Shinmei type pillars *shinmei torii 神明鳥居,…

A horizontal, non-penetrating head beam nailed along the outside and inside of the top face of pillars. If the nails show,…

Horizontal head penetrating tie beams that are connected to the tops of pillars to make them secure. These tie beams may be…

A shinmei type of shrine gate *shinmeitorii 神明鳥居. The two…

A style of shrine architecture employed in main sanctuaries *honden …

A cleat. A strip of metal or wood driven into two members to hold them together securely. A metal cleat that is bent at each…

1　A pattern representing mist, often stylized into shapes like the ideographs 工 or 王. It is used as a…

Also kasumidoko-no-seki 霞床の席. An alcove *tokonoma 床の間, with…

Also written 型板. A template. Boards cut with designs that can be traced onto members that require moldings. For example, the…

1　Lit. shoulder. The shoulder of a tea ceremony tea caddy or tea jar *…

Also katahiki shōji. A single, horizontally sliding translucent screen *shōji…

Lit. one-way pull door. A single leaf sliding door that is pulled left and right to open and close. There are two sliding…

Lit. single swinging door. A rotating door katabirakido 片開戸, or window katabirakimado 片開窓, that…

A construction method that uses half brackets on top of the corners in the inner worship sanctuary *…

Also *nagare 流. The slope, in one direction, of one side of a…

An oblong island created in a garden pond. Although it is a fabrication, its appearance seems genuine due to the natural…

A common abbreviation for katanakazumi 片中隅. The point that indicates 1/4 of the entire length of a structural…

A single or double rack usually found at the outside left of a tea house entrance to hold the swords of warriors. Part of…

Lit. sword rack stone. The trump stone *yaku-ishi 役石 set in…

A folding door that is hinged to a single gate post. When the leaf attached to the gate post is pulled closed, the folding…

Also written 花頭, 華頭, 架灯. A shape used for windows in Zen style architecture *zenshūyō…

A specific arrangement of curved lines found on top of an arched window called *…

Lit. flame fence. A type of fence with an ogee-arched entrance. See *katō 火灯…

Also written 花頭口, 火頭口, 華頭口. Also called *sadōguchi 茶道口 or *…

Also written 花頭窓. A synonym for genjimado 源氏窓. The name is derived from the window in the room called Genji-no-ma…

Also written 鰹木, 勝男木, 葛緒木. Also called kasoegi 斗木. Wooden billets placed atop and at right angle to a roof ridge,…

The building material, such as rough or dressed stone, that forms the horizontal edge of a podium *…

Also pronounced kazura-ishi; also written 桂石.

1　Curbstones or edging stones, also…

The bamboo fence that surrounds the Katsura Rikyū 桂離宮 in Kyoto. The fence it is widely imitated today. At given intervals…

An arrowroot vine fortress. A temporary fortification that dates to the ancient period. Similar to a briar tree fortresses…

A part of a house in the vicinity of the kitchen; *katte 勝手, *…

The term is believed to signify a place where one cooks food, kate wo kashigu 糧を炊ぐ, in use since the Kamakura…

Lit. kitchen alcove. Also teishudoko 亭主床. Sometimes called *gezadoko…

1　A service or tradesmen's entry. A house entry that lead to the kitchen; *…

Also pronounced gawabashira. The pillars or posts placed on the perimeter of a building to form the basic framework…

Also pronounced gawadodai. The ground sill under the outer wall of a traditional architectural structure. …

Lit. tile. The roofing material made of fired clay introduced to Japan from Korea (Paekche Kingdom, Jp: *…

Also kawarabuki yane 瓦葺屋根, kawarayane 瓦屋根. Tile roofing. A roof covered with fired clay tiles usually…

A craftsman who tiles roofs, especially in the area of Kawachinagano 河内長野, and in the vicinity of Osaka.

A tiled ridge on the roofs of thatched vernacular houses *minka 民家 in parts of…

Also pronounced kawarabisashi. A tiled pent roof. The term is especially common in Hyōgo Prefecture where a smaller…

A floor that consists of tiles placed over hard-pack earthen floor, especially common in Zen temples. When the tiles are set…

Lit. the tail of a tile. The tail or upper end of a broad concave roof tile *…

Nails used to secure broad concave tiles *hiragawara 平瓦 and semi-…

Lit. roof tiles that wrap around. Roof tiles used to cover the ridge of a farmhouse with a thatched roof, or a merchant's…

A tiled ridge on the roof of thatched vernacular houses *minka 民家. …

A ceremony to celebrate the completion of a tiled roof in the area of Ōita City, Ōita Prefecture. The senior craftsman, …

1　A structure with a tile roof. See *kawarabuki 瓦葺.

Roofing material made of fired clay tiles, first introduced with the advent of Buddhism from the Paekche Kingdom (Jp: *…

A vernacular house *minka 民家 with a tiled roof *…

1　A tile seat. A long timber rail on the sheathing which covers the rafters and eave support of a roof. The…

A proto-modern, generic term for toilet. It is said that centuries ago such facilities were constructed above a swiftly…

Originally kaya 上屋 (on top of the house). A proto-modern generic term for the grass and reeds used to thatch roofs…

Also *kayabuki yane 茅葺屋根. Lit. thatching with miscanthus. However, the…

Also kayabukimon 茅葺門. Lit. a thatched roofgate.

