Skip to main content

JAANUS

  • # (1)
  • a (30)
  • b (12)
  • c (16)
  • d (36)
  • e (23)
  • f (28)
  • g (25)
  • h (144)
  • i (46)
  • j (24)
  • k (231)
  • m (127)
  • n (117)
  • o (35)
  • r (25)
  • s (195)
  • t (126)
  • u (30)
  • w (14)
  • y (48)
  • z (11)
  • (-) General Terms (41)
  • Architecture (40)
  • Art History (2)
  • Folk Dwellings (1)
  • Painting (1)

Displaying 1 - 41 of 41
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
uchikaeshi 打返し

Also pronounced uttegaeshi 打って返し, utasegaeshi 打たせ返し. Perfect symmetry on both sides of a center line…

Architecture, General Terms
uchikorobi 内転

Pillars *hashira 柱 with an inward incline. Uchikorobi…

Architecture, General Terms
uchikoshi daruki ✓

Rafters *taruki 垂木 that extend from the flying rafter support *…

Architecture, General Terms
uchinorinuki 内法貫

A penetrating tie beam *nuki 貫 placed directly on top of a door or…

Architecture, General Terms
uchinorizai 内法材

Also called uchinorimono 内法物. The wooden materials used for the framework of a sliding screen *…

Architecture, General Terms
udegi 腕木

1 A relatively short horizontal timber that functions like a brace. It is attached to and extends outward…

Architecture, General Terms
uguisubari 鴬張

Lit. "nightingale floor." Floor boards which rub together when walked on to produce a pleasant and delicate sound. This type…

Architecture, General Terms
ukegi 受木

A generic term for all supporting or receiving structural members. For example, a timber that receives an eave cornice is…

Architecture, General Terms
umegi 埋木

Also read umeki. A wooden dowel or plug used to fill a hole in a piece of timber. If a knot or some other flaw…

Architecture, General Terms
umemodoshi 埋戻

To fill in any remaining open spaces with sand, gravel, soil, or other such substances, after the foundation and all…

Architecture, General Terms
ura-ita 裏板

A generic term for backing boards, which are boards nailed over rafters to form a backing for the roofing. In an open roof…

Architecture, General Terms
uragaeshi-nuri 裏返塗

Also called uragaeshi 裏返 or yobinuri 呼塗. Soft, rough plaster arakabe tsuchi 荒壁土 applied to…

Architecture, General Terms
uragaya 裏茅

Also urappo 裏穂. A thatching material used on vernacular dwellings *minka…

Architecture, General Terms
uragō 裏甲 ✓

Visible eaves filler placed the eave support *kayaoi 茅負, and projected slightly…

Architecture, General Terms
uragome 裏込

Also read uragomi. The process of filling the gaps in the rear of a stone retaining wall or stone fence with rubble…

Architecture, General Terms
urakabe 裏壁

A plaster wall which has mud plaster applied to the front side and then to the rear side before the plaster on the front…

Architecture, General Terms
urauchi marutagaki 裏打丸太垣

Also called marutagaki 丸太垣. A fence constructed with logs positioned at fairly close intervals and three horizontal…

Architecture, General Terms
urazan 裏桟

A crosspiece used to secure the back or upper side of a ceiling board.

Architecture, General Terms
urazumi 裏積

Bricks or stones set at the back of a brick or stone wall to give it extra support. The term is an abbreviation of …

Architecture, General Terms
ushibari 牛梁

1 A particularly large beam that runs in a longitudinal direction, ketayuki hōkō 桁行方向 (see *…

Architecture, General Terms, Folk Dwellings
ushirobutai 後舞台

The rear stage between dressing rooms and the rear door of the main stage in a *kabuki…

Architecture, General Terms
usushikii 薄敷居

Lit. "thin sills." A lintel and sill used under and above transom *ranma 欄間.…

Architecture, General Terms
utsubo-bashira 靫柱

Also written 空柱. Lit. "hollow pillar." A box-like down-spout tatedoi 竪樋 used to carry rainwater from roof gutters…

Architecture, General Terms
uwaba 上端

Also called tenba 天端.

1 The top surface of an object, or the peak of a structural member.…

Architecture, General Terms
uwabari 上張

Also written 上貼, also called visible top layer keshōbari 化粧張, front side hyōmenbari 表面張 or finishing…

Architecture, General Terms
uwanoki 上軒

The upper-most eave of a nokizuke 軒付 or nokiba 軒端 eave end. Each part of the eave has a name. The…

Architecture, General Terms
uwanuri 上塗り

1 Also shiagenuri 仕上げ塗. The final layer applied to a decorative painting sōshoku kōji…

Art History, Architecture, General Terms, Painting
uwanuri tsuchi 上塗土

The top or finishing coat of a mud plaster wall, tsuchimonokabe 土物壁 or ōtsukabe 大津壁.

Architecture, General Terms
uyū 烏有 ✓

Also called tori-no-shita 鳥の舌 (lit. "bird's tongue"). A somewhat triangular piece of wood added to a bracket arm *…

Architecture, General Terms
uzu-ita 渦板

A board with a carved spiral-like uzusen 渦線 linear design. It is found on frog-leg struts *…

Architecture, General Terms
zaimoku 材木 Timber prepared for construction. Architecture, General Terms
zashiki kazari 座敷飾

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

Architecture, General Terms
Zenshū bijutsu 禅宗美術

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

Art History, General Terms
zenshūyō 禅宗様

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

Architecture, General Terms
Zenshūyō kōran 禅宗様高欄 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
Zenshūyō tokyō 禅宗様斗きょう ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
zetsu 舌 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
zōkinzuri 雑巾摺 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
zōsaku 雑作

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

Architecture, General Terms
zuan 図案

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

Architecture, General Terms
zushi 厨子

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

Architecture, General Terms

Contributor Login

JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University