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

Pictures of the archery competition held on the 33-bay-long (394 ft) veranda of Sanjūsangendō 三十三間堂 (Rengeōin 蓮華王院) in…

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

Decoration found on the head of a Buddhist sculpted figure. This includes hairstyles *…

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…

Lit. "east pagoda." A pagoda located toward the front and on the east side of a temple's precinct grounds. When there are…

Tenjin crossing to China. The Heian period courtier, poet, and scholar Sugawara Michizane 菅原道真 (845-903) was deified as the…

A room behind the curtain where actors performing in a *kabuki 歌舞伎 play can rest before…

Prints originally designed in the first half of the 19th century by provincial artists and distributed by itinerant peddlers…

A cylindrical seat or round pedestal *daiza 台座 for a Buddhist image. Many images…

An 18th and 19th century Edo 江戸 merchant class ideal implying sophisticated knowledge, discernment, and culture. Eventually…

Also written 鍔. Sword guard. Tsuba protect the hand and balance the sword. In the Edo period when samurai…

Also written 津波井仏所. A guild of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師 active in Nara *…

Lit. "sword-guard chisel." The chisel used to make the hole needed to drive a Japanese nail wakugi 和釘 into a piece…

A unit of measurement still in use to ascertain the area of land, a building, a room, etc. It is roughly 182 cm x 182 cm (6…

1　Metal fittings for a door. One is attached to the side of the door frame closest to the pillar or post.…

Also written 壷狭間. Large bamboo stalks that are cut in section, painted and placed in outer castle walls and in the walls of…

A hammer or mallet. Tsuchi are subdivided into various types according to its use. The *…

Also called sutebisashi 捨廂. A pent roof with its under structure exposed that extends above a hardpacked earthen…

1　In the Heian and Kamakura periods, a gate in a pise mud wall *tsuiji…

Lit. "giant ground spider." A demon in popular literature and art known for its battle with the early 11th-century warrior…

Also called komaikabe 小舞壁. A wattle and daub wall made of coarse mud plaster, ara-nuri 荒塗, usually mixed…

1　The parts of structural members that are hidden beneath ground level.

2　The…

A roofless gate set in an earthen wall. At Kyoto Gosho 京都御所, there are two such gates: the Upper East Gate, Jōtōmon 上東門, and…

A ceiling with a clay or mud plaster coating. Used in tea ceremony house *chashitsu…

Also 通圓. A mask of an old man, used in the kyōgen 狂言 play Tsūen (The Tea Priest, Tsūen…

An *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 woodblock printing technique used in cases where…

A method of paper decoration *ryōshi sōshoku 料紙装飾. Two or more…

Also written 接手.

1　A generic term for joinery including spliced and angled joints. When used as a…

A general term for hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物 that make a…

The gap between the flat ridge tile *noshigawara 熨斗瓦, and the coping…

Also called tsuijibei 築地塀; tsuigaki 築垣 or 築墻. A formal style fence made by pounding a mixture of mud and…

A partitioning screen. Sometimes an opaque panel screen *fusuma 襖 or sometimes…

1　A crossroads or intersection of two roads. See *zushi…

An intersection barrier. A single barrier that is constructed to defend two entrances to a castle that have been constructed…

Lit. "cross roads hall." A small Buddhist structure erected at the main intersection of a village, along a village road, or…

Lit. "flowers at the crossing dyeing." A Muromachi period hybrid, decorative textile technique of combining tie-dyeing and…

A woodblock-printed fortune with pictures which was sold on street corners *tsuji …

A wide rectangular stone strut about 2/3 the width of the stone panels *hame-ishi…

Also written 短束. Tsuka-no-ma 束の間 is a synonym for tsuka. An abbreviated form for tsukabashira 束柱…

1　An alternative term for the base ridge *jimune 地棟. The base…

Also hirakasugai 平鎹. Wood or metal cleats used to secure and strengthen the junction of the two sides of bargeboard…

Also kobashira 小柱 or shoinbashira 書院柱. A post placed at the exterior corner of the alcove that…

A wooden platform, about 95 cm x 45 cm, attached to a wall to form a type of alcove which has no ceiling or extended wall…

1　A fortification built as a staging camp from which to attack an enemy's castle…

Lit. "attached surface molding." An incised or molded decoration *kurigata 繰形…

An abbreviation of tsūryō kenpō 通両肩法. A style of wearing a Buddhist robe covering both shoulders. The robe…

Boards or tiles, tsukenoshi, set above and below the thick boards *aori-ita…

A type of *mokkotsu 没骨 technique. Tsuketate does not…

A geometrical pattern based on the character 月, tsuki (moon), and found on transoms *…

