A single window or door opening. Also, a single door or window. They may swing on hinges one way, both ways, or slide.

A term used in all parts of Japan in the Edo period, for a straight shelf *tana…

1　A generic term for any group of structural members set in a grid pattern.　

2　The…

Also abbreviated to ijō 居定. The degree of pitch on the underside of a rafter support *…

Slip fasteners. The wooden or bamboo pieces used on the reverse side of the overlapped boards of a board-and-batten ceiling…

Also sasuzuka sasuzaoshiki 扠首束扠首竿式, *sasuzao 扠首竿, *…

Also written 犬行. Lit. dog run. A narrow inset in wall ramparts, or in an embankment of earth forming a footpath or ledge.…

Also pronounced inubōgi.

1　In temples and shrines, a lattice *…

Also called komafusegi 駒防ぎ. Concave screens about 60 cm high and of varying length made of closely-spaced bent…

General drawings which reflect all the contents of a building, its plan and design. Such drawings must depict the function…

Also called *wata-ita 綿板. Thin panels of wood inserted between the rails …

Also called moyabashira 母屋柱 or 身舎柱. Pillars that are erected inside and parallel to the pillars positioned on the…

A door frame made of a head lintel and vertical door jambs to which doors are attached with hinges.

Pillars *hashira 柱 at the inner boundary of a pent roof…

1　A corridor or passageway between the main body of a residence and the veranda. It is also found in temple…

Purlins, *keta 桁, placed along the tops of pillars surrounding the…

The bargeboards on the gable end of a hip-and-gable roof *irimoya yane…

A hip-and-gable roof. In Japanese architecture, the gable part is usually over the core area of the building, *…

A hip-and-gable roof construction, or a building with this roof construction. A gable type roof has a ridge and gable…

The internal angle made by the junction of two planes, such as walls, a wall and ceiling, or the inside angle made by the…

Also kanokodate 鹿の子建 and ishitsuki 石付. A technique used at a folk dwelling to attach a pillar to a…

The point at which a base stone and a pillar are joined. The upper surface of a plinth stone on which another stone may be…

1　The cutting and arrangement of stones.

2　The layout of masonry.

Also written 鈑 or 版. Originally a relatively thin flat timber, stone, or sheet of metal. In the medieval period (1185-1568…

A thin, flat stone resembling a board. Also called a plate stone. The stone can be divided into three types depending on the…

Traditional transoms that are made of wood and have sections filled with a single board, or one or two parts are filled with…

Also called itabari tenjō 板張天井 or *hariita tenjō 張板天井…

A wooden board or plank fence. Wooden fences made of planks and set directly into the ground are called hottate itabei…

One type of pagoda or stupa, tōba 塔婆, in the form of a flat stone stele that became prevalent in the early 13th…

Wood shingles. Widely used in Japan for buildings of many kinds, ranging from palaces, elite residences, shrines, and…

A roof structure covered with boards or planks. Various names are used depending on the size of the boards. A large plan…

Wooden panels with the grain set in alternating directions in a coffered ceiling *…

1　The boards covered by tightly woven straw mats *tatami 畳,…

An Edo period term for wooden planks with a rectangular cross-section, between 5 cm and 30 cm thick. These planks were cut…

A common type of wooden board flooring commonly used before thick straw matting *tatami…

Also read itagarado; also called itatobira 板扉. A 6th-7th century door made of a single, thick wooden plank…

Thick boards used to cover exposed base rafters visible under eaves. Examples: Eihōji Kannondō 永保寺観音堂 (1315), Gifu…

Also read itaoshi. Battens used to prevent boards from moving. They are long, thin strips of wood set vertically…

A shortened form of itomasame 糸柾目. Straight, narrow grained wood. Two examples are Japanese arborvitae, nezuko…

A very narrow, chamfer about 3 mm wide, made by planing the corners of posts. The term has been used from the 17th century…

A rare five-stepped bracket complex found at a temple on Sado 佐渡 Island, Niigata Prefecture.

Lit. snake belly board. The boards lined up under the thick eave ends nokizuke 軒付 of a cypress bark *…

Lit. snake's belly.

