Lit. "borrowed scenery." The method of incorporating a distant vista into the composition of a garden. A river, the ocean,…

Lit. "gold bronze." Ornamental metal fittings *kazari kanagu …

Also shakujōbori 釈杖彫, yuengata 油煙形. A type of decorative carving *…

Dipper-shaped metal fixtures used to cover the extended cylindrical ends at the top and bottom of timber doors. After…

To notch, gouge out or scoop a section of a structural element. The term is used especially for grooves or channels into…

Lit. "dipper or ladle tenon." A flat tenon *hozo ほぞ that is attached to the end…

Volcanic tuff, or small volcanic detritus. Named for a valley, Shakutani 笏谷, in Fukui Prefecture, where it is found. It is…

Also hishakutate 柄杓立. A ladle stand or holder for the ladle or dipper, and charcoal tongs. Shakutate is…

A rod-like, rectangular piece of wood made of Japanese cedar sugi 杉, or Japanese cypress hinoki 桧, 1.8 to…

A group of administrative and sometimes commercial buildings at a Shinto shrine. In ancient times, each shrine was…

A square reliquary hall, used to enshrine the relics of Buddha, called *shari 舎利…

A stupa-shaped container for relics *shari 舎利 that may itself be set within a small shrine …

A subsidiary temple belonging to the main temple and serving as the founder's mausoleum. This arrangement is most frequently…

Also written 支. An ancient unit used to count long, slender objects. Remaining from this ancient system is the expression *…

1　Also known as goseden 五脊殿. A pyramidal *hōgyō-zukuri…

A special finishing plane. A plane used in the final stage of smoothing wood after the surface has been flattened with the…

The texture or color of the finish applied to the surface of any visible structural member in the interior of a building.…

A grass-covered earthen embankment *doi 土居. The embankment is shaped like a…

Also read shibakaki. A very old type of brushwood fencing, originally called fushigaki 布斯垣. Many…

Lit. "Sima Yungong type." One style of natural stone water basin *…

Also mizunuki 水貫. The penetrating beams that join and secure the floor studs *…

Lit. "brushwood mountain." A type of rustic water basin *chōzubachi…

Also written 鵄尾, 蚩尾, 鮪; also called tobi-no-o 鴟の尾, kutsugata 沓形 (shoes tile) because it is thought to…

1　One fourth of a log or piece of lumber, or a 1/4 scale reduction of a structural element. For example,…

The seven principal buildings considered necessary for a Buddhist temple from the 7-12th century. They include: the main…

Also called shichigosan ishigumi 七五三石組 Lit. "seven-five-three-style garden." The arrangement of 15 stones or pruned…

A style of Shinto shrine architecture originating in the Edo period, similar to the sengen style *…

Lit. "seven leaves." A decoration in the shape of seven petals, used on a gable pendant *…

Also read sasaebashira. A generic term for stress bearing timbers that strengthen and secure the frame of a…

A decorative motif that is characterized by a central flower pattern surrounded by either a flower or leaf pattern that is…

Lit. "shinden-style garden." The quintessential Heian period garden that was built in the central courtyard of…

A mortuary hall. One example is the rear part of the *Kaisandō 開山堂 at Eihōji…

Also called ottate daruki 追立垂木, munashita ogamidaruki 棟下拝垂木, shigaya daruki 枝茅垂木, and shinkai…

Closely spaced, parallel rafters. If the underside of a rafter and the space between it and the next rafter are equal, thus…

An unintentional unevenness or irregularity in workmanship.

An angled joint. There are two general types of shiguchi.

1　watashigake shiguchi…

Lit. "drizzle fence." A type of fence in which bunches of bamboo and bush clover are secured by the top bar of a fence so as…

1　A square paving stone, panel or other structural element. When square paving stones or tiles are laid…

A pattern of square paving stones, tiles, or marquetry etc. Each piece is laid on the diagonal, so that all the meeting…

A dovetail splicing joint *aritsugi 蟻継, made in such way that the dovetails…

Structural members that slant inward in four directions. Examples include the corner pillars of some belfries *…

Lit. "Buddhas of the four directions water basin." A type of water basin made from reused objects *…

Various joinery techniques used to insert beams, bracket arms *sashihijiki 挿肘木 or upper…

Lit. "four quarters piling." Also termed masugatazumi 桝形積 (square measuring box piling), and chikei-no-…

Also read edajiro 枝城. Also hajō 端城. Lit. "branch castle." A fortification, other than the main castle…

An abbreviation for *shikamibori 顰彫. Formerly also written shikami 獅噛. The…

Often abbreviated as *shikami 顰. The gouged-out or indented part of a moulding *…

Also ikka shiken 一花四間. A type of decorative flower pattern painted on coffered ceilings. Coffers *…

A stone-cutting technique for paving stones. According to certain tea ceremony sources various sized stones were used for…

Also called sara-ita 皿板. A sole plate. A flat level board placed on floor boards to form a base to erect posts or…

Also *ushibari 牛梁, nakahikibari 中引梁, ushihikibari 牛引梁, …

Also written 色代の間. A room or building that projects from (or adjacent and linked by galleries to) the rear of the main…

Also written 色代.

