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  • (-) Buildings (34)
  • Architecture (34)
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  • Tea Houses (1)

Displaying 1 - 34 of 34
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
Nageiredō 投入堂 ✓

Also once known as Zaōdō 蔵王堂. The Nageiredō is a small building, constructed in the overhang style kake-zukuri 懸造,…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
naidō 内堂

Buddhist priests' living quarters. Higher-ranking priests had two rooms one behind the other. The inner room was called the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nanto shichidaiji 南都七大寺

Lit. "southern capital seven great temples." A generic expression in use by the 8th century referring to the seven great…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
narabidō 双堂 ✓

Also read sōdō. Twin buildings in the grounds of a Japanese temple that are of equal length, but not necessarily of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
narabigura 双倉 ✓

Also read sōsō. Lit. "twin storehouses." Two storehouses of the same size placed so that the space between was the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nenbutsudō 念仏堂 ✓

A hall within the precinct of a Buddhist temple used for the purpose of training Buddhist monks to meditate on and recite…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Nigatsudō 二月堂 ✓

Lit. "second month hall." A temple widely known for its famous ancient festival called omizutori お水取り in March…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nijū butsudō 二重仏堂

A term that can be applied to any temple or shrine building etc., which has either a double roof, a skirting *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nikairō 二階廊

A second story corridor. A corridor of this type is thought to have first existed at Tōfukuji 東福寺, in Kyoto established in…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
niōdō 二王堂

A building or often a gate that enshrines the two guardian deities, protectors of Buddhism. They are generally placed at the…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nishimuro 西室

West dormitory. In the 7th and 8th centuries, some temples had monk's quarters to the west of the lecture hall as well as…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nōkotsudō 納骨堂

1 A hall where cinerary urns are stored and human ashes are kept.
2 A building to house…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
nōsashōtō 能作生塔

A miniature pagoda in a bowl or rotund bottle shape. The pagoda is made of gilt bronze *…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures

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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