Skip to main content

JAANUS

  • # (1)
  • a (30)
  • b (12)
  • c (16)
  • d (36)
  • e (23)
  • f (28)
  • g (25)
  • h (144)
  • i (46)
  • j (24)
  • k (231)
  • m (127)
  • n (117)
  • o (35)
  • r (25)
  • s (195)
  • t (126)
  • u (30)
  • w (14)
  • y (48)
  • z (11)
  • (-) General Terms (73)
  • Architecture (67)
  • Art History (7)
  • Decorations (1)
  • Folk Dwellings (1)
  • Sculpture (1)
  • Tea Houses (1)

Displaying 1 - 73 of 73
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
gagyō 丸桁 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
gagyōbane 丸桁桔

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

Architecture, General Terms
gaien 外苑

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

Architecture, General Terms
gakubuchi 額縁

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

Architecture, General Terms
gangi hashigo 雁木梯子 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
garan haichi 伽藍配置 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
garan 伽藍

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

Architecture, General Terms
gasshō 合掌

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

Architecture, General Terms, Art History, Sculpture
gawageta 側桁

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

Architecture, General Terms
gawakabe 側壁

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

Architecture, General Terms
gejin 外陣

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

Architecture, General Terms
gekan 下間

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

Architecture, General Terms
genkan 玄関

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

Architecture, General Terms
Genroku bunka 元禄文化

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

Art History, General Terms
giboshi 擬宝珠 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms, Decorations
gigaku 伎楽

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

Art History, General Terms
gō-ita 格板

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

Architecture, General Terms
gōbuchi 格縁

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

Architecture, General Terms
gokakumasu 五角桝 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
gōma 格間

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

Architecture, General Terms
gorinmen 五厘面

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

Architecture, General Terms
goshomune 御所棟

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…

Architecture, General Terms
gōtenjō 格天井

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

1 The simplest type of coffered…

Architecture, General Terms
gyobutsu 御物

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

Art History, General Terms
gyōkaigan 凝灰岩

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

Architecture, General Terms
yagura kemudashi 櫓煙出 ✓

Also written 櫓烟出. Also read yagura kemuridashi. An opening constructed in a thatched roof to allow the escape of…

Architecture, General Terms
yaguranuki 櫓貫

Commonly double-penetrating, diagonally placed beams that connect the main post *…

Architecture, General Terms
yakata tenjō 屋形天井

1 A ceiling with the same pitch as the roof. Really, an exposed ceiling *…

Architecture, General Terms
yakuba 役場

1 The parts of a stone wall such as exterior corners, top surfaces, or openings for drainage where…

Architecture, General Terms, Folk Dwellings
yamamichi katō 山道火灯

A window used especially in the Zen style *zenshūyō 禅宗様; a type of ogival…

Architecture, General Terms
yamato 大和 ✓

1 An abbreviation for yamatouchi-no-to 大和打の戸 or yamatouchi 大和打. A door that has vertical…

Architecture, General Terms
yamatobuki 大和葺 ✓

1 A type of board roofing made by first spacing boards of equal width at predetermined intervals and then…

Architecture, General Terms, Tea Houses
yane-ita 屋根板

A generic name for various types of roofing boards including *noji-ita…

Architecture, General Terms
yane kōzō 屋根構造 ✓

The construction of the roof framework or roof truss over the body of a building. The essential framing for a gable roof *…

Architecture, General Terms
yane 屋根 ✓

Also called okugai 屋蓋, lit. "roof covering." A generic term for various types of roofs, roof styles, and roofing.…

Architecture, General Terms
yanebuki 屋根葺

Roofing or roof covering. The most commonly used types of roofing are clay tiles *…

Architecture, General Terms
yanegae 屋根替

Rethatching, retiling, or reshingling a roof whereby old roofing is replaced with new roofing.

Architecture, General Terms
yanekugi 屋根釘

Also kobanekugi 小羽根釘. Small round bamboo roofing nails, with a diameter between 2.1 to 2.8 mm and a length from 50…

Architecture, General Terms
yaneura 屋根裏

1 See *keshō yaneura 化粧屋根裏.

2 An…

Architecture, General Terms
yaraiko 矢来子 The framing members of a fence. They may be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or arranged to form squares or lozenges. A variety… Architecture, General Terms
yareigeta 破井桁 ✓

Lit. "broken well crib." Also yabureigeta. A design used for muntins *kumiko…

Architecture, General Terms
yatsumune-zukuri 八棟造 ✓

Lit. "eight-ridge construction." A complicated roof style with multiple ridges and bargeboards, or large vernacular house…

Architecture, General Terms
yawari 矢割

A method of stone-splitting achieved by boring a hole in the stone. A wedge *kusabi…

