Also called keisha uragō 傾斜裏甲, or raking eaves filler. Hidden eave fillers attached to a bargeboard *…

A Noh stage. A stage originally constructed for outdoor performances of *Noh 能, a…

Hidden rafters. Rafters used to construct the roof framework of the main roof of a Japanese building. Hidden rafters have a…

Beams used in a hidden roof framework *noyane 野屋根. Also refers to any beam which is…

Hidden roof framework above a ceiling or above an exposed roof framework.

Also noura-ita 野裏板, *no-ita 野板. Sheathing that is placed over…

Sheathing. Rough wooden boards nailed on to rafters to make a surface on which roofing material is laid. The boards are…

1　A board placed under the eaves and over the rafters of a traditional Japanese building as sheathing *…

Eave extension or eave overhang measured from the center of a pillar or post to the rafter end. The distance may be from…

Convex struts set under eaves at intervals between the eave purlins *gagyō…

Eaves. The part of a roof that extends beyond the exterior wall of a building. There are single eaves *…

Lit. "eave ends." The eave ends of a tiled roofed building which are usually obscured by decorated pendant tiles *…

A bamboo gutter usually hung by hooks from the end of an eave *nokisaki 軒先, to catch rain…

Also *nokimarugawara 軒丸瓦. A popular name for the semi-cylindrical eave-…

1　Also written 宇瓦. Eaves-end tiles. Roof tiles placed along an eaves line,…

Also *karakusagawara 唐草瓦; *…

A semi-cylindrical or half-round eave-end pendant tile. The pendant *gatō 瓦当, is…

A generic term for all the parts that compose aneave including: rafters, *taruki…

Also *nokiba 軒端. An eave edge or an eave end. The eave end of a tiled roof kawarayane…

Also kotenjō 小天井. A long narrow ceiling installed under an extended eave. This type of ceiling is constructed…

Bracket complexes which support the eaves.

Also nokishita 軒下. The underside of an eave *noki 軒, or the overhang of the roof beyond…

Curvature of the eaves. There are two types: shinzori 真反 (true curvature), in which the center eave curves from the…

A ceremony performed before a thatched roof *kayabuki yane 茅葺屋根, is hid.…

Also noji-no-kōbai 野地の勾配. The incline of straight hidden rafters *nodaruki…

A saw. Saws are the most used tool in Japanese carpentry. They divided into two broad groups: the ripsaw, which cuts along…

Also pronounced nogomai. A lath that is concealed from view. For example thin strips of lath used within the roof…

1　A hall where cinerary urns are stored and human ashes are kept.
2　A building to house…

A chisel. A tool used by a carpenter to bore holes in timber. It is divided broadly into two categories depending in the way…

Hidden purlins used in a hidden roof structure. Visible purlins are called keshō moya 化粧母屋.

Also called nomune 野棟. A hidden ridge. The upper and true ridge in a hidden roof construction, which forms the…

Also none tenjō 野根天井. A board ceiling to which long narrow splints or strips of wood are attached. The ceiling…

1　A hanging cloth suspended from the eaves or in the openings (especially entrances) of a building as…

1　The incline of a stone wall and castle rampart. Nori ichiwari 法一割, means that for every 1 m of…

Lit. "mounting stone." One of the trump stones *yaku-ishi 役石 placed in front…

Lit. "step-over stone." One of the trump stones *yaku-ishi 役石 set…

Also pronounced hōkadai. Also noroshidai 狼煙台 or noroshiba 狼煙場. A fire beacon; a stone platform on…

Lit. "cool dwelling." Formerly the name used for the priests' quarters at Jingoji 神護寺 (Momoyama period) in Kyoto. Now more…

A miniature pagoda in a bowl or rotund bottle shape. The pagoda is made of gilt bronze *…

An archaic term for *taru-no-kuchi 樽の口. Also called …

Also noshizumigawara 熨斗積瓦. The ancient name was *tsutsumigawara…

A hidden roof. The roof structure built above an exposed roof. It has its own support system and hidden rafters that are set…

Also called hizumi 歪 meaning incline or slant. A slight twist inward at the top of a bargeboard or a tilting…

Lit. "peeping bridge." A type of arched, wooden garden bridge that ends abruptly in the water just after beginning its…

Lit. "peeping fence." A type of *sodegaki 袖垣 with one or more…

1　An unfinished, unplanned board with a rough surface. See *no-ita …

1　Also called *ishigaki 石垣; ishigaketsumi 石崖積; …

Lit. "sewing nail."
1　A nail that connects the two parts of a scarf joint *…

A knot hole. A flaw on a timber surface caused by a knot that has fallen out.

