Ch: Wang Xizhi (303-61). A famous Chinese calligrapher of the Eastern Jin period, considered an originator of both the…

A board which is placed on the host's mat *temaedatami 点前畳,…

Large wooden shingles which are about 30 cm wide and are laid from the ridge to the eaves. Where the shingles need to be…

Ch: Huang Renlan. A Chinese immortal who travels many thousands of ri 里 (a ri is approximately 4 km) on…

Ch: Wang Ziqiao. A Zhou dynasty Taoist immortal associated with playing the shō, ō , a traditional reed…

Ch: Wang Zhi (ca. 255-209 BC). A Jin dynasty woodcutter from Quchuan 衢川, who while wandering through the mountains of Guzhou…

Ch: Wang Zhaojun. A beautiful court lady of the Former Han dynasty mistakenly sent to the Huns 匈奴. Her family name was Qiang…

Also akujō 悪尉. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面…

A load-bearing structural member. Refers to any structural element which supports the roof including pillars *…

Architecture introduced at temples of the Ōbaku 黄檗 sect, in the Edo period. This sect is one of the three Zen 禅 sects. The…

Also called wadaruki 輪垂木. An open ceiling found in Buddhist temples of the Ōbaku 黄檗 sect. The architectural style…

Paintings done by Ōbaku 黄檗 (Ch: Huangbo) Zen 禅 monks and their followers. Many modern historians also include religious…

Lit. "large format." A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term ōban…

Also simply beshimi べし見; formerly written 閉歯見. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面…

Also called obisando 帯桟戸. A simple wooden door made of thin boards with rails at top and bottom and stiles, left…

Lit. "belt compound." A long narrow castle compound. Obiguruwa were often constructed on the top of an earthen…

Also obiki 尾引. Sleepers about 10 cm sq. that extend horizontally at right angle to posts that are erected on a sill…

A decoration in the form of a lion's head *shigami 獅噛, found on…

A standard large-sized sheet of *hōsho 奉書 paper. Approximately 39 x 53 cm. The…

A outer veranda constructed a step lower than the adjacent floor. It may also be constructed one step lower than a broad…

Lit. "falling stone." Also pronounced otoshi-ishi. One of the trump stones *…

The junction point of a horizontal and diagonal structural member. For example, the point where the bottom of the hip rafter…

Also kiriotoshi 切落.

1　A generic term for a floor that is lower than the main floor of a…

A design incorporating a projection from a major building with a roof ridge *mune…

Lit. "dropped ceiling." Also called otoshitenjō 落し天井. A ceiling in a tea ceremony room above the host's mat *…

A tail rafter. A large rafter which usually extends through the second step of a 3-stepped bracket complex *…

Also called da-itabuki 駄板葺. A shingled roof which has bamboo battens and or stones to hold the shingles in place.…

1　 Lit. "great door." Also called *ōdoguchi 大戸口. The door…

Yellow ochre pigment. Lit. "yellow earth." Made from earth containing hydrated ferric oxide (goethite FeO.OH or limonite…

1　The main entrance to traditional vernacular houses *minka 民家…

Also pronounced ōga. A ripsaw thought to have been introduced to Japan from China at the beginning of the 15th…

Lit. "big fence." Large, continuous fences in distinction to short screen fences *…

Lit. "praying."
1　Structural elements arranged in such a way as to resemble the image of hands joined in…

The roof tiles positioned like hands joined in prayer covering the triangular framework of a Japanese roof structure. Broad…

A peak tile. A semi-cylindrical, elongated, barrel-shaped, hanging tile which covers the broad, concave, eave-end tiles *…

Lit. "large (or full) face pictures." A type of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵, or…

A projecting mould used in metalwork. Moulds used for metalwork were divided into two types: ogata (convex or…

Lit. "male tile." Also written 雄瓦, called *fusegawara 伏瓦, tsutsugawara…

Lit. "male tile." A semi-cylindrical cover tile *marugawara …

Lit. "fan slope." Also ōgikōbai 扇勾配 or miyakōbai 宮勾配 (shrine slope). The concave pitch of a stone…

Lit. "The Fan Target." A pictorial theme connected with a famous incident from the Battle of Yashima *…

Also written 扇子の縄. A castle plan shaped like a folding fan wherein the fortifications are distributed on either side of the…

A fan used to cool or for ceremonial purposes. Generally the same as sensu 扇子, although ōgi generally…

Fan rafters. There are two arrangements: those that radiate from a center point on each side of the building; or those that…

Portraits of the successive kings of Ryūkyū 琉球 (modern-day Okinawa Prefecture).

