1　Lecture hall in a Buddhist temple. In the Nara and Heian periods, it was one of the principal buildings…

Also called komarugawara 小丸瓦. Eave-end, semi-cylindrical tiles *…

Lit. Kōetsuji fence. Also kōetsugaki 光悦垣. A type of open, woven bamboo fence *…

Also called *narabigura 双倉 or twin storehouses. A large…

An inclined plane. Any plane that descends downward on either side of a ridge *mune…

Lit. lying tiger stone. A type of trump stone *yaku-ishi 役石 placed at…

Ancient castle ruins in Western Japan. Rows of stones arranged on mountain slopes in Kyūshū 九州 and Western Japan, including…

Lit. tiger mouth. A castle entrance. An early modern term likening the castle gateway to the tooth and fang of a tiger,…

Steps made of thick, heavy, square, or rectangular timbers cut with their ends exposed. One step is called dangi 段木…

Also koguchi kanamono 小口金物. A metal fitting placed over the crosscut end of a timber. The fitting on the ends of…

Also read kiguchi; also ōdanmen 横断面. A timber cut at a right angle across the grain, or the crosscut end…

A right-angled dovetail joint used to connect the corners of sills and footings. Its significant feature is that the end of…

One of the seven trump stones *nanatsu-ishi 七つ石 used in a *…

A bearing block that is set on a pillar *hashira 柱 or bracket arm *…

A finely latticed and coffered ceiling. If each coffer has a mesh of small latticework that is the same as the larger…

The grids of small lattice that fill the coffers of a coffered ceiling *gōtenjō…

A roof built over the steps leading up to a temple building. A step canopy.

1　The top narrow outer surface of a board cut lengthwise through the center or heartwood jushin 樹心…

Also kō-no-jigumi 香の字組, kō-no-zugumi 香の図組. A design pattern created by the arrangement of the muntins…

1　Also called Kōjinsama 荒神様; Kōjinsan 荒神さん.

2　A god that…

Also written 木後; 鐺. Also called hafujiri 破風尻. The bottom end of a bargeboard *…

Lit. child castle. A branch castle. The main castle is called oyajiro 親城 (parent castle).

1　A long, narrow, horizontal wall above the upper non-penetrating tie beams, uchinori nageshi 内法長押…

1　Also called ryūgūmon 竜宮門. A unique type of mausoleum gate *…

Also kyōgenbashira 狂言柱. The pillar located at the junction of the rear seats for stage assistants atoza 後座…

The place on a noh stage *nōbutai 能舞台 where the kōken…

Also kokera 柿; koba-ita 木羽板. Also read kaki-ita 柿板.

1　The small chips…

A roof covering made with a layer of thin wooden shingles made of cypress. The shingles are about 0.3 cm-0.5 cm thick, 9 cm-…

Also pronounced kokibozo. Any tenon that gradually narrows toward its outer end.

Lit. late style dry landscape. A type of dry garden *karesansui 枯山水…

Lit. small scattered paving stones. A type of round-stone paving *tama-ishijiki…

A small tea ceremony room, from two to four and a half mats in size, which best encompasses the characteristics of the…

A six-sided lantern type found at Fudarakuji 補陀洛寺 in Kyoto.

Also written 木舞. In the Shōsōin Monjo 正倉院文書 it appears as 古麻比 komai and in other old documents as 古万比. The…

Lit. reverse side lath. The lath placed between the roof sheathing and the rafters *…

An ancient unit of length which was imported from the Korean kingdom of Koguryo (Jp: Kōkuri 高句麗), equivalent to…

A generic term for bearing blocks that are smaller than the largest type placed on top of a pillar *…

1　A low fence of latticework *kōshi 格子, construction, used to…

Lit. rice stone. A type of granite from modern Nagano and Toyama Prefectures. Also called tsume-ishi 詰石, these…

Also written 小見世.

1　A deep covered walkway *hisashi…

Two light wooden frames covered with translucent paper *shōji 障子, usually set…

A decorative pattern consisting of a pair of parallel zig-zag lines, one thick and one thin.

Also written 閣門. The gates on the inner enclosure of the Imperial Palace, and the small gates on each side of the Daigokuden…

Lit. rear gate. The best known is found at Kitano Tenmangū 北野天満宮. The gate is an example of *…

A building with a short roof ridge. One example is a hipped roof.

Lit. golden hall. The name given to the principal hall housing the most sacred images at Buddhist temples from the Asuka…

An angle joint *shiguchi 仕口 with a rabbeted tenon *…

Also kongōgaki 金剛垣. A fence made of vertical stakes with decoratively shaped tops resembling the *…

Also called Hikaridō 光堂 or Konjikiin 金色院. Lit. Gold colored hall. A small Buddhist edifice at…

Lit. small or short eave. An eave, konoki, constructed of short rafters called flying rafters *…

Lit. original central hall. The main hall, Kondō 金堂 of Enryakuji 延暦寺 (1640), Shiga Prefecture. A large single storied…

Lit. eave corridor. A roofed corridor with open sides. A connecting corridor between two buildings.

