Also called iga いが. Lit. cusp.

1　The point where two curved lines or forms meet. The…

A ladder hewed from a single log during the Yayoi period.

A single window or door opening. Also, a single door or window. They may swing on hinges one way, both ways, or slide.

A term used in all parts of Japan in the Edo period, for a straight shelf *tana…

1　A generic term for any group of structural members set in a grid pattern.　

2　The…

Also abbreviated to ijō 居定. The degree of pitch on the underside of a rafter support *…

Lit. to keep flowers alive. Flower arrangements. Originated in Buddhist flower offerings kuge 供花 from the 6th…

The aesthetic ideal of the Edo merchant class during the late 18th and 19th centuries, combining material sensuality and…

Slip fasteners. The wooden or bamboo pieces used on the reverse side of the overlapped boards of a board-and-batten ceiling…

Also sasuzuka sasuzaoshiki 扠首束扠首竿式, *sasuzao 扠首竿, *…

Also written 犬行. Lit. dog run. A narrow inset in wall ramparts, or in an embankment of earth forming a footpath or ledge.…

Also pronounced inubōgi.

1　In temples and shrines, a lattice *…

Also called komafusegi 駒防ぎ. Concave screens about 60 cm high and of varying length made of closely-spaced bent…

General drawings which reflect all the contents of a building, its plan and design. Such drawings must depict the function…

Also called *wata-ita 綿板. Thin panels of wood inserted between the rails …

Also called moyabashira 母屋柱 or 身舎柱. Pillars that are erected inside and parallel to the pillars positioned on the…

A door frame made of a head lintel and vertical door jambs to which doors are attached with hinges.

Pillars *hashira 柱 at the inner boundary of a pent roof…

1　A corridor or passageway between the main body of a residence and the veranda. It is also found in temple…

Purlins, *keta 桁, placed along the tops of pillars surrounding the…

The bargeboards on the gable end of a hip-and-gable roof *irimoya yane…

A hip-and-gable roof. In Japanese architecture, the gable part is usually over the core area of the building, *…

A hip-and-gable roof construction, or a building with this roof construction. A gable type roof has a ridge and gable…

The internal angle made by the junction of two planes, such as walls, a wall and ceiling, or the inside angle made by the…

Also kanokodate 鹿の子建 and ishitsuki 石付. A technique used at a folk dwelling to attach a pillar to a…

The point at which a base stone and a pillar are joined. The upper surface of a plinth stone on which another stone may be…

1　The cutting and arrangement of stones.

2　The layout of masonry.

Also written 鈑 or 版. Originally a relatively thin flat timber, stone, or sheet of metal. In the medieval period (1185-1568…

A thin, flat stone resembling a board. Also called a plate stone. The stone can be divided into three types depending on the…

Traditional transoms that are made of wood and have sections filled with a single board, or one or two parts are filled with…

Also called itabari tenjō 板張天井 or *hariita tenjō 張板天井…

A wooden board or plank fence. Wooden fences made of planks and set directly into the ground are called hottate itabei…

One type of pagoda or stupa, tōba 塔婆, in the form of a flat stone stele that became prevalent in the early 13th…

Wood shingles. Widely used in Japan for buildings of many kinds, ranging from palaces, elite residences, shrines, and…

A roof structure covered with boards or planks. Various names are used depending on the size of the boards. A large plan…

Wooden panels with the grain set in alternating directions in a coffered ceiling *…

1　The boards covered by tightly woven straw mats *tatami 畳,…

An Edo period term for wooden planks with a rectangular cross-section, between 5 cm and 30 cm thick. These planks were cut…

A common type of wooden board flooring commonly used before thick straw matting *tatami…

Also read itagarado; also called itatobira 板扉. A 6th-7th century door made of a single, thick wooden plank…

Thick boards used to cover exposed base rafters visible under eaves. Examples: Eihōji Kannondō 永保寺観音堂 (1315), Gifu…

Also read itaoshi. Battens used to prevent boards from moving. They are long, thin strips of wood set vertically…

A shortened form of itomasame 糸柾目. Straight, narrow grained wood. Two examples are Japanese arborvitae, nezuko…

A very narrow, chamfer about 3 mm wide, made by planing the corners of posts. The term has been used from the 17th century…

A rare five-stepped bracket complex found at a temple on Sado 佐渡 Island, Niigata Prefecture.

1　An early term for long boards used on roofs. Records dating from the 8th century first used the terms…

Lit. "flowing."

1　The flow of the roof line from the ridge *…

The long side of a timber, or a timber placed in a lengthwise direction.

