A plank door filled with widely set, horizontal laths, kozan 小桟.

Also abarawari あばら割. Lit. "sparsely proportioned." The same meaning as ma-mabara 間疎 (sparse or scanty).…

1　Posts or pillars of the same or smaller diameter than the main pillars of a building.

2…

Translucent sliding screens *shōji 障子, opaque screens *…

Lit. "waiting stone." One of the seven trump stones *nanatsu-ishi 七つ石 in…

Also pronounced chō.

1　The raised paths that divided and defined sunken paddies in ancient…

Also machiaishitsu 待合室.

1　A waiting and resting shelter. Typically a rustic structure…

Also pronounced chōnami.

1　Streetscape in an urban area. The linear space defined by the…

1　Also written 町屋. One of the two main categories of vernacular house *minka…

Window. Many other characters for window used have been used since the 6th century. For example: 窗 and 牒, 向 and 間戸 or 間門.…

A window sill. The horizontal part at the bottom of a window frame in a wooden building. The sill is supported by the base…

The window frame into which a window sash is installed. The timber that surrounds a window.

Lit. "window decoration." A thin decoration that is hung around the outer border of a window, over the curtain, to provide…

The non-penetrating tie beams used for the frame of a window opening. One, called madoshita nageshi 窓下長押, is placed…

A floor plan. The arrangement of rooms in a dwelling, including access points, windows, hallways, verandas, toilets, and…

Posts placed on each side of a window. In the case of thatched tea ceremony houses *…

A window frame into which a window sash or casing is set. The frame consists of two vertical side pieces, tatewaku…

1　Also called kazari-ishi 飾石, tōage-ishi 灯あげ石, tōtomoshi-ishi 灯ともし石. A flat…

The front gable of a gable roof that flows directly away from the ridge and extends further than the rear gable. The long…

A large ripsaw with a blade about 60 cm long and 40 cm wide. It was first introduced in the 15th century and was used until…

Standard purpose carpenters' ripsaw. A ripsaw with a blade approximately 35-40 cm long and 12 cm wide. The blade narrows…

A transverse timber positioned at the base of the latticework *kitsune gōshi…

Also bafumi, hirami 褶. The flat top of an earthen embankment *doi…

Latticework or a grille *kōshi 格子 positioned between the hard-packed earthen…

Lit. "a true carpenter's square." A right angle or a 90 degree angle. A structural element that corresponds to a right angle…

Also pronounced magamibashira. Also called *yugamibashira 歪柱.…

Also written 曲屋. A farmhouse, nōka 農家, with a room that housed stables *umaya…

A general term for farmhouses with an L-shaped plan *magariya 曲り屋

1　Also written 勾玉. A bead with religious significance, introduced to Japan from the Korean peninsula. It is…

Lit. "section breaks." A technique used to build a castle wall. Separate sections of the castle wall *…

Also 孫庇; matabisashi 又庇, 又廂. Lit. "grandchild aisle." A narrow additional aisle. Traditional buildings, especially…

A small section within a translucent sliding screen *shōji 障子 that can be opened…

Also called kozuka 小束. A very short strut or post used in a roof truss. Magozuka are the shortest struts…

1　The length of the front facade of a building or frontage of a plot of land from corner to corner. …

Lit. "deep black stones." A generic name for black stones found in the Nachi 那智 area of Wakayama prefecture and the Kamo 鴨…

Lintel, header or head jamb. Also magosa まごさ. A lintel without grooves or tracks, placed horizontally at the top of…

Also read maiden. Also kaguradono, kaguraden 神楽殿 or kagura 神楽. Lit. "dance hall."…

A wooden sliding door constructed of a single wooden panel *wata-ita…

Thin, parallel strips of wood about 2-3 cm wide and 1.8 cm thick affixed to the front and back of a door *…

A partition. The partitioning or dividing of an interior or an individual room into separate spaces, allowing for tremendous…

Pillars that are decorated with ornamental bands. The bands may be made of metal, painted with lacquer or covered with…

U-strap. A コ-shaped metal fitting used to secure wooden joints.

Small, square, or slightly rectangular bearing blocks placed on a bracket arm *hijiki…

1　A wedge-shaped piece of wood used to join structural members.

2　Short members…

Also called makurabasami 枕挟 or makurabakama 枕袴. The non-penetrating tie beams *…

Lit. "thrown bean stones." A poetic name for a seemingly random arrangement of stepping stones *…

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

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 …

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

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

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…

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

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 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 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.

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

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…

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

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 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…

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 *…

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…