagoda with a flame holder. A famous example may be found…

Also written 外隈. Lit. "exterior shading."

1　A shading *…

The exterior measurements of architectural members. The term applies to any outside measurement whether it is the length,…

Lit. "princess whose beauty shines through her clothing." The popular name for the concubine of Emperor Ingyō 允恭 (412-…

Outer tea garden. The section of the double teagarden nijū roji 二重露地 closest to the entrance gate, sotorojimon…

Also sozō 塑像, shōzō 摂像, deizō 泥像. Formerly also called *…

A common type of mud-packed fence with timber posts that are exposed on the exterior side. The posts are set one bay *…

Also written 滑り腮. Also *shikimen 敷面. This term refers to both the upper and lower sides of a…

The name of the groove cut several centimeters from the bottom of one of two posts erected on each side of an opening into…

Also called kōshibuta 格子蓋.

1　A lid or cover made for a cut-out in the floor of a kitchen…

Also called su 簾, *misu 御簾, and osu 小簾. Matchstick blinds.…

Reed ceiling. Also sudarebari tenjō 簾張天井. A ceiling covered in a mesh made from solid stems of bamboo …

Also sudaresama. A transom *ranma 欄間, with openwork…

Lit. "latticed door gate." A type of garden gate which features lattice, or basket-work of split bamboo. Varieties include…

The smaller end of a log. The larger end is called motoguchi 元口.

A pictorial subject matter based on "Suetsumuhana" ("Safflower"), Chapter 6 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

1　A roof with bargeboards of different sizes. Usually the front bargeboard, which extends from the ridge…

Also written 椙. A white or red Japanese cedar tree, also called cryptomeria. Japanese cedar is an excellent and widely used…

Paintings directly executed on sliding doors made of cryptomeria wood *sugido 杉戸 which…

Also called sugishōji 杉障子. Doors made of Japanese cedar. Sugido constructed in the shoin style *…

Buildings roofed with cedar bark shingles which resemble cypress bark roofing *…

Bargeboards that have straight lines instead of the usual curves. There are two curved types: *…

Also written 須浜鬼瓦, also suhamagata onigawara 州浜形鬼瓦 or suhama 州浜. A dumbbell-shaped tile that is bent in…

Also suhama 州浜. A shape made up of three rings. Used in garden design and landscape paintings. An imitation of a…

A dais *daiza 台座 for a Buddhist image that is shaped like a sand…

Also wake わけ. An aesthetic ideal of the Edo period merchant class in the Kamigata 上方 (Osaka-Kyoto) region implying…

Lit. "garden in the style of ink monochrome landscape painting." A modern term used for Chinese style dry gardens *…

Ch: shuimohua. Also, in Japan, bokuga 墨画 or more colloquially sumi-e 墨絵. Lit. "water-ink painting…

Four decorative metal pieces attached at right angle to the metal sheathing that covers the tapered extended central pillar…

Also read sugiharagami and abbreviated to suihara or sui. Handmade Japanese paper *…

Also yokokajū 横荷重. A lateral load. A structural element that carries horizontally the weight of a load. The…

Suihei means water level or horizontal; also a perpendicular or vertical line made by ink dispensed by the string…

Also suihatsu. Lit. "hanging hair." Long hair gathered into two sections which hang down behind the ears. The…

Lit. "trace manifestation." The equivalent for *kami 神 (god), in the pairing of…

The Suiko period. A now rarely-used name for the Asuka period *Asuka jidai…

Lit. "drunken Persians," referring to Suikoō 酔胡王 (the Drunken Persian King) and his followers, suikojū…

Lit. "water ring." The spherical second story of the five-ring pagoda *gorintō…

Suirinbashira are the outer circle of pillars that divide the exterior pillars from the core *…

Lit. "water-dropper." A small container used to hold the water which is added to the inkstone *suzuri…

Also arizan 蟻桟, suitsukizan 吸付桟 or suitsukiari 吸付蟻. A long, narrow dovetail tenon *…

Also kugibori 釘彫. A technique used to copy the lines of an underdrawing. A sharp-edged tool is used to press the…

Diagonal bracing set between the major posts that form the framework of a building wall. Their purpose is to strengthen and…

A carpentry gauge used to mark accurate, parallel lines on pillars, door frames and planks, or to accurately redraw the…

Also called *kurinuki kaerumata 刳抜蟇股. A frog-leg strut that is…

Also called sukashi-ita ranma 透板欄間, sukashi ranma 透欄間, itabori ranma 板彫欄間 and sukashikumi…

Openwork. A method of decoration in which a design is cut out of a plain surface. While sukashibori refers to…

Lit. "see-through fence." A generic term for any kind of fence through which one can see. This type of open fence is used as…

The hero of the *kabuki 歌舞伎 play of the same name and the subject of woodblock…

Lit. "aesthetic liking." Most simply love for elegant things, particularly poetry waka 和歌 and the objects of the…

Also called aisuki 相透. A carving tool used in woodblock printmaking *ukiyo-e…

A type of gate for temporary wooden enclosures. It is characterized by the attachment of horizontal, diagonal or vertical…