Also written 御舎. The emperor's palace or dwellings of the upper class in the proto-historic and early historic periods. The…

The term for steps constructed at the center front of two important imperial palace buildings in Kyoto Gosho 京都御所, the…

Also mikawa 御溝. Ditches surrounding each building in the Imperial Palace. The present palace, Kyoto Gosho 京都御所, has…

A variation on the usual style of opaque sliding partitioning screen *fusuma …

1　A part of the emperor's residential compound Dairi 内裏 in the Imperial Palace, Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. The…

Also bukemado 武家窓, bugyōmado 奉行窓. Edo period windows with heavy vertical lattice bars, used in castle…

Lit. "monkey's ears." A pair of cleats that did not really resemble monkey's ears but rather the horns of a bull. The cleats…

Lit. "pointing to the alcove." Ceiling battens *saobuchi 竿縁 or thick straw…

Also written 色代の間. A room or building that projects from (or adjacent and linked by galleries to) the rear of the main…

Also written 色代.

1　A low broad step or platform of timber, which had become a standard feature of the…

A toilet for servants. The toilet used by the elite or by the master in merchants housing was called jōchōzu 上手水.…

Lit. "lower kitchen."

1　The outermost part of the kitchen that functioned as a service zone in the…

One of the residences granted to daimyō 大名 by the Edo government, as part of the system where feudal lords…

1　A large reception room developed in the Momoyama period, used by military leaders, daimyō …