An arrowroot vine fortress. A temporary fortification that dates to the ancient period. Similar to a briar tree fortresses…

A part of a house in the vicinity of the kitchen; *katte 勝手, *…

The term is believed to signify a place where one cooks food, kate wo kashigu 糧を炊ぐ, in use since the Kamakura…

Lit. kitchen alcove. Also teishudoko 亭主床. Sometimes called *gezadoko…

1　A service or tradesmen's entry. A house entry that lead to the kitchen; *…

Also pronounced gawabashira. The pillars or posts placed on the perimeter of a building to form the basic framework…

Also pronounced gawadodai. The ground sill under the outer wall of a traditional architectural structure. …

Lit. tile. The roofing material made of fired clay introduced to Japan from Korea (Paekche Kingdom, Jp: *…

Also kawarabuki yane 瓦葺屋根, kawarayane 瓦屋根. Tile roofing. A roof covered with fired clay tiles usually…

A craftsman who tiles roofs, especially in the area of Kawachinagano 河内長野, and in the vicinity of Osaka.

A tiled ridge on the roofs of thatched vernacular houses *minka 民家 in parts of…

Also pronounced kawarabisashi. A tiled pent roof. The term is especially common in Hyōgo Prefecture where a smaller…

A floor that consists of tiles placed over hard-pack earthen floor, especially common in Zen temples. When the tiles are set…

Lit. the tail of a tile. The tail or upper end of a broad concave roof tile *…

Nails used to secure broad concave tiles *hiragawara 平瓦 and semi-…

Lit. roof tiles that wrap around. Roof tiles used to cover the ridge of a farmhouse with a thatched roof, or a merchant's…

A tiled ridge on the roof of thatched vernacular houses *minka 民家. …

A ceremony to celebrate the completion of a tiled roof in the area of Ōita City, Ōita Prefecture. The senior craftsman, …

1　A structure with a tile roof. See *kawarabuki 瓦葺.

Roofing material made of fired clay tiles, first introduced with the advent of Buddhism from the Paekche Kingdom (Jp: *…

A vernacular house *minka 民家 with a tiled roof *…

1　A tile seat. A long timber rail on the sheathing which covers the rafters and eave support of a roof. The…

A proto-modern, generic term for toilet. It is said that centuries ago such facilities were constructed above a swiftly…

Originally kaya 上屋 (on top of the house). A proto-modern generic term for the grass and reeds used to thatch roofs…

Also *kayabuki yane 茅葺屋根. Lit. thatching with miscanthus. However, the…

Also kayabukimon 茅葺門. Lit. a thatched roofgate.

1　A relatively small-scale thatched gate…

An eave support. A curved horizontal timber that connects the rafters. It is placed on flying rafters that are under the…

Also *kyūjiguchi 給仕口. The host's entrance to a ceremony room *…

Lit. lotus leaf strut. Also read kashōzuka. Commonly called *nigirihasu…

Lit. decorative wash basin. A wash basin placed in a garden for decoration and not used for washing hands. Usually, a wooden…

Lit. decoration stones. A type of stone prized for its beauty and usually placed apart from the more symbolic stone…

Ornamental metal fittings. Metalwork pieces *kanagu 金具, attached to parts of a…

A decorative type of thatch made from cogon, umikaya 海茅, a tall, coarse grass growing along the coastal…

It is found in mansions with large rooms *hiroma 広間, in the shoin…

An ornamental wash basin found on the side of a hallway *rōka 廊下, or around the…

An ornamental well. A garden well which has no water and therefore functions or only as a symbolic or decorative item. It is…

The ornamental elements of a garden. The features of a garden which have an ostensible function but are treated in a non-…

Also written 風子, 翳. Lit. shade. Walls, embankments, or plants used to prevent the enemy from seeing the activities inside a…

Also *seki-ita 塞板, maku-ita 幕板, or itamochi…

An enclosed room generally equivalent to a bedchamber (see *nando 納戸, *…

Also kekomi 蹴込, kekomi-ita 蹴込板 or *kehanashi 蹴放. A riser.…

1　Also called *ukebana 受花. A section of a lotus pedestal *…

A marking gauge. A tool used to draw accurate, straight lines on the surface of timber. The marking blade is fixed to the…

Hairline engraving. A technique used in metalwork where a design was engraved on a surface in a sequence of fine lines,…

A threshold or sill. A horizontal timber without grooves, positioned beneath an entrance so that a door or gate closes flush…

A knife which is used with a ruler to carve a straight line on a woodblock *hangi…

A subsidiary Shinto shrine located within the precincts of the main shrine.

