All the basic wooden structural members produced at a building site including the ridge, and the ceremony of raising the…

Also written 立子 or 建子, read tatego.

1　 A generic term for the vertical muntins on lattice…

Also called awasemeji 合目地. Lines made when vertical stone panels are arranged along the sides of podii *…

Also called tatehonshigesan 竪本繁桟, tatehonshigesankumi 竪本繁桟組; tateshigekumi 竪繁組. Closely-spaced…

The measurement of floor space in any traditional type building using *tsubo 坪 (3.31 meters…

The accurate alignment of posts, pillars, stiles, and trim on a door frame in order to allow for the perfect fit of a hinged…

The boards placed over rafters *taruki 垂木, to form the underside of a roof and…

Also called tatedōzan 竪胴桟. Vertical lath used for a door or window frame. Lath called san 桟 can be set…

Lit. "multiple-island style." More than two islands constructed in a chisen 池泉 (pond and stream) type garden.

One of the gates in the inner enclosure of the old Edo-jō 江戸城. It preserves the *…

Lit. "ladder-shaped compound plan." Short for teikakushiki nawabari 梯郭式縄張. A plan that fortified a castle entrance…

Also dainaisha 第内社. A shrine within the estate or premises teinai 邸内 of a nobleman. The mansion, …

Lit. "Secret Text on Garden Construction." A treatise on landscape design supposedly written first in the Muromachi period.…

Also called *dōgu-datami 道具畳, or kyo-datami 居畳. The straw mat…

Beams used to support a heavy lower ridge *jimune 地棟. They are…

1　A prehistoric pit dwelling *tateana jūkyo …

1　Also sangai 傘蓋, hōgai 宝蓋, kagai 華蓋, kengai 懸蓋. Sk: chatra…

Two large posts placed to the right and left of the *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage, kabuki …

Lit. "ceiling boards." Ceiling boards made from cypress, fir, white or red cedar, and other coniferous trees. The zelkova…

Also called *tenjō-ita 天井板. Single-panel boards side by side to…

Also tenjōkamachi 天井框. A long, light, binding beam, sometimes rabbeted, running horizontally along the wall in the…

Also called arikabe nageshi 蟻壁長押, mawaribuchi nageshi 回縁長押.

1　…

A ceiling joist. A horizontal timber to which a wooden lath *kizuri …

Lit. "ceiling." A ceiling made of cypress boughs erected over seats, according to the Engishiki 延喜式 and Yukiin 悠基院…

The distance from the floor to the ceiling.

Also read tenjōgeta. Ceiling joists that run lengthwise in a building, below the ceiling structure, to support the…

Also *tenjōketa 天井桁 or tenjō ukegeta 天井受桁. A horizontal beam which…

The placement of one planed timber on top of another planed timber without making any notches.

Lit. "tower central pillar." A pillar found in the main structure of castles, sometimes used singly and sometimes in pairs.…

Also called tenshukaku 天守閣, tenshuyagura 天守櫓. Also written 天主, 殿主, and 殿守. The principal tower-like…

The independent raised foundation upon which the principal tower *tenshu 天守 was constructed.…

Lit. "flat iron stone." A type of andesite quarried in the Suwa 諏訪 and Kitasaku 北佐久 regions of Nagano Prefecture. The flat,…

Also called jūgan 銃眼 (loophole). A gun loophole or gun port. An opening through which to shoot a firearm from…

A term for an alcove or recess of the *oshi-ita 押板 type found in…

Lit. "musket fence." A type of *sodegaki 袖垣 or *…

Also termed nawadarumi 縄だるみ (slackened rope). A concave shaped stone wall with a curved surface that resembles a…

1　A term used to count the number of steps of a bracket complex. For example, futatesaki 二手先, …

Lit. "candlestick stone." One of the *yaku-ishi 役石 of the *…

A balustrade along a stairway or surrounding a shallow balcony on a high gate *rōmon…

A unique gate at Himeji-jō 姫路城 'Nu'-no-mon 'ぬ'の門 (1601-10), Hyōgo Prefecture. It is tall and has a double story and…

The structured elements that cover a window, entrance, or other opening to protect them from the weather or the inside of…

A whetstone, grinder, or grindstone. A tool used to sharpen the blade of a plane or chisel. Carpenters used a set of ranging…

The boards used for the construction of a door including: *mairado 舞良戸 (one…

Also called tōba 塔婆, sotoba 卒都婆 or *tasōtō 多層塔 (many-layered…

Also called toyose 戸寄. A door stop.

1　A thin strip of wood attached to and projecting…

Lit. "stepping stones." As the key material for the path of the *roji …

Lit. "stepping stone stairs." A type of stepping stone *tobi-ishi 飛石, placed on a slope to…

Also called tobimono 飛物 or hiryō 飛梁. A beam that extends from the eave purlin *…

A pivot-hinged door. *To 戸 refers to sliding doors. However, in a compound word such…

The structure or composition of a door fitting.