Lit. mixed complex system. A system of combining various architectural members into a unified structure. For example: the…

Also kōraibuchi 高麗縁, monkōraiberi 紋高麗縁. A decorated binding used to make the edge of a straw mat *…

A type of gate, lit. Korean gate. Also formerly called *kabukimon…

Also written 鈎欄 or 勾欄, the latter said by some scholars to be the correct characters. But, 高欄 is the more common, popular…

A small, two-storied structure *rō-zukuri 楼造, in which a drum is suspended in…

Also called umeneda 埋め根太. Sleepers placed directly on the ground or cement floor without using joints or struts.…

Lit. incline or inclination. Also called *uchikorobi 内転. The incline of…

Lit. rainbow beam. A generic term for any curved, transverse tie beam. It is used almost exclusively in temple or shrine…

A structural framework for a roof that has a gable pediment arranged in a similar structure as the bottle shaped strut …

A roof frame constructed with rainbow beams *kōryō 虹梁 that extend…

A structural framework in the gable ends of a roof characterized by the use of bottle struts *…

Also *mizuhiki kōryō 水引虹梁. A head penetrating tie beam *…

Latticework or grille. Normally latticework is made of wood and grille made of metal. Both are laid out in a grid. The most…

A latticed window with immovable lattice inserted into the window frame. The window is called degōshimado 出格子窓 if…

Lit. hip or haunch.

1　The wainscoting, or wooden panelling, below the mid-point of a wall, or the…

Paneling or plain boards used to finish the lower part of a wall. If only the term *…

Also written 腰張, 腰紙貼. The pasting of paper on the lower part of the clay wall in a tea ceremony room, one piece of which is…

The oldest method used to insert lattice directly into the members of the window opening. The vertical muntins are inserted…

Also called koshidaka akarishōji 腰高明障子, or only koshidaka. A translucent paper-covered sliding screen *…

A bracket complex, used under the balcony of high gates, beneath the multiple roofs of pagodas and the main roof of two-…

Lit. waist compound. In a mountain castle *yamajiro 山城, a…

A half-lapped, half-blind, tenoned dovetail joint. The indented piece is cut with a bench (hip, koshi 腰), open in…

A half-lap, dovetailed joint. Also shikimen aritsugi 敷面蟻継, shikimen arihozotsugi 敷面蟻ほぞ継, koshikake…

Also shikimen kamatsugi 敷面鎌継. A half-lap, gooseneck tenon joint. An end joint which combines two joints: a half-lap…

A place provided in a tea garden where the mood and expectations of the participants are intensified while they wait until…

Lit. Lap or bench. A basic part of many joints. Although similar to the *aigaki…

Also *koshi 腰; kasanetsugi 重継. Lit. seat joint. A simple…

A latticed window. One type resembles *renjimado 連子窓. The laths are narrower…

Also termed koshimaki-ishigaki 腰巻石垣, a waist-bandstone wall. A stone wall built around the lower part of an earthen…

A horizontal non-penetrating tie beam *nageshi 長押 positioned below the…

Lit. hip tie beam. Penetrating tie beams placed horizontally slightly below the center of pillars on exterior walls of…

Also shōgi 床几. A folding chair or a stool. These folding chairs were derived from the chairs used by the Huns (Jp:…

Also called shinkurama-ishi 新鞍馬石 and kōshūmikage-ishi 甲州御影石. A type of low quality granite quarried in…

A trowel chisel. A type of paring chisel *tsukinomi 突鑿, with…

A small subsidiary tower. When a castle complex has two or more donjons, the largest is called *…

A lantern found on the north bank of Kasumigaike 霞が池 in Kenrokuen 兼六園, Ishikawa Prefecture. It is very large, approximately…

Also called tenjō aratameguchi 天井改口. Lit. roof structure inspecting entrance. A trapdoor built into a ceiling to…

Also called rokubari 陸梁. The bottom most transverse tie beam *hari 梁 in…

Roof truss or framework; the frame with diagonal members on either side of a strut *tsuka…

Lit. a small roof. A small roof built over a shed or subordinate structure attached to a main building. Examples include a…

Also called Koyomitei 暦亭. The old calendar papers that were pasted to the base of the mud plaster wall of a small…

Also written 香狭間, and abbreviated to *sama 狭間. Formerly called *…

Also *koma 小間. Lit. a small room. An old name for a small sized tea ceremony room…

Also called daikagurabashira 太神楽柱. Pillars used to build two story structures whereby one pillar is erected on the…

Also *ketakakushi 桁隠, ketakakushigegyo 桁隠懸魚, *…

Also called *hira kudarimune 平降棟. A descending ridge *…

A roof style found on vernacular houses *minka 民家 in Saga…

A nail made of metal, wood, or bamboo and shaped according to use. Traditionally, metal kugi are square, …