1　A cornice. Called nokijabara 軒蛇腹, at the eaves of a building and …

Also called honshirin 本支輪 (main shirin). A short, curved, non-supporting transitional member that connects…

Lit. snake belly ceiling. An open or exposed ceiling composed of curved, parallel rafters, thought to resemble a snake's…

Lit. snake skin. The boards lined up under the thick eave ends nokizuke 軒付 of a cypress bark *…

Gravel, small stones, or pebbles. A corrupted form of sazare 細 meaning tiny stones. Jari have been given…

Also called omodaruki 母垂木. A base rafter that extends outward from the roof framework, generally the eave purlin *…

Also read chien hikaku. Double eaves *futanoki 二軒, composed of base…

1　A sleeper. The lowermost horizontal beam that spans the width of a bay *…

Also written 地幅石. A long horizontal base stone, sometimes called a sleeper, or a continuous plinth course. It is placed at…

Also 地形 chikei. The preliminary foundation work on a building. Materials for this include: rubble *…

Also 軸孔; jikuzuriana 軸吊穴; jiku uke 軸受; tobira jikuana 扉軸穴. The socket into which the pivot hinge…

The framework or body of a building between the foundation and the roof structure. In traditional architecture it includes…

Also written 軸釣, 軸摺. Pivot hinge. A metal covered wooden-core pivot inserted into a socket *…

Also called shimonuki 下貫. A penetrating tie beam at the base of a pillar or a tie beam beneath a building's…

A base hip rafter found at the corners of a roof. Ordinary rafters *jidaruki…

A latticed door made with both horizontal and vertical laths at the same surface level. There are no recessed laths nailed…

Also written 帖.

1　A counter for screens *byōbu 屏風 and…

The Jōgan gishiki is a ten volume collection of ceremony regulations compiled by Fujiwara Ujimune 藤原氏宗 by order of…

The upper level of a two-stepped podium *nijū kidan 二重基壇. The lower level is…

Principal transverse beam. The beam that receives the diagonal braces at the end of a gable roof. It also supports the ridge…

The framework for a mud-plastered wall. It consists of lath, bamboo crosspieces *…

A generic term for shrine fences *tamagaki 玉垣. A fence built at shrines from…

Also written 壁木舞. Thinly split lath set vertically and horizontally to form the framework *…

Small diameter posts set between two pillars to support horizontal circular laths called kabemawatashi 壁間渡. The…

Lit. walled bridge corridor. An archaic term for a type of corridor that connects two buildings in a Heian period…

Also 衡木. A horizontal timber, lintel, or crossbar.

1　A lintel characteristic of gates called *…

A short strut used at the corners of podii *kidan 基壇, or a dais *…

Frog-leg strut. A strut with legs spread like those of a frog. Kaerumata in the early Nara period developed from an…

Boards or panels planed to a perfectly smooth surface and employed for ceilings or flooring. An example is a thin board…

Lit. mirror room. A room separated by a curtain from the passageway hashigakari 橋掛り leading to a noh stage *…

Also kagamiita tenjō 鏡板天井. Lit. mirror ceiling. A flat ceiling made of smoothly planed boards shiraki…

A plastered roof ornament on storehouses *dozō 土蔵. Located at the ends of…

Purfled work. Lit. basket carving. A type of decorative wood carving used on beam projections *…

Floor or storey, and also a counter for floors in a building. For example, nikai 二階 refers to the second floor or…

One or more steps composed of a tread dan ita 段板 or fumi ita 踏板 and a riser *…

1　A trapezoid.

2　Also called *tsuiji…

Also kaikō ana 開口穴; kaikōbu 開口部. A generic term for an opening made in a wall for a door and window, in…

Also written 皆折釘. A large, square, angular nail used for wooden or bamboo fences. Its head is bent at right angles but has a…

Also ni 荷. Lit. load. The downward pressure exerted by the roof structure, purlins, transverse beams, etc. on the…

Also read kakehana, and written 掛鼻. A decorative nosing *kibana 木鼻…

A neck-like part under a bulbous-topped post *giboshi 擬宝珠. It resembles the…

1　A tower or a palace. For example, tenshukaku 天守閣 is the keep or dungeon of a castle. See *…

1　A generic term for structural members that are square in cross section. Examples are found on the steps…

Also called kakutamagaki 角玉垣 or *tatehigo tamagaki 竪籤玉垣. A…

Lit. square lattice. Lattice that is square in cross section. A single section of lattice is called renjiko 連子子.…

1　The frame, rail or stile of a door, window or sliding screen *shōji…

Lit. tortoise tail. Short, diagonally set ribs with thin wooden strips called jaboko 蛇骨子 or koebi 小海老,…

Also called *manjūgata 饅頭形. Lit. tortoise belly.

1　A…

Lit. upper floor. Refers to the second story of a two-storied structure. *Jū 重…

Lit. upper hand. Upper end or high end. The position or seat of higher rank, or the superior position in a hierarchy. In…

A generic term for a head jamb. Unlike the lintel *magusa まぐさ, kamoi…