Also called tobiradōri 扉通. The alignment of gate pillars *hashira…

Also sūjiku 枢軸. An almost obsolete term for pivot *jikuzuri 軸吊. The…

A box-like structure into which the rain shutters *amado 雨戸 are stored when not…

A type of board roofing *itabuki yane 板葺屋根, whereby boards …

The main, east gate of a temple compound.

Also called masudasuke, tosuke; totsunagi 斗繋. The reinforcement pieces cut into some types…

1　The highest point or top surface of a structural element. For example, keta-no-tōge 桁の峠…

An entrance or doorway, the doorsteps; doormat.

Lit. "east seeking hall." A small building at Jishōji 慈照寺, also popularly known as Ginkakuji 銀閣寺 (1485), Kyoto, built by…

Also called toyo とよ. A generic term for a gutter. When used in traditional architecture, it was generally made of…

A stone or stones onto which the water that flows down a drain pipe splashes. These stones prevent ground erosion from a…

Also tōdaishaku 唐大尺 or tenpyōshaku 天平尺. An ancient unit of measure, approximately 29.6 cm. Renamed *…

Also read sotojiro. An outer castle or fortification.

1　A separately enclosed fortification…

Lit. "evergreen tree." A pine matsu 松, cryptomeria sugi 杉, or sakaki 榊, found in almost all types…

Also called nihon-bashira 二本柱, because originally both the pillars to the left and right of the alcove *…

Also read yuka.

1　Abbreviation for an alcove *tokonoma…

Also ji-ita 地板. The floorboards laid in an alcove *tokonoma 床の間. The…

A transverse member set across the front of the bottom part of an alcove *tokonoma…

The window in the alcove *tokonoma 床の間 of tea ceremony rooms *…

Also written 床店. A small shop *mise 店, or stall, used for retail…

Also originally called higashi butsuden'in 東仏殿院. A worship hall placed to the east of the pagoda *…

Lit. "alcove room." A *tatami 畳 mat room with a small alcove. There…

The place adjacent to an alcove *tokonoma 床の間, where various types of shelves…

Also dōbari 胴張り. Lit. "entasis." A tall circular pillar, column, or post which curves gradually reaching its widest…

A type of formal fence associated with the walls surrounding nobles' homes and tearooms *…

Also called kumimono 組物 or *masugumi 斗組. A bracket complex composed…

A simple miter. The timbers are cut obliquely, usually at 45 degrees, or any other angle as long as the two adjoining…

Also called tomebuta 留蓋; amabutagawara 雨蓋瓦; sumibutagawara 隅蓋瓦. A cover tile, usually…

Also written 供部屋. A room used principally by the servants or attendants tomo 伴, 供 of high ranking visitors both as…

Also nokitomoe 軒巴, *nokidomoegawara 軒巴瓦. A very…

1　Also tomoe 巴. A pattern of one or more curled tadpole shapes inside a circle. The pattern is…

Lit. "dragonfly metal fitting." A type of decorative metal fitting *kazari kanagu…

Also tonehira 利根平, 刀根平.
The name given to the second of a pair of tiles composed of a semi-cylindrical tile *…

Also called tonemaru 利根丸, 刀根丸, onigiwa marugawara 鬼際丸瓦. This occurs when there is a drooping verge *…

Also written 鳥伏間. Also called toriyasumi 鳥休 (bird rest) or suzumegawara 雀瓦. A cylindrical bird perch tile…

Also written 取出, 取手, 塞 also 寨. A small-scale fort, fortification, or stronghold. A structure built near the main castle or…

Also written 鳥栖; 鶏栖. Lit. "bird perch." At one time, torii were called uefukazu-no-mikado or…

Lit. "bird perch gate." A shrine gate with a board fence attached to the outer part of each of the two pillars. A *…

Row of paired struts *tsuka 束 flanking the king posts *…

An earthfloored area *doma 土間 or *…

Also written 灯篭. A lantern. The earliest were introduced to Japan from China through Korea along with Buddhism in the 6th…

A master carpenter. A title applied to carpenters from the 16th century onward whose experience qualified them to be leaders…

Also read tōri-bashira 通り柱 or tate nobose-bashira 建登せ柱. A single, uncut member that serves as a post…

Also called tōshi hozosashi 通しほぞ差; uchinuki hozo 打抜ほぞ. A through tenon and mortise angle joint. A…

A wall-to-wall shelf located in the area known as *tokowaki 床脇, which is next to an alcove…

Also read tōrihijiki 通り肘木. A bracket tie beam. A long horizontal beam inserted into the middle of a bracket complex…

The framework of a pagoda *tō 塔, excluding the roof *…

Also tōei zuhō 投影図法, tōei gahō 投影画法. Projection Drawing: a technique used for architectural drawing.…

The colors of paint found on Japanese style *wayō 和様 temples.…

Also read tōshi. Originally tōsu was the god of the latrine who was also called fujō kongō…