An eave support. A curved horizontal timber that connects the rafters. It is placed on flying rafters that are under the…

Also *kyūjiguchi 給仕口. The host's entrance to a ceremony room *…

Also sometimes read kashouza. A lotus-leaf, kayou 荷葉 dais for a Buddhist image *…

Lit. lotus leaf strut. Also read kashōzuka. Commonly called *nigirihasu…

Also shōgon busshi 荘厳仏師. Artists who made metal and jewelled ornaments for Buddhist statues. These ornaments…

Lit. decorative wash basin. A wash basin placed in a garden for decoration and not used for washing hands. Usually, a wooden…

Lit. decoration stones. A type of stone prized for its beauty and usually placed apart from the more symbolic stone…

Ornamental metal fittings. Metalwork pieces *kanagu 金具, attached to parts of a…

A decorative type of thatch made from cogon, umikaya 海茅, a tall, coarse grass growing along the coastal…

It is found in mansions with large rooms *hiroma 広間, in the shoin…

An ornamental wash basin found on the side of a hallway *rōka 廊下, or around the…

An ornamental well. A garden well which has no water and therefore functions or only as a symbolic or decorative item. It is…

The ornamental elements of a garden. The features of a garden which have an ostensible function but are treated in a non-…

Also written 風子, 翳. Lit. shade. Walls, embankments, or plants used to prevent the enemy from seeing the activities inside a…

Also *seki-ita 塞板, maku-ita 幕板, or itamochi…

An enclosed room generally equivalent to a bedchamber (see *nando 納戸, *…

Also kekomi 蹴込, kekomi-ita 蹴込板 or *kehanashi 蹴放. A riser.…

1　Also called *ukebana 受花. A section of a lotus pedestal *…

A marking gauge. A tool used to draw accurate, straight lines on the surface of timber. The marking blade is fixed to the…

Hairline engraving. A technique used in metalwork where a design was engraved on a surface in a sequence of fine lines,…

Also ōkebutsu 応化仏, hengebutsu 変化仏, ōshin 応身, or keshin 化身. Sk: nirmana-buddha. Lit.…

Also written 華瓶. A vase used to offer flowers on a Buddhist altar. Made of gold, silver, bronze, crystal, or clay. The vase…

A list that was inserted at the end of a sutra or on a piece of paper placed inside a statue, or sometimes written on the…

Fine, thin bush-strokes employed to depict animal fur or human hair, especially sideburns, beard, or eyebrows. Strokes of…

A threshold or sill. A horizontal timber without grooves, positioned beneath an entrance so that a door or gate closes flush…

A school of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師 active from the late Heian period…

Also read motodori. Hair tied on top of the head in a topknot. The same meaning as *…

A knife which is used with a ruler to carve a straight line on a woodblock *hangi…

A subsidiary Shinto shrine located within the precincts of the main shrine.

A subsidiary Shinto shrine located outside the precincts of the main shrine. It may be near the precinct boundaries or at a…

Temple and shrine gates, originally used only by the highest ranking people, especially the Fujiwara 藤原 family. During…

In Chinese art refers to reproducing a likeness of the form of object. Also shajitsu 写実. It is the third of the Six…

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

Also read kyōsaku. A rod, used to awaken monks who doze off during Zen meditation. Shaped like a baton, about 130…

Lit. scenic stone. A type of garden stone meant to be appreciated for its beauty. Several usually keiseki stones…

Also zenka fuza 全跏趺坐, or abbreviated to zenkaza 全跏坐, kafuza 跏趺坐, kaza 跏坐. The full-lotus…

A simple style alcove *tokonoma 床の間 with a riser board kekomi-ita…

Also pronounced kemudashi. A smoke louvre. An opening in the roof of a building designed to allow smoke from a…

A bay; the space between two columns. During the Nara and Heian periods most buildings had no interior partitions and…

Lit. fist. Transliteration of the Sanskrit musti. A mudra or hand gesture *in…

Transliteration of the Sanskrit gandharva, translatedas jikikō 食香 (scent-eater), jinkō 尋香 (scent…

Also pronounced kentomoe. A decorative pattern combining a sword blade, ken 剣, with the swirling heraldic…

Also read kensaku, kenzaku; also saku 索. A rope, made from five different colored strands (…

Sliding screens with paintings of thirty-two Chinese sages, which form the main wall behind the Emperor's throne in the…

The art of Exoteric Buddhism. Generic term referring to any Buddhist art except for Esoteric Buddhism *…

A type of molding *kurigata 繰形, carved in a sword shape. It is…

The method used to describe the plan of a traditional temple or shrine building. It included the number of lengthwise bays…

