1　Also written 水遣, 水谷, 水舎. Also called *daidokoro 台所, *…

Shelves constructed in the *mizuya 水屋, the room which serves as a kitchen for a…

Lit. "transmit support." A bracket, brace, modillion or console. A devise used to support an overhanging structural element…

Lit. "returning branch." A tree branch which, naturally or by training, turns abruptly downward. The dramatic nature of the…

The bamboo stalks, with the branches and leaves attached, that are placed facing the enemy in the bottom of a dry moat.…

Sutras written in such a way that the characters form the image of a pagoda. One of the two methods is called moji…

A temporary building for housing the deity at Ise Jingū 伊勢神宮, during the Heian and Kamakura periods. During the rebuilding…

A transom *ranma 欄間, with openwork *…

Also written 裳層. Also pronounced shōkai. A pent roof enclosure usually one bay deep. Its structure may extend from…

A somewhat ambiguous term meaning landscape. Because the curving root of a tree, moku 木, was thought to resemble…

Also called daiku kōji 大工工事.

1　All wood construction.

2　The…

Also mokkotsuzō. The wood framework of a building as distinct from the walls.

Sometimes written 杢目. Also called mokuri 木理 or kime 肌目. The wood grain exposed when a log is cut…

Wooden construction material including lumber, wood,and timber. All parts of heavy branches and tree trunks jukan…

Architectural structures constructed mainly of timber. The term is used even if the walls are plastered and the roofing is…

Lit. "unhulled rice pagoda." A small wooden votive pagoda carved with a knife. It is related to *…

Gate. Also read kado. A suffix which refers to a gate, of which there are many types. Style: the structural style…

The quarters for the caretaker of the main gate of a Japanese temple. These may be attached to or near the main gate.

Also read monchū. Posts or pillars to which gates are attached.

Lit. "gate foundation stones." A large, flat stepping stone *yaku-ishi 役石…

Tile with a motif composed of kanji 漢字 characters that usually form the name of a temple. The use of character…

A small Buddhist hall dedicated to the Bodhisattva of wisdom *Monju 文殊 (Sk. Manjusri) who usually is…

Lit. "gate crowning." A tree planted by a garden gate so that its branches extend over the gate. In some cases the branches…

A railed timber platform built on the roofs of urban vernacular houses *machiya…

Lit. "scenery-viewing stone." An alternate name for the *gakumi-ishi 額見石,…

A watch tower compound built on high ground apart from the main castle compound, from where the movement of enemy forces can…

A general term for a small room or simple structure where objects such as items of equipment, tools, containers and utensils…

A type of settlement of lesser officials and servants which developed around the precincts of great shrines and temples…

Also pronunced monzenchō. A settlement in front of the main gate of a temple (or *…

Woods. The sacred grove of trees planted in front of a shrine by a landscape designer.

Alcove ornaments found in tea ceremony rooms of various types. The term morokazari is derived from the time when…

A plane used to curve the grooves in a doorsill or lintel. Unlike the *mizoganna 溝鉋,…

1　The core of a building. Prior to the introduction of Buddhism the term moya meant the central…

Also *moya 母屋. Purlins; horizontal members placed between and parallel to the…

Also osagomai or usakomai 小狭小舞; 小来舞. Four slender wooden members, square at their inner ends, and circular…

Also written 無方塔. Also *kaisantō 開山塔 or *…

A second raised-floor area at the lower end *shimote 下手, of…

A gate that has two supporting posts, sodebashira 袖柱, in front of and behind the main pillars to carry the…

Also often read mukōkaramon. A four-legged gate *shikyakumon…

A board, usually of pine but sometimes Japanese cedar, placed between a normal sized host's mat *…

Also pronounced mukai-zukuri. A style used for the main building *honden…

One part of the joint used when eaves supports *kayaoi 茅負 or flying rafter…

Also mukōgiriro 向切炉. Mukōgiri refers to *hongatte 本勝手 and…

Also *tsumairi 妻入; mukōzuma-zukuri 向妻造; *…

Lit. "camber." In traditional Japanese architecture, a roof surface or individual member with convex curves as opposed to…

A camber roof. A roof with convex curve from eave end *nokisaki 軒先, to ridge…

Also called mekurashikii 盲敷居, *mume 無目, nume 滑, or mume…

Lit. "smooth or flat." A prefix used to indicate that a threshold or sill *shikii…

Ridge tag. A narrow, wooden tag or marker, measuring from 30 cm to 1 m long, upon which pertinent information regarding a…

A ridge pole or ridge beam. The topmost horizontal member in a roof. It receives the upper ends of the rafters.

Ridge beam. Also called munegata, munagata, munegeta 棟桁; *…

A general term for the rows of decorative tiles used along the ridge of a structure. The tiles have many patterns, for…

Also osabashira 小狭柱 or futabashira 二柱. A generic name for pillars which rise from the ground to…

Also called munekado. A simple gate with two circular pillars, a gable roof *…

Also read munezutsumi.

1　A general term used to refer to any tile stacked high in layers…

Also called *munagi 棟木. A ridge. Mune includes not only the main ridge at the very…

Also muneage 棟上; jōtōsai 上棟祭; jōtōshiki 上棟式. A ridge-raising ceremony that takes place upon…

Also read munagawara. Lit. "ridge tiles." A generic term for the tiles used to cover the apex of the roof.…

A generic name for the ornaments added to the ridge of a thatched or wooden roof to protect the roof-ridge, and to symbolize…

The main ridge pole that extends beyond the end of a roof surface and abuts against the footplate ashimoto 足元, of…

Lit. "tiles at the corners of the ridge." A generic term for the ogre tile *onigawara…

1　In Japan's earliest compilations, the 8th century Kojiki 古事記 and Nihon shoki 日本書紀, a…

Also called *horadoko 洞床 or tsuchidoko 土床. An alcove…

1　A name given to the *amidadō 阿弥陀堂, a temple hall dedicated…

Lit. "warrior run." The wide section built inside a wall on the level top of an earthen embarkment *…

Lit. "hidden warriors." A small room closed off from the raised-floor area *jōdan…

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

Also written 蒸子格子. A type of lattice *kōshi 格子 used on windows…

A type of window containing a lattice of *mushiko gōshi 虫籠格子, set into the upper part…

Also musō orekugi 無双折釘. A type of nail used to hang a scroll in an alcove *…

Abbreviated term for musō renjimado 無双連子窓, also further shortened to musō 無双. A window made of narrow…

Lit. "Corrective on Gardens of the Musō Lineage." A late Edo period treatise on landscape gardening. According to the…

Sometimes abbreviated to mutesaki 六手先. Six-stepped bracket complexes as seen on the great south gate, Tōdaiji *…

A pillared gate-like entrance to a Shinto shrine, developed around the 9th century. The most common type of shrine entrance…