Lit. "a half door." Also called hantobira 半扉 or hando 半戸, both meaning a half door. A low door, about one…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young woman in her first bloom. Very similar…

Also written 曼陀羅 or 曼拏羅. Mandala. A diagram that depicts Buddhist deities according to certain geometric formats and…

Also Taimadera *Hondō 当麻寺本堂. Mandaradō literally means a hall…

The administrative offices housed in the refectory of an ancient temple. During the Heian period, and continuing through the…

A style of gable roof, manekiyane 招屋根, in which one side is a standard normal length from ridge to eave ends and…

An arrangement of bargeboards *hafu 破風 on a gable roof *…

Also called *nehijiki 根肘木. Bracket arms used to support the shorter side…

A descending corner ridge that connects the main ridge with a lower main ridge. This corner ridge, also known as …

The shorter eave on the rear section of a gable roof. The shrine style *nagare-…

Braces that extend outward from the central posts to support the eave end *manekinoki …

Edo period sketches usually done impromptu or in fun, often of unusual or humorous subjects. In modern times manga…

Lit. "full moon shelf." A type of shelving *chigaidana 違い棚,…

Also read maniaishi, maniai 間似合. A rough paper of poor quality attached to sliding partitions *…

Mullions *kumiko 組子 in a decorative pattern of connected,…

Also written 卍文. A decorative pattern symbolizing good fortune, popularly known as the swastika motif. It is thought to have…

Also written 満字繋, 卍つなぎ. A pattern *mon'yō 文様, or mullion *…

Lit. "a bean-jam dumpling shape." Also called hanjukei 半珠形. A half-spherical shape.

1…

Ch: manhuahui. Lit. "gathering amid myriad flowers." A Chinese painting subject showing the peony procession of…

Also shusokushi manmōsō 手足指縵網相. A web-like membrane between the fingers and toes found on sculpted Buddhist…

The name used for the images of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ in the guise of *Kannon…

Also referred to as Christian lanterns *kirishitan dōrō キリシタン灯籠.…

Transliteration of Sanskrit Marici, the name of a Buddhist goddess representing an amalgamation of several Hindu antecedents…

A type of defensive gateway barrier *umadashi 馬出 consisting of…

Also called enchū 円柱.

1　A circular pillar or post. In the early periods (7th-13th…

A statue completely carved in the round, as opposed to relief *ukibori 浮彫. A…

Also *itchū 一鋳. A metal casting technique where the statue is cast in one…

A special type of plane used for paring a curved wooden surface. A sotomaruganna 外丸鉋 is used for paring a concave…

Also written 円瓦. Also called *ogawara 男瓦, especially in the 6th-…

Also written 丸窓, also called yoshinomado 吉野窓. A window which is circular or a circular window with a flat…

To expose the whole wale or rib next to the binding on a straw mat *tatami 畳.…

Also written 円面. A type of chamfer with rounded edges or corners, for example, on an otherwise square post. To produce this…

A circular, decorative design used either as a single unit or repeated to create patterns for textiles and family crests. A…

A type of striking chisel *tatakinomi 叩鑿, with a thin, arc-shaped…

A log or pole. Some scholars believe that this term replaced maruhada 丸肌 (log skin). A generic term for a log,…

A post made from a log, that has either the bark remaining or its bark stripped off but is not pared off smoothly.

Sometimes referred to as Kyō-ha 京派 or the Kyoto school. A painting school in Kyoto which was popular during the…

Cylindrical struts. One example is a bottle strut *taiheizuka 大瓶束, used…

Also written 政. An abbreviation of masagami 柾紙, also written 政紙. A smooth grain, lightweight, off-white paper…

A carpenter's hewing ax. It is smaller than a tree-felling ax, tazuki 多都岐, and weighs between 750 and 1300 g. The…

Straight grain. The grain that runs parallel to the growth of the tree or at right angle to the tree rings. The quality of…

Traditional Japanese paper *washi 和紙 made from hemp, asa…

A gradual increase in the height of such structural members as rafters *taruki…

Mashiko ware. A modern pottery type made in Mashiko 益子 village, Tochigi prefecture. The Mashiko kiln was started around 1853…

1　A Chinese temple Sōfukuji 崇福寺 in Nagasaki prefecture, called Masodō, which enshrines a deity called…

A unique gate at Sōfukuji 崇福寺 (rebuilt in 1827) in Nagasaki prefecture. The size is unusual for an eight-legged gate *…

One or many small subsidiary Shinto shrines belonging to a main shrine. If the buildings are located within the precincts of…

Also read to, sometimes written 枡. A box for measuring.