A type of bamboo fence that takes its name from its use first at the temple Kenninji 建仁寺 in Kyoto. It is also considered to…

Lit. Kenninji style. A school of carpentry headed by Kōra Munehiro 甲良宗広 who left Shiga Prefecture to go to Edo (Tokyo) in…

A painting or calligraphy executed on silk; the term is applied to specify the support used for the work. In particular,…

Also called Aouma-no-jin 白馬の陣. The front gate located near the center of the outer south earthen wall surrounding Kyoto…

A geometric pattern based on three joined hexagonal shapes. It closely resembles *…

Also read kenjo. The seating arrangement in the front and on both sides of the main stage in a *…

Also called Hi-no-gomon 日の御門. One of the twelve gates originally enclosing Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. A four-legged gate *…

Ch: Xianzi. A semi-legendary 9th-century itinerant priest and eccentric. His name, meaning something like "Clam Priest," is…

Also koboshi 零し. A waste-water container into which either hot or cold water is poured after a tea bowl has…

The marks carved in all the woodblocks of a set needed to produce a full-color woodblock print *…

A bearing block placed on top of a strut *tsuka 束 or a frog-leg…

A straight bladed chisel used to make *kentō 見当, guide marks used…

A votive light offered to a Shinto or Buddhist deity. The lantern which holds the votive light is called a *…

Also written 見徳. A comic mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays. Kentoku has a timid, clownish expression, with…

Lit. sword tip motif. Also kentomoemon noki hiragawara 剣巴文軒平瓦. Also kenbishimon 剣菱文. The pendant *…

A strut composed of a short post surmounted by a bearing block *masu 斗. It is…

Disciples or followers of Buddha. Often refers to groups of devotees who accompany an important Buddhist deity, for example…

A barge course, gable overhang or a raking eave. The part of the roof that extends beyond the gable wall or gable pediment…

Also called *kake domoegawara 掛巴瓦; *…

1　A tenon *hozo ほぞ and mortise *…

A line-engraving technique used in metal carving, which consisted of sequences of fine dots. The name keribori…

Buddhist surplice. A general term for an outer garment worn by Buddhist priests and found on Buddhist figures. See *…

Lit. surplice shape water basins. A stone wash basin *chōzubachi…

Exposed rafter. In general, any visible rafter as opposed to one not visible *nodaruki…

Refers to the appearance or exposed surface of an architectural structural element. Also a smoothly planed wooden finish as…

Also read keshōban; also keshōzai 化粧材. A planed timber. Keshō-ita are normally exposed to…

The pitch of exposed rafters *keshō daruki 化粧垂木. The pitch…

A visible horizontal lath set between roof sheathing *ura-ita 裏板 and widely…

Lit. exposed core purlin. A purlin *moyageta 母屋桁 in the core of a temple…

Lit. exposed ridge. While this ridge is not usually visible from inside a structure because of the installation of a ceiling…

The roof sheathing laid over rafters which is visible from under the eaves of an open-beamed ceiling. One such example is…

Also called *keshōyaneura 化粧屋根裏. The underside of a timber roof, commonly…

The underside of a roof visible because no ceiling has been installed. The pitch of the roof and various structural elements…

To trim the white margins off a finished woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 with a…

Bamboo facing placed close to the eave ends *nokisaki 軒先 of a…

The underside of an eave *noki 軒 in a hidden roof that is not…

Also kekyaku 華脚. Decorative legs that are attached to a desk, an offering stand or the dais a Buddhist image *…

Lit. beam cover. Also *kudarigegyo 降懸魚, ketakakushi…

1　The direction of the purlins or plates *keta 桁 in a building,…

The smudges that result on a woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 if the…

Ch: juetou dingmiao. A brush technique used to create the clothing of figures in an ink painting. The brush strokes…

The nosings that appear either as an extension of a tie beam *nuki 貫, or bracket…

Also kibi-zukuri 吉備造 and *hiyoku irimoya-zukuri 比翼入母屋造. A…

Lit. Buddhist wood sculptor. Term used to refer to makers of Buddhist statues from the Heian period onward. In the Asuka and…

A type of illustrated popular fiction *kusazōshi 草双紙. Lit.…

Also read Kisshōten. Also called Kichijōtennyo 吉祥天女 or Kudokuten 功徳天 (Sk: Sri Laksmi, Mahasri,…

Also read Kisshōten mandara. A variety of dedicated mandala *besson…

Also called *karadomen 唐戸面. A chamfer in which the corners of…

A class of platform or podium specially associated with Buddhist temple buildings dating from the 7th-12th century. It was…

Sometimes also written 木戸. A castle door or gate. The entrance and exit to a medieval castle. A simpler structure than the…