A subsidiary Shinto shrine located outside the precincts of the main shrine. It may be near the precinct boundaries or at a…

Temple and shrine gates, originally used only by the highest ranking people, especially the Fujiwara 藤原 family. During…

Lit. cinnamon hall. An octagonal main hall, Hondō 本堂, of the subsidiary temple, Keikyūin at Kōryūji 広隆寺 (1251…

Lit. scenic stone. A type of garden stone meant to be appreciated for its beauty. Several usually keiseki stones…

A simple style alcove *tokonoma 床の間 with a riser board kekomi-ita…

Also pronounced kemudashi. A smoke louvre. An opening in the roof of a building designed to allow smoke from a…

A bay; the space between two columns. During the Nara and Heian periods most buildings had no interior partitions and…

Also pronounced kentomoe. A decorative pattern combining a sword blade, ken 剣, with the swirling heraldic…

A type of molding *kurigata 繰形, carved in a sword shape. It is…

The method used to describe the plan of a traditional temple or shrine building. It included the number of lengthwise bays…

A type of bamboo fence that takes its name from its use first at the temple Kenninji 建仁寺 in Kyoto. It is also considered to…

Lit. Kenninji style. A school of carpentry headed by Kōra Munehiro 甲良宗広 who left Shiga Prefecture to go to Edo (Tokyo) in…

Also called Aouma-no-jin 白馬の陣. The front gate located near the center of the outer south earthen wall surrounding Kyoto…

A geometric pattern based on three joined hexagonal shapes. It closely resembles *…

Also read kenjo. The seating arrangement in the front and on both sides of the main stage in a *…

Also called Hi-no-gomon 日の御門. One of the twelve gates originally enclosing Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. A four-legged gate *…

Also koboshi 零し. A waste-water container into which either hot or cold water is poured after a tea bowl has…

A bearing block placed on top of a strut *tsuka 束 or a frog-leg…

A votive light offered to a Shinto or Buddhist deity. The lantern which holds the votive light is called a *…

Lit. sword tip motif. Also kentomoemon noki hiragawara 剣巴文軒平瓦. Also kenbishimon 剣菱文. The pendant *…

A strut composed of a short post surmounted by a bearing block *masu 斗. It is…

A barge course, gable overhang or a raking eave. The part of the roof that extends beyond the gable wall or gable pediment…

Also called *kake domoegawara 掛巴瓦; *…

1　A tenon *hozo ほぞ and mortise *…

Lit. surplice shape water basins. A stone wash basin *chōzubachi…

Exposed rafter. In general, any visible rafter as opposed to one not visible *nodaruki…

Refers to the appearance or exposed surface of an architectural structural element. Also a smoothly planed wooden finish as…

Also read keshōban; also keshōzai 化粧材. A planed timber. Keshō-ita are normally exposed to…

The pitch of exposed rafters *keshō daruki 化粧垂木. The pitch…

A visible horizontal lath set between roof sheathing *ura-ita 裏板 and widely…

Lit. exposed core purlin. A purlin *moyageta 母屋桁 in the core of a temple…

Lit. exposed ridge. While this ridge is not usually visible from inside a structure because of the installation of a ceiling…

The roof sheathing laid over rafters which is visible from under the eaves of an open-beamed ceiling. One such example is…

Also called *keshōyaneura 化粧屋根裏. The underside of a timber roof, commonly…

The underside of a roof visible because no ceiling has been installed. The pitch of the roof and various structural elements…

Bamboo facing placed close to the eave ends *nokisaki 軒先 of a…

The underside of an eave *noki 軒 in a hidden roof that is not…

Lit. beam cover. Also *kudarigegyo 降懸魚, ketakakushi…

1　The direction of the purlins or plates *keta 桁 in a building,…

The nosings that appear either as an extension of a tie beam *nuki 貫, or bracket…

Also kibi-zukuri 吉備造 and *hiyoku irimoya-zukuri 比翼入母屋造. A…

Also called *karadomen 唐戸面. A chamfer in which the corners of…

A class of platform or podium specially associated with Buddhist temple buildings dating from the 7th-12th century. It was…

Sometimes also written 木戸. A castle door or gate. The entrance and exit to a medieval castle. A simpler structure than the…

Also written 城戸. A gate in a fence or palisade.

1　The generic term for a gate in a fence between 250…

1　Also called *udegimon 腕木門. A gate that has transverse…

Also kakō kidori 加工木取; aradori 疎取; arakidori 疎木取.

1　The…

1　The thickness of a timber.

2　The quality or grain of wood.

…

Also pronounced kogawara. Wooden strips shaped to resemble traditional tile roofing *…