Lit. snake belly board. The boards lined up under the thick eave ends nokizuke 軒付 of a cypress bark *…

Lit. snake's belly.

1　A cornice. Called nokijabara 軒蛇腹, at the eaves of a building and …

Also called honshirin 本支輪 (main shirin). A short, curved, non-supporting transitional member that connects…

Lit. snake belly ceiling. An open or exposed ceiling composed of curved, parallel rafters, thought to resemble a snake's…

Lit. snake skin. The boards lined up under the thick eave ends nokizuke 軒付 of a cypress bark *…

Gravel, small stones, or pebbles. A corrupted form of sazare 細 meaning tiny stones. Jari have been given…

The traditional method of laying or setting tiles on the sheathing *noji 野地 of…

A small cabinet with sliding doors at the bottom of open, often split-level shelves *…

Also called *butsuma 仏間.

1　Small, private buildings or…

Also called chinjisai 鎮地祭; jisai 地祭, jiiwai 地祝, tsuchimatsuri 土祭 or tokoshizume no…

Also called omodaruki 母垂木. A base rafter that extends outward from the roof framework, generally the eave purlin *…

Also read chien hikaku. Double eaves *futanoki 二軒, composed of base…

1　A sleeper. The lowermost horizontal beam that spans the width of a bay *…

Also written 地幅石. A long horizontal base stone, sometimes called a sleeper, or a continuous plinth course. It is placed at…

Lit. hell tenon. So named because once it is inserted, it is impossible to withdraw. A blind tenon joint with wedges *…

Also 地形 chikei. The preliminary foundation work on a building. Materials for this include: rubble *…

Also read jikaro.

1　A hearth *ro 炉 excavated in…

Also called saidō 斎堂. A refectory. An independent building on temple grounds where priests and monks had their…

1　A roller used for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 or hand…

Also 軸孔; jikuzuriana 軸吊穴; jiku uke 軸受; tobira jikuana 扉軸穴. The socket into which the pivot hinge…

The framework or body of a building between the foundation and the roof structure. In traditional architecture it includes…

Also jikukugi 軸釘, kakemonokugi 掛物釘. A hook for hanging scrolls, *…

Also written 軸釣, 軸摺. Pivot hinge. A metal covered wooden-core pivot inserted into a socket *…

A base ridge.

1　A longitudinal timber plate resting upon the principal transverse roof beams *…

Also jinaichō. A type of religious township that developed in the Sengoku period in connection mainly with temples…

Also called jingoji 神護寺, jingū'in 神宮院, jinganji 神願寺, miyadera 宮寺, or bettōji…

Lit. shrine architecture. The architecture associated with Shinto shrines, including all the shrine buildings, shaden…

A generic name for a Shinto shrine. Before World War Two shrines were classified into five categorize: first rank, …

Lit. camp fortress. A temporary fortification constructed on a battlefield or stopping-place by armies on the march, used…

Also called shimonuki 下貫. A penetrating tie beam at the base of a pillar or a tie beam beneath a building's…

Also *ro 炉

1　A hearth constructed in an earth…

The office or guardroom provided in each city ward *machi 町, in the city of Edo…

A base hip rafter found at the corners of a roof. Ordinary rafters *jidaruki…

A pothook. A device that enables a pot nabe 鍋 or tea kettle tetsubin 鉄瓶 to be suspended over a sunken…

A latticed door made with both horizontal and vertical laths at the same surface level. There are no recessed laths nailed…

A temple hall where the Buddhist deity *Jizō 地蔵 (Sk. Ksitigarbha) is…

Also written 帖.

1　A counter for screens *byōbu 屏風 and…

A unit of linear measure that equals 3.03 meters or about 10 feet. Equivalent to 10 shaku 尺. Although the metric…

A dais or a part of the floor in aristocratic dwellings of the *shoin 書院 style,…

Lit. three Pure Land Mandalas. Traditionally refers to the three most famous types of *…

Lit. Pure Land garden. Large pond gardens at Pure Land Buddhist temples which recreate the palatial garden of *…

Lit. Pure Land Hall. The main hall of the Shingon 真言 sect temple of Jōdoji 浄土寺 in Hyōgo Prefecture, dedicated to *…

The Jōgan gishiki is a ten volume collection of ceremony regulations compiled by Fujiwara Ujimune 藤原氏宗 by order of…

Lit. upper-lower, two-step style garden. A modern term designating a common type of bipartite garden featuring a small pond…

A gauge used to confirm the straightness of structural members. A structural member is placed between the two boards of the…

Also called jōgomune 漏斗棟. A roof-style found on vernacular houses *minka…

Also called jōgyō sanmaidō 常行三昧堂. A hall where a devotee walks around a statue of the *…

Also written 常居.

