Also tsumegawara 爪瓦. A row of narrow tile pieces cut crosswise from semi-cylindrical tiles *…

A Japanese castle. Refers to 25 castles constructed in various regions of Korea by the Japanese forces during the Bunroku-…

1　An abstract decorative pattern of extended curved lines based on the form of a leaf. The pattern is…

The wakiagari allowed visitors to enter or leave the residence from a waiting palanquin kago 駕篭 without…

Shelves forming part of an arrangement in the space next to the decorative alcove *…

A small door, usually beside the main door of a structure. Sometimes there is one on each side of the main door.

A plane used to smooth the sides of a groove, particularly in a doorsill or lintel, after the base plane, *…

Lit. "side gable pendant." Also *kudarigegyo 降懸魚, *…

A secondary *honjin 本陣, authorized by the Tokugawa 徳川 government for the…

Side sanctuary. Areas beside the main hall *hondō 本堂 of a Buddhist…

A side entrance to a castle. A small, inconspicuous entrance located on the side of a castle, in contrast with the main gate…

A long, narrow, vertical wall constructed between two or more pillars, or on each side of an entrance or a window.

Also read *ekimon 掖門. A side gate or a small gate on one or both sides of a…

Wooden screens placed at the back ends of side verandas *en 縁. They…

The left and right sides of a purlin *keta 桁.

A frame constructed around the perimeter of a window or doorway; the opening into which sliding panels and other structural…

Also called nihon kugi 日本釘. A square nail used during and after the Kofun period. The nail was made of hand-wrought…

Two bracket arms *hijiki 肘木 positioned at right angle to one…

A tenon referred to as channeled or as fingered. It is used on king posts *shinzuka…

Wanagikomi is an angle joint, also called an open mortise and tenon joint, a slip slot or finger mortise. It…

Also warabide. A style of ornamentation which features a curved design based on curling bracken shoots. It is found…

1　Rope made by twisting together strands of straw. In clay statuary, the central wooden core *…

1　Also called enza, maruza 円座, or ukeza kanamono 受座金物. The metal or…

To cover or enclose with split bamboo. For example, found on the doors of a simple garden gate teimon 庭門 with a…

Also called wariguri 割栗, kuri-ishi 栗石 or guri ぐり (lit. "stones crushed like chestnuts"). Rock…

The surface of a member that was split vertically by pounding in a wedge *kusabi…

Lit. "divided worship hall." A long structure under a single roof divided in the center by a passageway *…

Lit. "splitting gauge." The splitting gauge is used to mark thin pieces of wood along the grain so that it can be broken…

1　An extremely strong joint that uses a blind wedge-split tenon warikusabi hozo 割楔ほぞ to join two…

The interval between the vertical slats *tateko 竪子 and horizontal…

Also called *ireko-ita 入子板. A board that connects the rails and crosspieces…

Also written 綿鼻. A molding *kurigata 繰形 in the shape of a silk-…

1　A connecting gallery or tower inside a square compound *masugata…

Also called *agokaki 腮欠, agokake 腮掛. A cogged right-angled joint…

1　Lit. "Japanese style architecture." The architectural techniques and styles introduced from China during…

A bracket arm *hijiki 肘木 that is characterized by curved surfaces on the…

A railing in the wayō style *wayō 和様. The horizontal…

Lit. "eightfold fence." A type of double-screen sleeve fence *sodegaki 袖垣 in…

A widely used moat with sides that slope like an earthen embankment. The name is derived from the moat having a bottom with…

Also written 櫓烟出. Also read yagura kemuridashi. An opening constructed in a thatched roof to allow the escape of…

A guard tower set atop the corners of a castle's stone wall and other strategic positions overlooking the surrounding area.…

Also called a watari yaguramon 渡櫓門 or just *watari yagura 渡櫓. A…

The largest sized roof tile used to connect the turret corridors *watari yagura…

Commonly double-penetrating, diagonally placed beams that connect the main post *…

1　A ceiling with the same pitch as the roof. Really, an exposed ceiling *…

Also written 屋形城.

