A small Buddhist hall dedicated to the Bodhisattva of wisdom *Monju 文殊 (Sk. Manjusri) who usually is…

Lit. "gate crowning." A tree planted by a garden gate so that its branches extend over the gate. In some cases the branches…

A railed timber platform built on the roofs of urban vernacular houses *machiya…

Lit. "scenery-viewing stone." An alternate name for the *gakumi-ishi 額見石,…

A watch tower compound built on high ground apart from the main castle compound, from where the movement of enemy forces can…

A general term for a small room or simple structure where objects such as items of equipment, tools, containers and utensils…

A type of settlement of lesser officials and servants which developed around the precincts of great shrines and temples…

Also pronunced monzenchō. A settlement in front of the main gate of a temple (or *…

Woods. The sacred grove of trees planted in front of a shrine by a landscape designer.

Alcove ornaments found in tea ceremony rooms of various types. The term morokazari is derived from the time when…

A plane used to curve the grooves in a doorsill or lintel. Unlike the *mizoganna 溝鉋,…

1　The core of a building. Prior to the introduction of Buddhism the term moya meant the central…

Also *moya 母屋. Purlins; horizontal members placed between and parallel to the…

Also osagomai or usakomai 小狭小舞; 小来舞. Four slender wooden members, square at their inner ends, and circular…

Also written 無方塔. Also *kaisantō 開山塔 or *…

A second raised-floor area at the lower end *shimote 下手, of…

A gate that has two supporting posts, sodebashira 袖柱, in front of and behind the main pillars to carry the…

Also often read mukōkaramon. A four-legged gate *shikyakumon…

A board, usually of pine but sometimes Japanese cedar, placed between a normal sized host's mat *…

Also pronounced mukai-zukuri. A style used for the main building *honden…

One part of the joint used when eaves supports *kayaoi 茅負 or flying rafter…

Also mukōgiriro 向切炉. Mukōgiri refers to *hongatte 本勝手 and…

Also *tsumairi 妻入; mukōzuma-zukuri 向妻造; *…

Lit. "camber." In traditional Japanese architecture, a roof surface or individual member with convex curves as opposed to…

A camber roof. A roof with convex curve from eave end *nokisaki 軒先, to ridge…

Also called mekurashikii 盲敷居, *mume 無目, nume 滑, or mume…

Lit. "smooth or flat." A prefix used to indicate that a threshold or sill *shikii…

Ridge tag. A narrow, wooden tag or marker, measuring from 30 cm to 1 m long, upon which pertinent information regarding a…

A ridge pole or ridge beam. The topmost horizontal member in a roof. It receives the upper ends of the rafters.

Ridge beam. Also called munegata, munagata, munegeta 棟桁; *…

A general term for the rows of decorative tiles used along the ridge of a structure. The tiles have many patterns, for…

Also osabashira 小狭柱 or futabashira 二柱. A generic name for pillars which rise from the ground to…

Also called munekado. A simple gate with two circular pillars, a gable roof *…

Also read munezutsumi.

1　A general term used to refer to any tile stacked high in layers…

Also called *munagi 棟木. A ridge. Mune includes not only the main ridge at the very…

Also muneage 棟上; jōtōsai 上棟祭; jōtōshiki 上棟式. A ridge-raising ceremony that takes place upon…

Also read munagawara. Lit. "ridge tiles." A generic term for the tiles used to cover the apex of the roof.…

A generic name for the ornaments added to the ridge of a thatched or wooden roof to protect the roof-ridge, and to symbolize…

The main ridge pole that extends beyond the end of a roof surface and abuts against the footplate ashimoto 足元, of…

Lit. "tiles at the corners of the ridge." A generic term for the ogre tile *onigawara…

1　In Japan's earliest compilations, the 8th century Kojiki 古事記 and Nihon shoki 日本書紀, a…

Also called *horadoko 洞床 or tsuchidoko 土床. An alcove…

1　A name given to the *amidadō 阿弥陀堂, a temple hall dedicated…

Lit. "warrior run." The wide section built inside a wall on the level top of an earthen embarkment *…

Lit. "hidden warriors." A small room closed off from the raised-floor area *jōdan…

Also bukemado 武家窓, bugyōmado 奉行窓. Edo period windows with heavy vertical lattice bars, used in castle…

Also written 蒸子格子. A type of lattice *kōshi 格子 used on windows…

A type of window containing a lattice of *mushiko gōshi 虫籠格子, set into the upper part…

Also musō orekugi 無双折釘. A type of nail used to hang a scroll in an alcove *…

Abbreviated term for musō renjimado 無双連子窓, also further shortened to musō 無双. A window made of narrow…

Lit. "Corrective on Gardens of the Musō Lineage." A late Edo period treatise on landscape gardening. According to the…

Sometimes abbreviated to mutesaki 六手先. Six-stepped bracket complexes as seen on the great south gate, Tōdaiji *…

A pillared gate-like entrance to a Shinto shrine, developed around the 9th century. The most common type of shrine entrance…

Lit. "a long board."