Longhouse, or row house. A house with a long ridge. Also indicates a house with a number of residences connected under a…

A transverse beam *hari 梁 made in two sections and coupled by a stub-tenon-…

Non-penetrating tie beams that are made to fit around pillars *hashira 柱 of…

A long rectangular beam cut along a diagonal cross-section and used as a non-penetrating tie *nageshi…

A sudden strong, upward curve at the corner ends of eaves. Especially characteristic of the Zen style *…

1　An interior wall partition.

2　The inner surface of a wall.

The inner sanctum located in the main halls *kondō 金堂 or *…

Also called moyabashira 母屋柱; irikawabashira入側柱. The pillars placed on the boundary between, or slightly…

1　A semi-formal entrance to Honmaru Goten 本丸御殿, the main palace in Edo-jō 江戸城. It was situated at the east…

1　A generic term for a door connecting two areas of a structure.

2　A door in the…

A rain gutter placed at the bottom point where two roofs meet. Similar to *narabidō 双堂…

Also called nakazan 中桟. A middle rail. A horizontal rail or rails inserted into stiles tategamachi 竪框 and…

A vertical, finishing strip of wood placed between the threshold *shikii 敷居 and…

1　A private service-oriented room in the mansions of aristocrats, warriors, retired emperors, abbots and…

Also called sakuko 柵子, kakusaku 角柵, marutazaku 丸太柵. The stakes used to support the fencing set in…

Also called chūgomi 中込, nakazuke or chūzuke 中付. A middle layer of plaster applied between the…

An architectural element that is bent or has a concave mid-point. A diagonal brace, for example, if less than 90 cm wide,…

Also read chūjikii. Lit. "middle sill." A sill on a shelf that divides a closet into two parts, lower and upper.…

Also called nakashōji 中障子, yoshiwara shōji 吉原障子, takeshōji 竹障子, nakanukido 中抜戸 and …

Also written 中縦桟. A vertical stile placed at the mid-point of a paneled door. A centrally placed horizontal stile is called…

Also written 中壷. The inner court between shop and living quarters in a merchant's house in the Edo period.

Also written 中具. Secondary or intermediate supports placed in the interstices between the bracket complexes *…

A generic term for struts *tsuka 束 that are set at the mid-point between two…

Also namirenji 波連子, yumirenji 弓連子, tatewaki renji 立涌連子. A type of latticework renji…

Western painting brought by the Portuguese and Spanish who arrived in Japan in the 16th century, nanban bijutsu…

Lit. "Southern barbarian art." Considered to be the first manifestation of direct Western influence on Japanese culture,…

The Southern and Northern Court period (1336-92). It takes its name from two separate antagonistic Imperial courts supported…

1　A store room in which clothes and valuables could be kept in the houses of the civil, ecclesiastical and…

The Nara period (645-794). In 645 a coup to restore Imperial authority was carried out by Prince Naka no Ōe 中大兄 (later,…

Also sudare shōji 簾障子. Sliding screens *shōji 障子, that are…

Also called nawakakesan or nawakakezan 縄掛桟, also pronounced nawakakezan. Lit. "rope-hanging beam…

Also called medake 女竹; ganchiku 含竹, shinobedake しのべ竹 or naedake 苗竹. Thin bamboo…

Lit. "root stone."

1　Also soko-ishi 底石 (base stone), chizen-ishi 地全石, dodai-…

A floor joist. A horizontal structural member made of cypress, cedar or pine, laid on a sleeper *…

A ceiling made over the first floor of a two story building. The ceiling has joists above it which form the structural base…

Horizontal supports which receive floor joists. Also called *ōbiki 大引.

Also called *manekihijiki 招肘木. A small bracket arm, a…

Lit. "root fetters." Also called umekasenuki 埋械貫, nekasenuki 根械貫, negaraminuki 根がらみ貫. Large flat…

Also *magoshōji 孫障子. A small sliding panel set within a standard…

Also nekoza 猫座; nekogi 猫木. A short piece of wood projecting from the upper part of a pillar or from the…

Also nezutsumi 根包. A wrap made of spaced wooden slats bound together with rope or metal strips, ornamented metal…

Era name. The practice of naming eras originated in China when the first era name, Jian wu (Jp: Kengen 建元), was given to the…

Also jibutsu 持仏 and uchibotoke 内仏. A Buddhist image which is kept at close proximity for personal daily…

The date of production of a work of art. Nenki are often accompanied by the signature of the artist shomei…

A mud fence (a type of earthen wall *dobei 土塀) constructed with…

Also nezubashiri, tokami 椙. Also called jiku-ukemagusa 軸受まぐさ. A horizontal timber with a…

A flat wooden device placed between the top of a post and under the timber flooring of a log storehouse *…

1　The audience's entrance at a theater or place of entertainment during the Muromachi period. Even when the…

Also nisei kidan 二成基壇. A stepped podium with two layers. The upper layer is called *…

A double-layered non-penetrating tie beam with the upper layer often as thick as the lower one. These are found as base tie…