A hill in the *Sagano 嵯峨野 area, northwest of Kyoto, facing the low mountains of…

Lit. "the imperial visit to Ohara." Also written 小原御幸. A pictorial theme related to the pathos-filled journey of the retired…

1　A mounting for paintings and calligraphy which originated in China. It consists of a scroll with rollers…

A square wooden box with four legs carried as a backpack by mountain ascetic priests, yamabushi 山伏. The interior of…

A pattern drawn on a wall on both sides of a type of post called *kentozuka…

A bottle strut *taiheizuka 大瓶束, with a sculptural decoration called …

Also called kageire ariotoshi 陰入蟻落; ōire arikake 大入蟻掛. A joint made to connect a purlin *…

Also written 追入 or 尾入. A dadoed or housed, angled T-joint, which is used to join beams to posts. A shallow square or…

Lit. "old man." A type of mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays to represent an old man. The term ōji usually…

Also written 皇子造. A style of construction used for a Shinto shrine sanctuary *honden…

A wall which is completely plastered so that the pillars or posts are not visible. This method is common for the…

1　A style or method of constructing a wall, in which the basic framework for plastering is made on the…

Lit. "hillcastle." Also termed kyūryō jōkaku 丘陵城郭.
1　A castle built on a hillock, oka…

A sukiya style *sukiya-zukuri 数寄屋造 bathhouse, yokushitsu…

Also written 御釜柱. A pillar which is erected opposite the main central support pillar *…

1　A room that abutted the earth-floored area *doma 土間, at its…

1　Charming, or delightful. An approach to the aesthetic indicating a carefree appreciation of objects and…

Shogun Ashikaga's 足利 book of tea ceremony implement arrangement, thought to have been written by Sōami 相阿弥 (1455-1525), a…

The arrangement of tea ceremony utensils in preparation for a tea ceremony. It is more rarely called okitsuke 置付.…

Also *tsukedoko 付床. An early type of removable alcove formed by placing a…

A lantern placed in the water or near the water's edge. These can be clearly viewed from rocks or a boat, and boats use them…

The part of a ceramic tea bowl decorated with pattern. When used in a tea ceremony, the okigata is positioned…

Also hakushikijō 白色尉. The white faced mask of a happy old man used in *Noh…

Proto-Noh masks *nōmen 能面 used in the three-piece ritual Shikisanba 式三番…

A portable brazier used for a tea ceremony. It is usually 42 cm square with a height ranging from 21-24 cm. The hearth bed…

The houses of procurers keeping teams of yūjo 遊女, female entertainers and prostitutes in the authorised pleasure…

The upper roof erected over storehouses, kura 倉, of the *dozō …

An oblique, housed (dadoed) and rabbeted scarf joint. The upper and lower pieces are exactly the same but reversed. The…

A pattern *mon'yō 文様, or mullion *kumiko…

Also written 嗚滸絵. Comic, satiric paintings popular among aristocrats in the Heian period. The priest Kakuyū 覚猷 (1053-1140;…

Lit. "large scattered paving stones."
One type of round-stone paving *tama-…

Also called tate-ezu 建絵図. A fold-up, three-dimensional plan drawn on paper, to show the interior of rooms assembled…

1　The interior or heart of something. The furthermost, innermost or ultimate space in a sequence of spaces…

The highest ranking of the official painters *goyō-eshi 御用絵師…

An inner sanctuary. The part of a temple most remote from the main entrance. An example is the Keikyū-in 桂宮院, at Kōryūji…

A structure named for its location behind the main hall of a Buddhist temple or Shinto shrine. Sometimes it is a…

Lit. "large head depictions." A common type of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print…

Also okuzuke 奥付, atogaki 後書, batsu 跋 (Ch: ba), or batsubun 跋文 (Ch: bawen…

A type of design pattern *mon'yō 文様 or mullion *…

Also called uketo 受斗. A bearing block, longer than but shaped very much like the *…

The depth or distance from front to rear of an object, piece of furniture, room, building, plot of land etc. It may be…

1　A general term for the final or innermost room of a *shoin 書院…

A general term for structural members that sustain pressure horizontally. Transverse beams *…

1　A gate mon 門, with multiple pillars with large intervals between them.
One example is…

Lit. "large curve." An arrangement of stepping stones *tobi-ishi 飛石, laid in…

Lit. "Eight views of Ōmi." An early and famous Japanese version of the eight views, or *…

Woman of ōmi. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young-to-…

Lit. "main gable pendant." Also written 主懸魚, ogamigegyo 拝懸魚. A decorative gable pendant *…

Also sumi-ta 墨板 (black ink block); jizumi-ita 地墨板; sumizuri-no-ita 墨摺の板; daihan 台板…

Also read *daimon. Lit. large gate. A large gate that functions as the entrance…

Lit. "the front, surface, or exterior of something."
1　The front part of a house and the area around the…

Lower-ranking groups of official painters employed by the shogunate during the Edo period. The disciples and branch families…

A generic term for the main gates of an aristocratic dwelling. It applies especially to residences in the shinden…