Also tsurido, 釣戸 or 吊戸. A door or window that is hinged along the top. It swings out from the bottom, and is held…

Also written 突揚窓. A skylight built into the sloping ceiling *kakekomi tenjō…

The track grooves on a head jamb *kamoi 鴨居 and sill *…

A moon viewing tower of the *yagura 櫓 type found at a number of castles. Also…

Pictures depicting activities associated with the months of the year, representing one of the most important categories of…

A paring chisel that shaves a timber entirely by hand pressure. Chisels called *tatakinomi…

A simple, basic butt joint. To butt two or more cut timbers end to end. The joint is called dōzuki 胴付 when a cut…

Lit. "Commentary on Landscape Gardens."

1　A mid-Edo book written by garden designer Kitamura Enkin…

The older term is *kasan 仮山. Lit. "constructed mountain."…

A term used by the makers of *tatami 畳 mats to refer to the binding on the long sides of …

Lit. "stooping basin." A low wash basin used in a tea garden. One has to stoop down to use the basin, hence the name. Before…

Also written つくり絵. A painting process associated with the *yamato-e …

Lit. "constructed spring." The artificial watercourse built to conduct spring water into a garden. The term, found in the…

The point where two downward sloping roofs meet to form a valley, under which gutters must be set to carry off rain water.…

An incised or molded decoration *kurigata 繰形 applied to an…

Trim, molding, casings, cornices, etc. Trim at the edge of cupboards, doors, windows or on the sides of drawers. Also…

Also shortened to tsumakudari 妻降; also called hafu kudarimune 破風降棟 or shortened to hafukudari…

1　The gable pediment or the gable side of a building with a gable roof *…

A transverse beam that is visible in a gable pediment *tsuma 妻. It is one example of a gable…

Also called kowakido 小脇戸. Because they were hinged, they are also called hirakido 開戸. A side entrance. A…

The entrance of a shrine or temple building in one of the gable ends *tsuma 妻, constructed in…

The embellishment of gable pediments *tsuma 妻 by exposed structural members that were part of…

The dormitory for ordinary attendant monks at Hōryūji 法隆寺 in Nara. The present Tsumamuro was constructed in the Heian period…

Also read tsumejiro 詰城, or written 爪城 or tsume-no-shiro 攻の城.

1　The castle…

Intermediate bracket complexes. An arrangement of bracket complexes *tokyō…

1　A short curved rainbow beam *kōryō 虹梁 that connects a bracket…

Same as tsunagijiro or tsunagishiro 繋城.

1　A type of branch castle *…

Lit. "connecting beam."

1　Also *geyabari 下屋梁. A short…

A penetrating tie beam used to stabilize the lower part of exposed posts *subashira…

Also read tsukkomihozo. Also *sashikomihozo 差込ほぞ. Tsungomi…

Also tsunogarado 角柄戸. Lit. "rectangular door." A type of wicket *kido…

A perfectly smooth, absolutely flat, unblemished surface. The term is applied to timber or stone structural members.

The exterior face of a stone rampart or a stone fence. In cases where both the front and back surfaces of a stone or wall…

Shortened form of tsure mitsudogumi 連三斗組. A variation of mitsudogumi 三斗組 (*…

Dangling chin, a gimmick used on some bugaku masks *bugakumen…

The gap between an opened door or gate stile and the pillar to which it is attached.

A decoy wall, or pseudo-wall. A wall that was built so as to hang over an earthen embankment or stone wall of a castle. When…

A small upper floor or mezzanine loft space *chūnikai 中二階, usually only about…

A general term for hanging shelves or shelves suspended from the ceiling by a stick or a piece of bamboo, especially used in…

Also written 吊床, or called kabedoko 壁床. A type of alcove *tokonoma 床の間 which has…

Also *kaitomoshi 掻灯. A lantern hung from the corner of the eaves of a…

Also written 吊木; called tenjō tsurigi 天井釣木. Long narrow strips of wood, like straps, that provide support for a…

Also written 吊壁. A narrow wall suspended from a ceiling to form the front and side of a boundary for an alcove set in the…

Also written 吊金物. Metal fittings that are used to suspend various types of structural members, which include: hanging struts…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing the God of Thunder. Great…

Also called tsurimoto 吊元, jikumoto kamachi 軸元框. The stile, tatekamachi 縦框, of a door or gate…

Also jikumoto karado 軸元唐戸; moroori ryōbiraki 両折両開. Two doors *…

Lit. "crane island." A garden island made with several stones and, usually, a pine to suggest the flight of a crane. As a…

Also read zushi nikai. A loft in the roof space of a single-story vernacular house *…