Also written 鑪. The modern character is ro 鈩, and can mean furnace. Tatara is an ancient word meaning…

Also written 塔中. A simple building containing a pagoda that enshrined the ashes of a founder or head priest of a Zen 禅…

Also read tachi. A small castle shiro 城 and/or a wealthy provincial residence *…

A dominating garden stone that is set in an upright position. The term appears first in the *…

A board and batten wall. Thin boards with battens attached are set vertically to hide the joints, a Zen style *…

The layer of plaster that gradually covered ropes suspended randomly down a store house wall *…

A pit dwelling. Generally a house type with a sunken, excavated floor. Houses of this type existed in Japan from the Jōmon…

A type of tomb made in the Tumulus period, also called Kofun period. A pit was dug and lined with cut stone such that the…

1　Small settlements between the larger officially recognized inn towns *…

Also called nunobame 布羽目. Vertically placed wooden panels cut from the long side of a large piece of timber. When…

Also read ritchūshiki. A ceremony performed when the main post, tate-bashira, of a building is erected.…

A ripsaw. A saw used to cut timber in the same direction as the wood grain. There are various types of ripsaw including: the…

Also written 立菱. A longitudinal diamond pattern which consists a series of repeated upright diamond shapes. See …

A vertical dry moat. Also read tatsubori; sometimes written 立堀, 竪濠. A dry moat *…

Also written 縦縁. Perpendicular stiles on both sides of opaque sliding screens *fusuma…

Also read jūdanmen-zu, meaning "to cut vertically." Either a longitudinal or cross section drawing made along the…

Also called tatsudoi 立樋. A cylindrical or square drain pipe that allows rain water to flow from the rain gutters *…

Also read tachidokoro. The point where a structural timber begins to rise. For example, the place where the bottom…

A generic term for removable screens, doors or shutters. This includes: sliding screens *…

A type of worship hall *haiden 拝殿 which is attached to the main…

Lit. "vertical post shrine fence." Also called kakutamagaki 角玉垣 (square shrine fence) or *…

Also written 縦ほぞ. Usually the two tenons made on each end of a threshold *shikii…

Also written 竪蔀; also called itajitomi 板蔀. A moveable fence used in aristocratic dwellings of the Heian and…

Lit. "under construction pagoda." A pagoda at Kanshinji 観心寺 in Osaka that has only its first story. Kusunoki Masashige 楠木正成…

All the basic wooden structural members produced at a building site including the ridge, and the ceremony of raising the…

Also written 立子 or 建子, read tatego.

1　 A generic term for the vertical muntins on lattice…

Also called awasemeji 合目地. Lines made when vertical stone panels are arranged along the sides of podii *…

Also called tatehonshigesan 竪本繁桟, tatehonshigesankumi 竪本繁桟組; tateshigekumi 竪繁組. Closely-spaced…

The measurement of floor space in any traditional type building using *tsubo 坪 (3.31 meters…

The accurate alignment of posts, pillars, stiles, and trim on a door frame in order to allow for the perfect fit of a hinged…

The boards placed over rafters *taruki 垂木, to form the underside of a roof and…

Also called tatedōzan 竪胴桟. Vertical lath used for a door or window frame. Lath called san 桟 can be set…

Lit. "multiple-island style." More than two islands constructed in a chisen 池泉 (pond and stream) type garden.

One of the gates in the inner enclosure of the old Edo-jō 江戸城. It preserves the *…

Lit. "ladder-shaped compound plan." Short for teikakushiki nawabari 梯郭式縄張. A plan that fortified a castle entrance…

Also dainaisha 第内社. A shrine within the estate or premises teinai 邸内 of a nobleman. The mansion, …

Lit. "Secret Text on Garden Construction." A treatise on landscape design supposedly written first in the Muromachi period.…

Also called *dōgu-datami 道具畳, or kyo-datami 居畳. The straw mat…

Beams used to support a heavy lower ridge *jimune 地棟. They are…

1　A prehistoric pit dwelling *tateana jūkyo …

1　Also sangai 傘蓋, hōgai 宝蓋, kagai 華蓋, kengai 懸蓋. Sk: chatra…

Two large posts placed to the right and left of the *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage, kabuki …

Lit. "ceiling boards." Ceiling boards made from cypress, fir, white or red cedar, and other coniferous trees. The zelkova…

Also called *tenjō-ita 天井板. Single-panel boards side by side to…

Also tenjōkamachi 天井框. A long, light, binding beam, sometimes rabbeted, running horizontally along the wall in the…

Also called arikabe nageshi 蟻壁長押, mawaribuchi nageshi 回縁長押.

1　…

A ceiling joist. A horizontal timber to which a wooden lath *kizuri …

Lit. "ceiling." A ceiling made of cypress boughs erected over seats, according to the Engishiki 延喜式 and Yukiin 悠基院…

The distance from the floor to the ceiling.