Architecture, General Terms
Yayoi jidai 弥生時代

The Yayoi period (ca. 400 BCE to 250 CE). The period is marked by the establishment of rice cultivation and an agrarian…

Art History, General Terms
yō 様

A suffix. When used in architectural history, it means a technical style, as in *…

Architecture, General Terms
yodo 淀 ✓

Also yodogi 淀木 or yodonuki 淀貫. Tapered horizontal timber, 12-15 cm wide and 4.5 cm thick, placed on top of…

Architecture, General Terms
yōjigane 楊枝鉄

Also called chikara gane 力鉄 or kanehōzu-e 鉄方杖.
Slender iron rods used to strengthen the extensions of…

Architecture, General Terms
yoko-ita 横板

1 Horizontal, parallel boards with a wood grain that runs sideways. In shrine architecture *…

Architecture, General Terms
yokome-ita 横目板

Also called *oshibuchi 押縁. Narrow, thin battens placed horizontally over…

Architecture, General Terms
yokoshigezan 横繁桟 ✓

Closely spaced horizontal crosspieces commonly found on latticed doors *mairado…

Architecture, General Terms
yokoshino 横篠 ✓

1 The horizontal line of a bamboo joint.

2 The line carved into the short posts at…

Architecture, General Terms
yokozan 横桟 ✓

Also called nakazan 中桟. A generic term for the parallel crosspieces used to frame doors, windows, and other…

Architecture, General Terms
yokozando 横桟戸 ✓

A timber door frame into which horizontal boards are set. The seams tsugime 継目 are hidden by crosspieces nailed in…

Architecture, General Terms
yomezuka 嫁束

Also called *kirizuka 切束, komitatara 込たたら. A short strut…

Architecture, General Terms
yoroido 鎧戸

Also called gararido がらり戸. The horizontal, louver boards yoroi-ita 鎧板 of a door that run parallel to each…

Architecture, General Terms
yosegi 寄木

1 The upper horizontal timber yosegi 寄木, in a transom, called *…

Architecture, General Terms
yosejikii 寄敷居 ✓ Also called *tatamiyose 畳寄, or abbreviated to yose 寄. A horizontal timber level with… Architecture, General Terms
yosemune yane 寄棟屋根 ✓

Also abbreviated to yosemune 寄棟, also called yotsuyane 四つ屋根. A hipped roof. A roof that descends from the…

Architecture, General Terms
yosemune-zukuri 寄棟造

Also called *shia 四阿 in the Nara period. Also komune-zukuri 小棟造, …

Architecture, General Terms
yoshido 葭戸 A sliding door or screen filled with reeds yoshi 葭 or ashi 葦, sometimes called match stick blinds, to admit summer… Architecture, General Terms
yoshigaki 葭垣

Also ashigaki 葦垣. Also called yoshizubei 葭簀塀 or yoshizugaki 葭簀垣. A fence made of ditch reed …

Architecture, General Terms
Yoshino jidai 吉野時代

The Yoshino period. A seldom-used, rather old-fashioned term for the Southern and Northern Courts period *…

Art History, General Terms
yotesaki tokyō 四手先斗きょう

A 4-stepped bracket complex found mainly on the upper part of a *tahōtō 多宝塔.…

Architecture, General Terms
yotsuya maruta 四谷丸太

Also called yotsuya migaki maruta 四谷磨き丸太 or migaki maruta 磨き丸太. A cedar log stripped of its bark and then…

Architecture, General Terms
yūgen 幽玄

Lit. "profound mystery." A multivalent and influential medieval aesthetic ideal expressing darkness, depth, mystery,…

Art History, General Terms
yukachigai 床違

Floors that have different levels. For example, the floor of the alcove *tokonoma…

Architecture, General Terms
yukadaka 床高

The distance from the top surface of a floor to the ground below. The term can also refer to the height of a building's…

Architecture, General Terms
yukaura 床裏

The space made by the joists *neda 根太, between the flooring of a second story and…

Architecture, General Terms
yukazuka 床束

Short struts placed on base stones beneath a floor to support the sleepers *ōbiki…

Architecture, General Terms
yukimi shōji 雪見障子

Also called *agesage shōji 上下障子 (up and down shōji). Lit. "snow…

Architecture, General Terms
yumi ranma 弓欄間 ✓

Also called namiranma 波欄間 (wave-patterned slats), takewaki ranma 立涌欄間 (vertical billow-patterned slats in…

Architecture, General Terms
yūri odaruki 遊離尾垂木 ✓

Separated tail rafters supported by fulcrums which in turn support long purlins at their mid point and at each end. They are…

Architecture, General Terms
yuta-zukuri 雪打造

Also written 雨打造. A style of architecture that employs pent roof. A common 13th-19th century expression for *…

Architecture, General Terms

Contributor Login

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