1　A penetrating tie beam that extends from one pillar to another inside a temple or shrine building. It has…

Also written 貫孔. The generic term for the opening made in a pillar, strut or any other member into which a penetrating tie…

Also called ajirogaki 網代垣 or ajiro takegaki 網代竹垣. A type of wickerwork fence, especially popular in…

An ornamental type of *myōjin torii 明神鳥居, or gate-like entrance a Shinto…

1　Also called *nunokiso 布基礎. One meter long rectangular base…

Also called renzoku kiso 連続基礎. A type of direct footing that runs diagonally across corners and attaches to the…

A generic term for the textured impression found on the underside of a roof tile. The impression is left by the cloth placed…

The traces left by the pressure of a cloth on a clay surface. The character 痕 ato or kon means a mark left…

Lit. "cloth construction." Ashlar construction. Also termed nunozumi 布積 (cloth piling). A technique used in dry…

Lit. "wet veranda." Also called *ochi-en 落縁, kirime-en 切目縁. A…

Lit. "wet-heron type." A lantern with six uniform sides and a long, thick bell-shaped canopy without…

Also pronounced nurikamachi. The lacquered rails or finishing strips used for the framework of sliding screens *…

1　A sleeping space used by the master and mistress of the house, enclosed with solid plaster walls, usually…

A generic term for the process used to build a fire-resistent wall. Typically the wooden structural frame is entirely…

Windows made with plaster-covered lattice, commonly used in merchants' houses *machiya…

Also written 塗回床. An alcove *tokonoma 床の間, with three sides and the wall…

Also nuriatsu 塗厚. Depth of plastering. The ratio between the thickness from the first rough coat applied to the…

A ceiling of the *sunoko 簀子 type made from bamboo stalks lashed…

Also written 塗り屋, 塗家.

1　A fireproof building in which all the timber surfaces of the structural…

An alternative term for *ōkabe-zukuri 大壁造. The fireproofing…

Lit. "wife's seat." Also frequently called kakaza 嬶座. One of the seats around the edge of the sunken hearth *…

A board which is placed on the host's mat *temaedatami 点前畳,…

Large wooden shingles which are about 30 cm wide and are laid from the ridge to the eaves. Where the shingles need to be…

A load-bearing structural member. Refers to any structural element which supports the roof including pillars *…

Architecture introduced at temples of the Ōbaku 黄檗 sect, in the Edo period. This sect is one of the three Zen 禅 sects. The…

Also called wadaruki 輪垂木. An open ceiling found in Buddhist temples of the Ōbaku 黄檗 sect. The architectural style…

Also called obisando 帯桟戸. A simple wooden door made of thin boards with rails at top and bottom and stiles, left…

Lit. "belt compound." A long narrow castle compound. Obiguruwa were often constructed on the top of an earthen…

Also obiki 尾引. Sleepers about 10 cm sq. that extend horizontally at right angle to posts that are erected on a sill…

A outer veranda constructed a step lower than the adjacent floor. It may also be constructed one step lower than a broad…

Lit. "falling stone." Also pronounced otoshi-ishi. One of the trump stones *…

The junction point of a horizontal and diagonal structural member. For example, the point where the bottom of the hip rafter…

Also kiriotoshi 切落.

1　A generic term for a floor that is lower than the main floor of a…

A design incorporating a projection from a major building with a roof ridge *mune…

Lit. "dropped ceiling." Also called otoshitenjō 落し天井. A ceiling in a tea ceremony room above the host's mat *…

A tail rafter. A large rafter which usually extends through the second step of a 3-stepped bracket complex *…

Also called da-itabuki 駄板葺. A shingled roof which has bamboo battens and or stones to hold the shingles in place.…

1　 Lit. "great door." Also called *ōdoguchi 大戸口. The door…

1　The main entrance to traditional vernacular houses *minka 民家…

Also pronounced ōga. A ripsaw thought to have been introduced to Japan from China at the beginning of the 15th…

Lit. "big fence." Large, continuous fences in distinction to short screen fences *…

Lit. "praying."
1　Structural elements arranged in such a way as to resemble the image of hands joined in…

The roof tiles positioned like hands joined in prayer covering the triangular framework of a Japanese roof structure. Broad…

A peak tile. A semi-cylindrical, elongated, barrel-shaped, hanging tile which covers the broad, concave, eave-end tiles *…

Lit. "male tile." Also written 雄瓦, called *fusegawara 伏瓦, tsutsugawara…

Lit. "male tile." A semi-cylindrical cover tile *marugawara …

Lit. "fan slope." Also ōgikōbai 扇勾配 or miyakōbai 宮勾配 (shrine slope). The concave pitch of a stone…

Also written 扇子の縄. A castle plan shaped like a folding fan wherein the fortifications are distributed on either side of the…

Fan rafters. There are two arrangements: those that radiate from a center point on each side of the building; or those that…