1　A low broad step or platform of timber, which had become a standard feature of the…

1　Also written 甃. Also called *shikihiragawara 敷平瓦, shikihira…

A wall plate. A beam placed on top of a wall. It supports the ends of transverse beams *…

Also nokishikigawara 軒敷瓦. An under-tile. A broad, concave tile laid underneath a broad concave eave-end pendant…

Also formerly called shikimi 閾; also called shiki 敷, shikiri しきり or shikige しきげ. A…

Also called *koshikake 腰掛.
A bench joint. A flat surface in…

The transfer of a deity, goshintai 御神体, from a permanent building to a temporary one *…

Also called nijū chigaidana 二重違い棚. Double staggered shelves of the shoin style *…

Lit. "partition gate." A gate that partitions or closes off one area from another. Two examples of partition gates are found…

Lit. "poetry paper windows." *Shikishi 色紙 refers to the square paper on which short poems…

Lime plaster used to coat walls, ceilings and earth floors *doma 土間. The word…

1　A generic term for a roof line that has a broken plane, the parts of which run in the same direction. A…

A pent-roof addition to a main building whose roof is at a lower level than main roof.

Also called shikoroyane 錣屋根. A method of constructing a hip-and-gable roof on separate planes. The gable is…

Also an old name read yotsuashimon and sometimes written 四足門; also called ikken-ikkomon 一間一戸門. A four-…

Lit. "arrangement of branch and leg stones." One way to arrange the five types of trump stones known as *…

1　The secondary or collateral lintel placed against the underside of the top lintel *…

An expression used to refer to any entrance gate at a Shinto shrine *torii 鳥居…

A gate located opposite the Shimizu 清水 moat (rebuilt 1658 ) at Edo-jō 江戸城, constructed in the *…

The lowest story of a two or more storied structure.

A toilet for servants. The toilet used by the elite or by the master in merchants housing was called jōchōzu 上手水.…

Lit. "lower kitchen."

1　The outermost part of the kitchen that functioned as a service zone in the…

Also called shimozan 下桟. The bottom piece on paneled doors *karado 唐戸…

1　A room in the front *shimote 下手 corner of the earth-floored…

Also koshinageshi 腰長押.

1　A non-penetrating tie beam *…

Also pronounced getai. The lower, flat or slanted part of the rim on a broad, concave eave-end tile *…

Lit. "lower hand." A position or seat of lower rank, or comparatively inferior position in a hierarchy. In traditional…

One of the residences granted to daimyō 大名 by the Edo government, as part of the system where feudal lords…

1　The seat of lowest status in a reception room *zashiki 座敷.…

Also called shin-no-hashira 心の柱, imibashira 忌柱 or 斎柱, or shin-no-mihashira 真の御柱. Non-structural,…

A garden fence with penetrating ties *nuki 貫 that run horizontally from one…

Also written 真. The center, core, heart, or pith of a log, pillar or wall. When expressing a distance from one pillar center…

A grouping of three stones, carefully balanced to resemble the character shina 品. The stone arrangement is…

Also written 真柱; called satsu 擦 or 刹. Lit. "heart pillar." The central pillar or shaft that forms the axis of a…

Centering. The center point of a line on a wooden structural member, as for example a pillar *…

A style of aristocratic mansions completed in the mid-10th century in the capital Kyoto, Heian-kyō 平安京. One of the main…

Lit. "new hall." Several of Japan's temple complexes include a building known as shindō. One of the most famous is…

1　A purlin that is placed directly across the tops of pillars *hashira…

Also called Shingondō 真言堂, Shūhōin 修法院 or Mandara dōjō 曼荼羅道場. Lit. "the mantra hall." A hall…

An alternative term for *nema 寝間. Also called nedokoro, nedoko…

A traditional Japanese method of constructing a plastered wall. The framing for the wall is set between pillars that remain…

A special stable to house the sacred horse offered to a shrine by the imperial family or a nobleman. The most famous is that…

Also futabashira torii 二柱鳥居. A generic name for a Shinto gate *torii…

An ancient style of Shinto shrine architecture used especially for the main sanctuary *…

A square beam that has a lengthwise section cut out of it. The cut reaches the center of the log and is made to prevent…

Lit. "deity gate." Any type of gate found at a shrine, excluding the gate-like entrance to the sacred ground of a Shinto…

1　The upper part of a timber that is cut diagonally on each side in order to form a peak. In cross section…

A Shinto shrine building where winter and summer clothing are sewn and offered to the deities. Some scholars believe that…