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JAANUS

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  • (-) General Terms (71)
  • Architecture (69)
  • Art History (2)
  • Folk Dwellings (2)

Displaying 1 - 71 of 71
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
ibara 茨

Also called iga いが. Lit. cusp.

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

Architecture, General Terms
ichiboku kaidan 一木階段

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

Architecture, General Terms
ichimai biraki 一枚開

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

Architecture, General Terms
ichimonji dana 一文字棚

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

Architecture, General Terms
igeta 井桁

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

2 The…

Architecture, General Terms
ijō kōbai 居定勾配

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

Architecture, General Terms
ikebana 生け花

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

Art History, General Terms
iki いき

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

Art History, General Terms
inago 稲子

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

Architecture, General Terms
inokosasu 豕扠首 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
inubashiri 犬走り

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

Architecture, General Terms
inufusegi 犬防木

Also pronounced inubōgi.

1 In temples and shrines, a lattice *…

Architecture, General Terms, Folk Dwellings
inuyarai 犬矢来 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
ippan zu 一般図

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

Architecture, General Terms
ireko-ita 入子板 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
irigawabashira 入側柱

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

Architecture, General Terms
iriguchiwaku 入口枠

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

Architecture, General Terms
irihashibashira 入端柱

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

Architecture, General Terms
irikawa 入側

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

Architecture, General Terms
irikawageta 入側桁

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

Architecture, General Terms
irimoya hafu 入母屋破風

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

Architecture, General Terms
irimoya yane 母屋屋根

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

Architecture, General Terms
irimoya-zukuri 入母屋造 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
irisumi 入隅 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
ishibadate 石場建

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

Architecture, General Terms
ishiguchi 石口

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…

Architecture, General Terms
ishiwari 石割

1 The cutting and arrangement of stones.

2 The layout of masonry.

Architecture, General Terms
ita 板

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

Architecture, General Terms
ita ishi 板石

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

Architecture, General Terms
ita ranma 板欄間 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
ita tenjō 板天井

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

Architecture, General Terms
itabei 板塀

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

Architecture, General Terms
itabi 板碑 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
itabuki 板葺 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms, Folk Dwellings
itabuki yane 板葺屋根

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

Architecture, General Terms
itachigai 板違 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
itadatami 板畳

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

Architecture, General Terms
itago 板子

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

Architecture, General Terms
itajiki 板敷

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

Architecture, General Terms
itakarado 板唐戸 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
itame 板目 ✓ 1 A board cut in such a way that the grain lines are not parallel but instead are rather pointed or having irregular wavy… Architecture, General Terms
itanoki 板軒 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
itaosae 板押

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

Architecture, General Terms
itomasa 糸柾

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

Architecture, General Terms
itomen 糸面

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

Architecture, General Terms
itsutesaki 五手先

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

Architecture, General Terms
raigō-bashira 来迎柱

Two or four-circular pillars right and left at each corner of the Buddhist altar to define the most sacred place in a temple…

Architecture, General Terms
raigō-kabe 来迎壁 ✓

Also called raigō-heki. A clay or wooden wall erected behind a Buddhist altar *…

Architecture, General Terms
raimon kōshi 雷文格子

Lattice arranged in a fret pattern, used especially on railings of balconies.

Architecture, General Terms
ranma 欄間 ✓

A transom. A rectangular opening, longer in the horizontal direction, constructed between the lintels *…

Architecture, General Terms
ranseki 乱石 ✓

Also called no-ishizumi 野石積. Stones with an irregular shape. Those that are somewhat square are called nozura-…

Architecture, General Terms
ransekizumi kidan 乱石積基壇

Also referred to as ranzumi kidan 乱積基壇, ranzō ransekizumi 乱層乱石積, kuzure ishizumi くずれ石積 or simply…

Architecture, General Terms
ranzumi 乱積

Also called *ransekizumi 乱石積, waraizumi 笑い積. Randomly piled natural stones *…

Architecture, General Terms
renjimado 連子窓

Also written 櫺子窓. Lit. "a row lath window."

1 A window with vertical or horizontal wooden laths or…

Architecture, General Terms
rensō 連窓

Multiple windows. Two or more windows connected horizontally, or windows connected within one frame window with vertical…

Architecture, General Terms
rensōmado 連双窓 ✓

Rensōmado means double windows. Two windows in line. Also called *meotomado…

Architecture, General Terms
rō 廊

A roofed corridor or passageway that connects one structure to another. It may also encompass an open area. There are…

Architecture, General Terms
ro 炉 ✓

A sunken hearth. A square box installed into the floor of a tea ceremony room to make a charcoal fire. The standard size…

Architecture, General Terms
rō-zukuri 楼造 ✓

A gate *rōmon 楼門, that appears to have two stories, but in reality is a high…

Architecture, General Terms
roban 露盤 ✓

Commonly used abbreviation of shō roban 承露盤; also called masugata 枡形. Originally, an entire spire *…

Architecture, General Terms
rodai 露台 ✓

1 An unroofed platform, a dais, or a projected veranda or balcony.
2 A nobleman's…

Architecture, General Terms
rōka 廊下

1 A hallwayor corridor within a building giving access to various rooms.
2 A passageway…

Architecture, General Terms
roku 陸

Also riku. A synonym for suihei 水平 meaning level.
1 Level building timbers.
…

Architecture, General Terms
rokuchū-zukuri 六注造

Also called rokkaku yane 六角屋根. A six-sided roof that covers an hexagonal building *…

Architecture, General Terms
rōkyō 廊橋

Also called hashirō 橋廊. A covered bridge, often with a resting place at the central point. Rōkyō can…

Architecture, General Terms
ronji daruki 論治垂木

Also called koshikake daruki 腰掛垂木, ranji daruki 鸞翅垂木, or tenbō daruki 天望垂木.
A flying rafter…

Architecture, General Terms
ryōbiraki 両開

Also *kannonbiraki tobira 観音開扉, double doors that open in one…

Architecture, General Terms
ryōkusabi 両楔

Wedges used on the right and left sides to strengthen and to secure a penetrating tie beam inserted into a pillar.

Architecture, General Terms
ryōsage 両下

A type of gable roof *kirizuma-zukuri 切妻造. Also called…

Architecture, General Terms
ryūsha 竜車

Lit. "dragon vehicle." The round or oval section of a pagoda finial *sōrin…

Architecture, General Terms
ryūyōdana 柳葉棚 ✓

Lit. "willow leaf shelf."
A single decorative shelf constructed a little below the cabinets, tenbukuro 天袋,…

Architecture, General Terms

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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