1　A principal everyday living room in traditional vernacular houses *…

A relatively small space elevated one step higher than the *jōdan 上段,…

Lit. town below the castle. A castle town. A town's fortress was located as a rule in a mountain, while the accompanying…

Also read Shōmeimon, called *Kōmon 閤門. A large, single-storied gate…

A lantern with a canopy and a square fire holder higuchi 火口 supported below the middle base by a single natural…

Also 如鱗木, gyorinmoku 魚鱗木. Lit. curly wood-grain.
A beautiful, natural, wood grain, mokuri 木理, found on…

1　A fence around a castle. See *saku 柵.

…

The upper level of a two-stepped podium *nijū kidan 二重基壇. The lower level is…

Special finishing plane. A smoothing plane used in the final stages of wood preparation to get a glossy surface on timber,…

Lit. upper house. Principal part of farmhouse structure. The central portion of the cross-section of the structural frame in…

Principal transverse beam. The beam that receives the diagonal braces at the end of a gable roof. It also supports the ridge…

1　The posts which support the ends of the principal transverse beams *…

The purlins or plates *keta 桁, supported on the main frame posts *…

Lit. upper seat alcove. Also read kamizadoko. An alcove *tokonoma…

A story or level of a building, used especially in reference to a pagoda. For example, a *…

A roof tile style with a lotus pattern with double layered petals. The additional petals are placed between the leaf sprout…

A layered petal motif with one or more petals superimposed one on top of another. It is found on some pendants *…

The earliest (6th-12th century) Buddhist living quarters for priests' and monks. Arranged outside the sacred area containing…

Also called kasanehozo 重ねほぞ; also ryōhozo 両ほぞ. Lit. a stacked tenon. A tenon with a 2-stepped broad…

A unique, ten-story stone pagoda *sekitō 石塔 at Injōji 引接寺(1386) in Kyoto.…

A pattern composed of concentric circles on a pendant *gatō 瓦当 and parallel…

Also read shukōgata tōrō. Also written shikōgata 四光形. A type of lantern with a gently rounded canopy…

A pattern of parallel lines decorating the pendant *gatō 瓦当 of a broad,…

Lit. regular side arrow.

1　An arrow, gun or cannon attack from inside a castle on the left side of…

A thirteen-storied pagoda. The only wooden thirteen-storied pagoda extant is located at Danzan Jinja 談山神社 (1532) in Nara.…

Lit. a gate of more than one story. Jūsōmon is a gate with a large roof over the entire structure. A balcony,…

The decorative pattern of a ten-petalled flower which is used on roof tiles, particularly on round eaves tiles *…

Lit. "eightfold fence." A type of double-screen sleeve fence *sodegaki 袖垣 in…

A widely used moat with sides that slope like an earthen embankment. The name is derived from the moat having a bottom with…

Also written 櫓烟出. Also read yagura kemuridashi. An opening constructed in a thatched roof to allow the escape of…

A guard tower set atop the corners of a castle's stone wall and other strategic positions overlooking the surrounding area.…

Also called a watari yaguramon 渡櫓門 or just *watari yagura 渡櫓. A…

The largest sized roof tile used to connect the turret corridors *watari yagura…

Commonly double-penetrating, diagonally placed beams that connect the main post *…

1　A ceiling with the same pitch as the roof. Really, an exposed ceiling *…

Also written 屋形城.

1　A structure that combines the daily living quarters of a mansion with the…

A bisque ware or unglazed pagoda. Plain, unglazed small pagodas are called deitō 泥塔, meaning mud pagodas.…

Also kaname-ishi 要石. Rocks and stones which in a tea garden *roji 露地…

1　The parts of a stone wall such as exterior corners, top surfaces, or openings for drainage where…

Also read yakugi. The allocation of shrubbery in a garden, particularly applied to trees which set the mood of a…

Lit. "roles of branches." The branches of a flower or tree that are given a name based on their "role" in the structure of…

A generic term for all types of roof tiles which serve a special purpose. These tiles include: sleeve tiles *…

A gate with a gable roof constructed with two square or rectangular main posts and two square or circular secondary posts *…

A Buddhist temple hall housing a statue of *Yakushi 薬師 (Sk: Bhaisajyaguru), the Buddha…

Lit. "mountain stone." A generic name for stones found or quarried in the mountains. Unlike sea stones *…

A mountain castle entrance. The entrance *koguchi 虎口 of a mountain…

Lit. "mountain castle." A castle built on a mountain to take advantage of the mountain's topography. One of the three main…

Lit. "mountain eye pounding and inserting piling." A dry construction method used to pile stones for a stone wall *…

A window used especially in the Zen style *zenshūyō 禅宗様; a type of ogival…

1　An abbreviation for yamatouchi-no-to 大和打の戸 or yamatouchi 大和打. A door that has vertical…

Lit. "gardens in the style of Japanese painting." Also called sakuteikiryū 作庭記流 (gardens in the lineage of the…

A fence made of widths of bleached bamboo spaced about 45 cm apart and held in place by bark. This type of fence is used in…