Lit. "inner horse exit." A defensive installation *umadashi 馬出 constructed to fortify the…

1　The inner moat of a castle that has two or more moats.

2　The moat dug on the…

A strike-through chisel. Normally, when constructing a pass-through mortise, the timber is carved away from both sides with…

A subordinate entry in houses possessing a formal guest entry *genkan 玄関, and…

Also read naikaku. Also called naijō 内城. An inner compound. Generally, it refers to the central…

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

Lit. "pounded and inserted stone joinery." The most common stone work technique used to build a dry construction castle wall…

Pillars *hashira 柱 with an inward incline. Uchikorobi…

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

Lit. "inner square box." A type of walled compound *masugata 桝形…

1　The inside measurement between the inner sides of two posts or pillars *…

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

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

Inner tea garden. The part of the double tea garden nijū roji 二重露地, between the middle gate *…

A type of loophole *sama 狭間. An opening in a wall for soldiers to…

1　A wide post at the interface between the earth-floored space *doma…

Also written 卯建, 宇立, うだつ; all read udachi, odatsu, or odachi.

1　A term…

1　A rudimentary thatched dwelling hut or ancillary structure with a gable roof *…

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

Also called *kidomon 木戸門. A simple gate with two main posts…

An open site, generally in Okinawa, devoid of any kind of structure, from where the gods are worshipped. Most sites are…

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

Lit. "bush warbler fence." A common type of rustic sleeve fence *sodegaki…

Also written 請花, 受華, 請華; sometimes pronounced ukehana. Flower-shaped support. A support in the shape of an open,…

Also *chūdai 中台. Middle base.

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

The indentation in the middle of the base *kiso 基礎 of a lantern…

A main castle gate *koguchi 虎口 with a small barrier or compound…

A castle entrance barrier. A small barrier or compound, built in front of a castle gate *…

A stable. Also written 厩. Also maya 馬屋 or 厩, keiya けいや, and kyūsha 厩舎. Applied to both a…

A gable pendant *gegyo 懸魚 with an irregular hexagonal shape. The…

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…

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

Lit. "sea stone." A generic name for stones found in the ocean or along the seashore. Because sea stones contain salt, and…

A type of lantern. These six-sided lanterns are the same as the kasuga type, but they were carved by a stonemason…

A decorated cloth binding used for the border of a straw mat *tatami 畳…

1　Chinese: yunqiwen.
An ancient Chinese decorative design formed from C and S shapes. It is…

Also hanchiku 班竹, madaradake まだらだけ, buchidake ぶちだけ, tanbahanchiku タンバハンチク, …

Lit. "rabbit-fur cover." Also *karahafu gegyo 唐破風懸魚. 

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

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

Also called urame 裏目.
The scale marked on the back side of a carpenter's square, which is the square root of…

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

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

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

Also called urajiro 裏白. Type of door used for storage buildings *dozō…

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

A type of window named for Oda Uraku 織田有楽 (1547-1621) which incorporates short, small, vertical stripes of bamboo placed…

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

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

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

An unusual type of lantern where the flame window is shaped like a *muhōtō…

Lit. "scale pavement."
One style of *shiki-ishi 敷石 made of…

A wooden, gate-like entrance *torii 鳥居 of the myōjin 明神…

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

Also *kagami-ishi 鏡石. Lit. "back stone." A stone water basin that…

The flowing curve of the rear slope of a gable roof in the flowing style *nagare-…

The placement of primary and secondary rocks in a group, so that the secondary ones are diagonally right and left and to the…

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

A rear wing which extends from the main structure of a folk dwelling *minka…

Also abbreviated usuki 薄器. A container for weak-flavored tea. Early usuchaki had a cylindrical shape, but…

A lid with a high center used for a tea ceremony kettle *chanoyugama…

1　An alternative term for all or part of the earth-floored area, *doma…

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

Also written 臼当; also called dōzuki 胴付. The recessed surface of a wooden member that surrounds a protruding tenon…

1　A small-scale freestanding structure containing a mortar or hand mill, usu 臼, for pounding rice…

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

Also called tanihiragawara 谷平瓦. Lit. "broad valley tile." A slightly concave tile used in the valley formed by the…

Also called tenba 天端.

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

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

1　The upper corners of any beam cut at an angle.

2　The upper corners of the…

Also pronounced uwagi.

1　The uppermost timber of two joined structural elements. Often…

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

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

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

A temporary roof or simple structure erected over a building that is being dismantled for repairs or reconstruction. Modern…

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

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

Also written 宇豆柱. The pillars at center, front, and rear of the main prayer hall *honden…

Also uzumakimon 渦巻文, uzugata 渦形, volute, scroll. A decorative spiral pattern found throughout the world on…

Lit. "buried gate."

1　A gate constructed within the stone walls of a castle. It was used to connect…

Lit. "curly young leaf."
A decorative pattern resembling leaves with curved tips. It has been used on ornamental roof…