1　A relatively small-scale thatched gate…

An eave support. A curved horizontal timber that connects the rafters. It is placed on flying rafters that are under the…

Also *kyūjiguchi 給仕口. The host's entrance to a ceremony room *…

Lit. lotus leaf strut. Also read kashōzuka. Commonly called *nigirihasu…

Lit. decorative wash basin. A wash basin placed in a garden for decoration and not used for washing hands. Usually, a wooden…

Lit. decoration stones. A type of stone prized for its beauty and usually placed apart from the more symbolic stone…

Ornamental metal fittings. Metalwork pieces *kanagu 金具, attached to parts of a…

A decorative type of thatch made from cogon, umikaya 海茅, a tall, coarse grass growing along the coastal…

It is found in mansions with large rooms *hiroma 広間, in the shoin…

An ornamental wash basin found on the side of a hallway *rōka 廊下, or around the…

An ornamental well. A garden well which has no water and therefore functions or only as a symbolic or decorative item. It is…

The ornamental elements of a garden. The features of a garden which have an ostensible function but are treated in a non-…

Also written 風子, 翳. Lit. shade. Walls, embankments, or plants used to prevent the enemy from seeing the activities inside a…

Also *seki-ita 塞板, maku-ita 幕板, or itamochi…

An enclosed room generally equivalent to a bedchamber (see *nando 納戸, *…

Also kekomi 蹴込, kekomi-ita 蹴込板 or *kehanashi 蹴放. A riser.…

1　Also called *ukebana 受花. A section of a lotus pedestal *…

A marking gauge. A tool used to draw accurate, straight lines on the surface of timber. The marking blade is fixed to the…

Hairline engraving. A technique used in metalwork where a design was engraved on a surface in a sequence of fine lines,…

A threshold or sill. A horizontal timber without grooves, positioned beneath an entrance so that a door or gate closes flush…

A knife which is used with a ruler to carve a straight line on a woodblock *hangi…

A subsidiary Shinto shrine located within the precincts of the main shrine.

A subsidiary Shinto shrine located outside the precincts of the main shrine. It may be near the precinct boundaries or at a…

Temple and shrine gates, originally used only by the highest ranking people, especially the Fujiwara 藤原 family. During…

Lit. cinnamon hall. An octagonal main hall, Hondō 本堂, of the subsidiary temple, Keikyūin at Kōryūji 広隆寺 (1251…

Lit. scenic stone. A type of garden stone meant to be appreciated for its beauty. Several usually keiseki stones…

A simple style alcove *tokonoma 床の間 with a riser board kekomi-ita…

Also pronounced kemudashi. A smoke louvre. An opening in the roof of a building designed to allow smoke from a…

A bay; the space between two columns. During the Nara and Heian periods most buildings had no interior partitions and…

Also pronounced kentomoe. A decorative pattern combining a sword blade, ken 剣, with the swirling heraldic…

A type of molding *kurigata 繰形, carved in a sword shape. It is…

The method used to describe the plan of a traditional temple or shrine building. It included the number of lengthwise bays…

A type of bamboo fence that takes its name from its use first at the temple Kenninji 建仁寺 in Kyoto. It is also considered to…

Lit. Kenninji style. A school of carpentry headed by Kōra Munehiro 甲良宗広 who left Shiga Prefecture to go to Edo (Tokyo) in…

Also called Aouma-no-jin 白馬の陣. The front gate located near the center of the outer south earthen wall surrounding Kyoto…

A geometric pattern based on three joined hexagonal shapes. It closely resembles *…

Also read kenjo. The seating arrangement in the front and on both sides of the main stage in a *…

Also called Hi-no-gomon 日の御門. One of the twelve gates originally enclosing Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. A four-legged gate *…

Also koboshi 零し. A waste-water container into which either hot or cold water is poured after a tea bowl has…

A bearing block placed on top of a strut *tsuka 束 or a frog-leg…

A votive light offered to a Shinto or Buddhist deity. The lantern which holds the votive light is called a *…

Lit. sword tip motif. Also kentomoemon noki hiragawara 剣巴文軒平瓦. Also kenbishimon 剣菱文. The pendant *…

A strut composed of a short post surmounted by a bearing block *masu 斗. It is…