1　A structure that combines the daily living quarters of a mansion with the…

A bisque ware or unglazed pagoda. Plain, unglazed small pagodas are called deitō 泥塔, meaning mud pagodas.…

Also kaname-ishi 要石. Rocks and stones which in a tea garden *roji 露地…

1　The parts of a stone wall such as exterior corners, top surfaces, or openings for drainage where…

Also read yakugi. The allocation of shrubbery in a garden, particularly applied to trees which set the mood of a…

Lit. "roles of branches." The branches of a flower or tree that are given a name based on their "role" in the structure of…

A generic term for all types of roof tiles which serve a special purpose. These tiles include: sleeve tiles *…

A gate with a gable roof constructed with two square or rectangular main posts and two square or circular secondary posts *…

A Buddhist temple hall housing a statue of *Yakushi 薬師 (Sk: Bhaisajyaguru), the Buddha…

Lit. "mountain stone." A generic name for stones found or quarried in the mountains. Unlike sea stones *…

A mountain castle entrance. The entrance *koguchi 虎口 of a mountain…

Lit. "mountain castle." A castle built on a mountain to take advantage of the mountain's topography. One of the three main…

Lit. "mountain eye pounding and inserting piling." A dry construction method used to pile stones for a stone wall *…

A window used especially in the Zen style *zenshūyō 禅宗様; a type of ogival…

1　An abbreviation for yamatouchi-no-to 大和打の戸 or yamatouchi 大和打. A door that has vertical…

Lit. "gardens in the style of Japanese painting." Also called sakuteikiryū 作庭記流 (gardens in the lineage of the…

A fence made of widths of bleached bamboo spaced about 45 cm apart and held in place by bark. This type of fence is used in…

1　A type of board roofing made by first spacing boards of equal width at predetermined intervals and then…

A type of bamboo lattice entwined with wisteria vine set in a window opening *…

An alternative term for a roof style found on Edo period farmhouses nōka 農家, called *…

Lit. "willow shelf." An asymmetrical arrangement of three decorative shelves tokowakidana 床脇棚 arranged in the…

Also yanagikakekugi 柳掛け釘. A nail hammered into a partially plastered post yanagibashira 柳柱 (see *…

Also yamadake 屋間竹. The bamboo purlins, about 20-30 cm in circumference, that are placed about 30-36 cm apart over a…

A generic name for various types of roofing boards including *noji-ita…

The construction of the roof framework or roof truss over the body of a building. The essential framing for a gable roof *…

Also called okugai 屋蓋, lit. "roof covering." A generic term for various types of roofs, roof styles, and roofing.…

Roofing or roof covering. The most commonly used types of roofing are clay tiles *…

Rethatching, retiling, or reshingling a roof whereby old roofing is replaced with new roofing.

Also kobanekugi 小羽根釘. Small round bamboo roofing nails, with a diameter between 2.1 to 2.8 mm and a length from 50…

1　See *keshō yaneura 化粧屋根裏.

2　An…

Lit. "broken well crib." Also yabureigeta. A design used for muntins *kumiko…

A plane thought to have been the only plane employed in ancient times to pare and finish timber. Today carpenters do not use…

Lit. "water course." An archaic term for a shallow, curving garden stream. The term, found in the 11th-century garden manual…

A loophole for thrusting pikes and spears. Typically, they are installed in narrow locations beside main castle entrances…

Also *yasaka-zukuri 祇園造. A style of shrine architecture which began in the…

An eight-legged gate *hakkyakumon 八脚門 (1653) located at Rinnōji Taiyūin…

A small castle or fortification built like a a country house or mansion yashiki 屋敷. In the middle ages, it usually…

1　The front gate of a warrior's manor house.

2　A gate, now called Kyū tōjin…

1　A Shinto shrine.

2　In very ancient times before permanent buildings were erected…

U-shaped metal pieces nailed to a gate, allowing it to be locked with a sliding timber gate-bar *…

A right-angled joint with a dovetail spline tenon *hozo ほぞ that resembles a…

Also called sashiki 差木, yatoiki 雇木, or machihozo 待ほぞ.

1　A spline tenon. A…

Lit. "the character eight 八 yatsu." The practice of propping three or four posts around a newly replanted tree. The…

1　Lit. "eight bridges." A type of low bridge built over a shallow pond or marsh using wooden planks without…

Lit. "eight-ridge construction." A complicated roof style with multiple ridges and bargeboards, or large vernacular house…

A type of decorated beam *kibana 木鼻 which is a simplified version of Japanese…

A method of stone-splitting achieved by boring a hole in the stone. A wedge *kusabi…

An arrow loophole in a castle wall. Also sengan 箭眼. Characterized by a vertical opening about 45 cm high (1 …

Positive castle entrance or yang entrance. A generic term for various types of castle entrance *…

A suffix. When used in architectural history, it means a technical style, as in *…

Lit. "whistle shape." A type of water basin *chōzubachi 手水鉢 which resembles…

Also yodogi 淀木 or yodonuki 淀貫. Tapered horizontal timber, 12-15 cm wide and 4.5 cm thick, placed on top of…

Also written 用害.

1　A place of strategic importance, having steep terrain that is easy to defend. In…

In ancient times called fukukai 伏拝; ippukuhai 一伏拝. The worship of a god that is enshrined at a distant…