1　The board used as the base of the *…

1　An early term for long boards used on roofs. Records dating from the 8th century first used the terms…

An elongated hexagon or a decorative pattern consisting of a series of elongated hexagon shapes.

Longer than standard semi-cylindrical roof tiles used as coping tiles *kasagawara…

Lit. "flowing."

1　The flow of the roof line from the ridge *…

Also nagare hafu-zukuri 流破風造. A widely used style of main sanctuary *…

A sloped tenon, which is cut into the end of a beam. The top of the tenon is flush with the top surface of the beam. The…

1　A sink used for washing food before its preparation, for washing utensils after a meal, or for washing…

The long side of a timber, or a timber placed in a lengthwise direction.

A room at Kumano Jinja 熊野神社, in Fukushima Prefecture, which is similar to a worshipper's hall *…

Longhouse, or row house. A house with a long ridge. Also indicates a house with a number of residences connected under a…

The smallest of three standard sizes of roof tiles yanegawara 屋根瓦, used during the 17th-19th century. The…

Also once known as Zaōdō 蔵王堂. The Nageiredō is a small building, constructed in the overhang style kake-zukuri 懸造,…

A transverse beam *hari 梁 made in two sections and coupled by a stub-tenon-…

Non-penetrating tie beams that are made to fit around pillars *hashira 柱 of…

A long rectangular beam cut along a diagonal cross-section and used as a non-penetrating tie *nageshi…

Also called naginata mayu 薙刀眉 or 長刀眉. A type of carved molding *kurigata…

A sudden strong, upward curve at the corner ends of eaves. Especially characteristic of the Zen style *…

Buddhist priests' living quarters. Higher-ranking priests had two rooms one behind the other. The inner room was called the…

1　An interior wall partition.

2　The inner surface of a wall.

Also read naishimon. Traditionally, the timbergate through which virgin attendants entered a shrine. Structurally,…

The inner sanctum located in the main halls *kondō 金堂 or *…

Also called moyabashira 母屋柱; irikawabashira入側柱. The pillars placed on the boundary between, or slightly…

The innermost compound *kuruwa 郭 of a castle. Sometimes called *…

The inner section of the pendant *gatō 瓦当, attached to a semi-…

Small entrance-gates at Yoshida Jinja 吉田神社 in Kyoto. They are located in front of two small shrines behind the octagonal…

1　A miniature shrine within the sanctuary of a Shinto shrine.

2　The innermost…

A board which is inserted between the host's mat *temaedatami 点前畳 and the…

1　A semi-formal entrance to Honmaru Goten 本丸御殿, the main palace in Edo-jō 江戸城. It was situated at the east…

According to the Shokunihongi 続日本紀, a gate leading to the waiting area for all officials, chōshūden…

1　A generic term for a door connecting two areas of a structure.

2　A door in the…

A garden wash-basin set characterized by the use of gravel surrounding it. The gravel allows the water from hand washing to…

1　Also *daimebashira 台目柱. A small pillar which stands at…

A pair of sliding doors *hikichigai 引違, separating the front…

A rain gutter placed at the bottom point where two roofs meet. Similar to *narabidō 双堂…

An urban vernacular residence *machiya 町家, characterised by a…

An inner earth-floored area found in *nakadoma machiya…

Also called nakazan 中桟. A middle rail. A horizontal rail or rails inserted into stiles tategamachi 竪框 and…

A vertical, finishing strip of wood placed between the threshold *shikii 敷居 and…

1　A private service-oriented room in the mansions of aristocrats, warriors, retired emperors, abbots and…

A tea ceremony room or house that contains a board *naka-ita 中板, set between the host's mat…

Also *ni-no-maru 二の丸, ni-no-kuruwa 二の郭, naka-no-maru 中の丸.…

Also called sakuko 柵子, kakusaku 角柵, marutazaku 丸太柵. The stakes used to support the fencing set in…

Also *hanakugi 花釘, tokonakakugi 床中釘 (see *…

Lit. "middle wicket." Also pronounced uchisomi. It is sometimes called kuguri 潜. A type of middle…

1　A place for hanging clothes in vernacular dwellings of the Kantō 関東 region.

2　…

Also called chūgomi 中込, nakazuke or chūzuke 中付. A middle layer of plaster applied between the…