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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.…

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

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

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

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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

Also *mune 棟, *munagi…

The second layer of a plastered wall. The first layer of a plastered wall is made of a rough clay-sod or mud-plaster mixture…

A type of saw horse on which to place timber so that a carpenter can cut it easily. Two posts are sunk directly into the…

Lit. "a big eave." An eave made of long base rafters *jidaruki 地垂木, which is…

An archaic term for a tie beam roughly 3.6 m long by 11 cm wide by 2.5 cm thick. Cedar or cypress were commonly used. Now…

A coved and coffered ceiling. The coved part has curved struts. It surrounds the coffered ceiling and at the same time…

A coved, coffered and finely latticed ceiling. When the height of a ceiling of the same type is increased by curved struts…

A coved ceiling. A ceiling raised by diagonally placed straight timbers *shirin…

Also orioki 折置. Method of assembly in a building's structural frame. A method of fixing a transverse beam *…

Neocene quartz. A type of soft volcanic tuff that is rough, porous and easily worked. It is a light, bluish greenish brown…

1　The board-floor veranda at the top of the steps of a shrine building. The veranda at the bottom of the…

The *zashiki 座敷 is a guest room; its name deriving from that of the mat…

The general term used for any art related to the practice of Zen 禅 Buddhism in Japan. Zen flourished in Japan in the…

A style of architecture imported from China during the Song dynasty. It includes the architectural elements that came with…

Also called Karayō kōran 唐様高欄. A railing or balustrade *kōran 高欄 with…

Also called Karayō tokyō 唐様斗きょう. A Zen style bracket complex. The bracket arms *…

Lit. "tongue." A thin ornamental molding *kurigata 繰形, carved on the bottom…

Also called hōkizuri 掃摺 or zōkindome 雑巾留. A long thin finishing board, similar to a base board, that is…

Also witten 造作.
All non-permanent parts of a Japanese building in contrast to those parts that are permanent and…

A rough sketch of a building plan including, floor plans, elevations, the placement of doors and windows, etc.

1　A miniature shrine in which Buddhist images or rolls of sutras kyō 経 are kept. Reliquary…