Skip to main content

JAANUS

  • a (3)
  • b (10)
  • c (3)
  • d (7)
  • e (3)
  • f (5)
  • g (11)
  • h (21)
  • i (2)
  • j (9)
  • k (29)
  • m (13)
  • n (13)
  • o (5)
  • r (5)
  • s (32)
  • t (15)
  • u (2)
  • w (1)
  • y (5)
  • z (3)
  • (-) Buildings (50)
  • Architecture (50)
  • Structures (50)
  • Tea Houses (1)

Displaying 1 - 50 of 50
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
hakamagoshi 袴腰 ✓

1 A trapezoidal form created on top of the posts that frame the host's entrance *…

Architecture, Tea Houses, Structures, Buildings
hakkaku butsuden 八角仏殿

An octagonal hall in a Buddhist temple. One or more Buddhist deities are enshrined within. The record Shizaichō…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hakkaku enden 八角円殿

An octagonal hall. Temple records owned by Hōryūji 法隆寺 and Gangōji 元興寺 mention the existence of a hakkaku enden as…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hakkaku endō 八角円堂

Lit. eight-sided circular. An octagonal circular hall *hakkakudō 八角堂,…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hakkakudō 八角堂 ✓

Also called *hakkaku endō 八角円堂. An octagonal hall. There are six…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hakkakutō 八角塔 ✓

An octagonal pagoda of which there is only one in Japan. Although a plan to erect an octagonal pagoda existed at Saidaiji…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hashirō 橋廊

A bridge-like corridor that spans a garden pond or an area between two buildings.

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hattō 法堂 ✓

A lecture hall which corresponds to the *kōdō 講堂 in temples of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hide 碑伝

Markers set at intervals along a mountain trail by ascetic monks called yamabushi 山伏 or shugenja 修験者. Many…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Higashimuro 東室 ✓

The east dormitory for Buddhist priests at Hōryūji 法隆寺 in Nara. It is located in the west precinct Saiin 西院, and has nine,…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hiraya 平家 A house with only one story.
Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Hiunkaku 飛雲閣

Lit. a flying cloud tower. Unique, three-storied timber building, rōkaku 楼閣, built in asymmetrical design and…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hōjō 方丈 ✓

The name given to the type of residence that had evolved by the end of the 14th century for the abbot, i.e., the head priest…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hokkedō 法華堂 ✓

Also called hokke sanmaidō 法華三昧堂.


1 A meditation hall based on a plan that allows…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Hokuendō 北円堂

The largest extant octagonal Buddhist temple hall, dated 1210. It is located at Kōfukuji 興福寺 in Nara, and is placed on a…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hōkyōintō 宝筺印塔 ✓

Lit. Hōkyōin pagoda. A type of pagoda (Sk: stupa) originally made as a repository for copies of the Hōkyōin…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hondō 本堂 ✓

Lit. main hall. A Buddhist hall housing the principal images most revered by the particular sect of a temple. The use of the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Hōōdō 鳳凰堂 ✓

Lit. Phoenix Hall. The Hōōdō is the central hall *Chūdō 中堂 of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hosodono 細殿

Lit. long narrow hall.



1 In Buddhist architecture, a long narrow structure set in front of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hōtō 宝塔

1 Lit. treasure pagoda. A generic name for a pagoda (Sk: stupa) of a type associated with the Buddhist…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
hyakumantō 百万塔

Lit. one million pagodas. Wooden, miniature, three-storied, circular, memorial pagodas wrought on a lathe for Empress Kōken…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kagariya 篝屋

Guardhouses for soldiers placed at street corners in Kyoto and Kamakura during the Kamakura period. The earliest known …

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaidan'in 戒壇院 ✓

A Tendai 天台 sect building that contains an ordination platform used exclusively for the ceremony to impart the Buddhist…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaidan 戒壇 A platform or dais used for the Buddhist ordination ceremony.
Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kairō 回廊 ✓

Also written 廻廊; also called bu 廡, sōrō 走廊 or *horō 歩廊. Single-…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaisandō 開山堂 ✓

A hall that enshrines a statue, portrait or memorial tablet of the founder of a temple or the founder of a particular…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaisantō 開山塔

Lit. founder's pagoda. A rare type of wooden pagoda *hōtō 宝塔, constructed…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaisho 会所

1 A meeting place. Originally specified as a place in a shinden style mansion *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Kami-no-midō 上御堂

Lit. Upper honorable hall. A Buddhist image hall at Hōryūji 法隆寺 (1318) in Nara, rebuilt long after the original hall, built…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Kangakuin 勧学院

Also omotemon 表門. The front gate of Shūgenji 宗源寺 a subsidiary temple of Hōryūji 法隆寺. It serves as a place for study…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kanjōdō 潅頂堂

Also called kanjōin 潅頂院. The hall used to conduct the ceremony to confer the basic precepts and mystic teachings of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kannondō 観音堂 ✓

A Buddhist temple hall dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy *Kannon 観音. Fukushima…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kansuryō 監寺寮

One of the administration offices within the priests' living quarters *kuri 庫裡,…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kasatōba 笠塔婆 ✓

Also called kasasotōba 笠卒都婆. A memorial or grave stone. The most common has a square shaft *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Keikyūin 桂宮院

Lit. cinnamon hall. An octagonal main hall, Hondō 本堂, of the subsidiary temple, Keikyūin at Kōryūji 広隆寺 (1251…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kōdō 講堂

1 Lecture hall in a Buddhist temple. In the Nara and Heian periods, it was one of the principal buildings…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kōfūzō 綱封蔵 ✓

Also called *narabigura 双倉 or twin storehouses. A large…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kondō 金堂 ✓

Lit. golden hall. The name given to the principal hall housing the most sacred images at Buddhist temples from the Asuka…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Konjikidō 金色堂

Also called Hikaridō 光堂 or Konjikiin 金色院. Lit. Gold colored hall. A small Buddhist edifice at…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Konpon chūdō 根本中堂

Lit. original central hall. The main hall, Kondō 金堂 of Enryakuji 延暦寺 (1640), Shiga Prefecture. A large single storied…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
konrō 軒廊

Lit. eave corridor. A roofed corridor with open sides. A connecting corridor between two buildings.

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
korō 鼓楼 ✓

A small, two-storied structure *rō-zukuri 楼造, in which a drum is suspended in…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kui 杭

Also kigui 木杭. Pile. A wooden stake or post driven into the ground. Closely placed round wooden posts, often shaved…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kujū-no-tō 九重塔

Also pronounced kyūjū-no-tō. A 9-storied pagoda. Kudaradaiji 百済大寺 (6th-7th century) in Nara, and Hōshōji 法勝寺 (Heian…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kunisakitō 国東塔

A single-storied, circular pagoda with a pyramidal roof. A type of *hōtō…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kuri 庫裡

1 Aiso written 庫裏. A structure in the precincts of a temple originally associated primarily with food…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kurodo-no-gosho 黒戸の御所

Also abbreviated to kurodo 黒戸. Lit. black door of the palace. A long narrow structure that was used for private…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kuyōtō 供養塔

A memorial pagoda, for which there is no particular shape or size. Kuyōtō is an offering of worldly goods such…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kyakuden 客殿

Lit. guest hall. A building constructed in one of three residential styles: *shoin-…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kyōzō 経蔵 ✓

Also called kyōko 経庫, kyōdō 経堂, zōden 蔵殿. A repository and storehouse for sutras, or sacred books…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures

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