Also read tenjōgeta. Ceiling joists that run lengthwise in a building, below the ceiling structure, to support the…

Also *tenjōketa 天井桁 or tenjō ukegeta 天井受桁. A horizontal beam which…

The placement of one planed timber on top of another planed timber without making any notches.

Lit. "tower central pillar." A pillar found in the main structure of castles, sometimes used singly and sometimes in pairs.…

Also called tenshukaku 天守閣, tenshuyagura 天守櫓. Also written 天主, 殿主, and 殿守. The principal tower-like…

The independent raised foundation upon which the principal tower *tenshu 天守 was constructed.…

Lit. "flat iron stone." A type of andesite quarried in the Suwa 諏訪 and Kitasaku 北佐久 regions of Nagano Prefecture. The flat,…

Also called jūgan 銃眼 (loophole). A gun loophole or gun port. An opening through which to shoot a firearm from…

A term for an alcove or recess of the *oshi-ita 押板 type found in…

Lit. "musket fence." A type of *sodegaki 袖垣 or *…

Also termed nawadarumi 縄だるみ (slackened rope). A concave shaped stone wall with a curved surface that resembles a…

1　A term used to count the number of steps of a bracket complex. For example, futatesaki 二手先, …

Lit. "candlestick stone." One of the *yaku-ishi 役石 of the *…

A balustrade along a stairway or surrounding a shallow balcony on a high gate *rōmon…

A unique gate at Himeji-jō 姫路城 'Nu'-no-mon 'ぬ'の門 (1601-10), Hyōgo Prefecture. It is tall and has a double story and…

The structured elements that cover a window, entrance, or other opening to protect them from the weather or the inside of…

A whetstone, grinder, or grindstone. A tool used to sharpen the blade of a plane or chisel. Carpenters used a set of ranging…

The boards used for the construction of a door including: *mairado 舞良戸 (one…

Also called tōba 塔婆, sotoba 卒都婆 or *tasōtō 多層塔 (many-layered…

Also called toyose 戸寄. A door stop.

1　A thin strip of wood attached to and projecting…

Lit. "stepping stones." As the key material for the path of the *roji …

Lit. "stepping stone stairs." A type of stepping stone *tobi-ishi 飛石, placed on a slope to…

Also called tobimono 飛物 or hiryō 飛梁. A beam that extends from the eave purlin *…

A pivot-hinged door. *To 戸 refers to sliding doors. However, in a compound word such…

The structure or composition of a door fitting.

Also called tobiradōri 扉通. The alignment of gate pillars *hashira…

Also sūjiku 枢軸. An almost obsolete term for pivot *jikuzuri 軸吊. The…

A box-like structure into which the rain shutters *amado 雨戸 are stored when not…

A type of board roofing *itabuki yane 板葺屋根, whereby boards …

The main, east gate of a temple compound.

Also called masudasuke, tosuke; totsunagi 斗繋. The reinforcement pieces cut into some types…

1　The highest point or top surface of a structural element. For example, keta-no-tōge 桁の峠…

An entrance or doorway, the doorsteps; doormat.

Lit. "east seeking hall." A small building at Jishōji 慈照寺, also popularly known as Ginkakuji 銀閣寺 (1485), Kyoto, built by…

Also called toyo とよ. A generic term for a gutter. When used in traditional architecture, it was generally made of…

A stone or stones onto which the water that flows down a drain pipe splashes. These stones prevent ground erosion from a…

Also tōdaishaku 唐大尺 or tenpyōshaku 天平尺. An ancient unit of measure, approximately 29.6 cm. Renamed *…

Also read sotojiro. An outer castle or fortification.

1　A separately enclosed fortification…

Lit. "evergreen tree." A pine matsu 松, cryptomeria sugi 杉, or sakaki 榊, found in almost all types…

Also called nihon-bashira 二本柱, because originally both the pillars to the left and right of the alcove *…

Also read yuka.

1　Abbreviation for an alcove *tokonoma…

Also ji-ita 地板. The floorboards laid in an alcove *tokonoma 床の間. The…

A transverse member set across the front of the bottom part of an alcove *tokonoma…

The window in the alcove *tokonoma 床の間 of tea ceremony rooms *…

Also written 床店. A small shop *mise 店, or stall, used for retail…

Also originally called higashi butsuden'in 東仏殿院. A worship hall placed to the east of the pagoda *…

Lit. "alcove room." A *tatami 畳 mat room with a small alcove. There…

The place adjacent to an alcove *tokonoma 床の間, where various types of shelves…

Also dōbari 胴張り. Lit. "entasis." A tall circular pillar, column, or post which curves gradually reaching its widest…

A type of formal fence associated with the walls surrounding nobles' homes and tearooms *…

Also called kumimono 組物 or *masugumi 斗組. A bracket complex composed…