1　Any bearing block that is square…

Stones cut into a cube or close to a perfect cube. Shaped like the square wooden measuring device *masu…

An alcove room *tokonoma 床の間, usually 91 to 95 cm square, equal…

Also written 増髪. Long, tangled hair. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面…

Also written 升形. Lit. "square measuring box." A square enclosed by an earthen embankment, stone wall, moat or gates used to…

A type of castle entrance *koguchi 虎口 protected by a square…

Also pronounced togumi, sometimes written 枡組. Synonyms are *tokyō …

A right angle bisected exactly; for example, a hip rafter that bisects the corner framework forming a 45 degree angle on…

1　A structural system employing posts called *matabashira 股柱, which…

A type of post found in vernacular houses *minka 民家, of the 17th…

The protective deity of the Jōgyō zanmaidō 常行三味堂 of Enryakuji 延暦寺 on Mt. Hiei 比叡 in Kyoto. He is usually portrayed…

A geometric pattern based on stylized pine needles, matsuba 松葉, that is used for muntins *…

Lit. "connected pine needles." A geometrical pattern used for muntins *kumiko…

Also matsuidaberi 松井田縁. A navy-blue linen binding used to make the edge of a straw mat *…

A zigzag pattern which forms a decorative band resembling a series of lozenge shapes. It was used on the built-up ridges of…

1　A pictorial subject taken from "Matsukaze" ("The Wind in the Pines"), Chapter 18 of  Genji…

Also matsu-ni-taka-(no)-zu 松に鷹図. Lit. "paintings of hawks in pine trees." Pine trees matsu 松 were not…

Also written 廻縁. A long edging board or finishing board that covers the junction point of a wall and ceiling. The finishing…

A well with a particular arrangement of stone sidings for its top and shaft lining. It has four lining elements each of…

Also called oimawashijiki 追回敷. The placement of straw mats *tatami 畳,…

Also called mawatashi 間渡. Horizontal strips of split or whole bamboo or other type of wood that extend between the…

1　A carved molding *kurigata 繰形, found on the lower edges of…

Also mayujakuri 眉決, mabigaki まびがき. The process of carving *mayu 眉, moldings…

Lit. "mixed hedge." One type of *ikegaki 生垣 (living fence) in which two or…

Sometimes called itabuki me-ita 板葺目板. Narrow boards or panel strips nailed over the joints of adjacent boards. When…

1　A flat, rectangular roof tile with a small, semi-cylindrical tile attached. This combined tile is placed…

Also called meutsubari めうつ梁. The lower and shorter of two transverse members at right angles to the lintel *…

Also called ōkamatsugi 大鎌継, shinkamatsugi 真鎌継. Half-blind mortise and tenon gooseneck joint. A variation…

Also called inrōtsugi 印籠継. A simple blind or half-blind stub tenon joint. A blind tenon, mechigaihozo 目違ほぞ…

A roofed passageway that runs from front to back in a long building. One example separates the *…

Lit. "glasses picture." A painting which is designed to be viewed through an apparatus which further heightens an illusion…

A type of mould used in metal casting and ceramics. Megata refers to a hollow mould into which molten metal,…

Lit. "female tile." Also called migawara. Also written 雌瓦, or 牝瓦. A 7-12th century term for a broad concave roof…

Tile fragments used to strengthen earthen kilns and mud fences.

Also called shitagi 下木. The indented part of a wooden joint. It functions like a mortise *…

Lit. "famous thing." Term applied to items of tea ceremony *chanoyu 茶湯…

Lanterns at shrines and temples which have come to be known as historically or aesthetically important.

Celebrated fabrics. Cloth chosen and admired by tea adepts and other elites from the 14th to 17th century. Most are *…

Paintings of famous locations around the Japanese capital of Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō 平安京) at certain characteristic…

Illustrated topographies of famous places within a defined geographical region, published from the mid-to-late Edo period.…

A privately published Edo period topography and guide to famous places. Official topographies were compiled before these…

Also mikakushibei 見隠塀. From mekakushi or mikakushi. Lit. "fence hidden from the eyes or…

A type of iron clamp 8 to 15 cm long that allows a top framing beam *uchinorinuki…

Blind mullions. Mullions that are set so closely together that what is behind them cannot be seen. Some blind mullions are…

A picture calendar koyomi 暦 totally set out in pictures. Originally these were made for the illiterate, but when…

Also called nemurimeji 眠目地. A butt or closed joint, where pavement stones abut so seamlessly that they appear to be…

Also popularly known as Manari Myōjin 馬鳴明神 or Sanjin 蚕神 (God of Silkworms). A bodhisattva *…

Also written 面板. The flat faces of a board. The flat faces of the boards between the narrow horizontal strips *…

Also read as tsura, which means the surface or face of a structural member.

1　The chamfer…

Possibly a corruption of medo 目処. A gap between two things. A board used to cover or fill a gap is called mendo…

Filler or gap-fill tiles used to close or plug the openings along the base of the main ridge *…

Also menkawa 面皮. A pillar or post *hashira 柱, rafter *…

The curved base of a bearing block.