Also called *suriage shōji 摺上障子. A sliding door frame covered with…

Also kurekugi 呉釘, kirikugi 切釘. A straight nail with both ends pointed. It is made of wood, bamboo, iron,…

Also called oreaikugi 折合釘 or mageorekugi 曲折釘. A type of double-pointed iron nail, square in section, and…

One type of *shōji 障子. A translucent screen or sliding door made by pasting…

Also written 空; kūgeki 空隙, ma 間. Lit. empty, gap, space. The space between two structural parts. For…

Evidence left on load bearing members by beams *hari 梁, *…

1　Wooden shutters constructed at the various openings of a building. They slide out from a special storage…

A gutter used to carry rainwater from the eave-ends to a downspout or hanging chain and thence to the ground. This method…

Also read mabaragumi; also written 阿麻組 amagumi. A bracket complex *…

Weather stripping, flashing, a rain guard, or any device used to prevent leaks or deflect rainwater. A hōju roban…

A curbstone that runs horizontally along the top edge of a podium *danjōzumi…

Also called amadari 雨垂り and amadareochi 雨垂れ落ち. The place on the ground, directly below the eaves,…

Also called aburashōji 油障子. A type of translucent paper-covered window found most often in tea ceremony houses *…

An ancient word for *ashiba 足場 or ashishiro 足代, scaffolding made of…

Lit. curved bargeboard. An archaic term for *chidori haru 千鳥破風, a…

Also read afuri-ita; irakaōi 甍覆.

1　A thick board attached to the edge of a veranda…

Lit. rough stone. A generic term for rough, unprocessed rock in the form in which it is found or quarried. Also read *…

Lit. rough fence. A general term to designate any kind of crude fence with widely spaced posts and crossbars. It is also…

The first layer of mud plaster applied to the lath *komai 小舞, that…

1　A narrow horizontal strip of wall between a long, light, binding beam *…

Lit. leg or foot. Also 脚, read ashi or kyaku.

1　The parts that support the main…

Also simply called *ashiage 足揚. A type of thatched storehouse set upon a…

Scaffold or scaffolding. A temporary, elevated structure used to support workmen, tools, etc. when erecting a building.…

Also written 脚固, 足堅. Strong, horizontal ties which strengthen the posts beneath the floor of a timber building by…

1　A general term for all structural members from the foundation *dodai…

Lit. split reed. A style of round-stone paving *tama-ishijiki 玉石敷 of the…

The Asuka period (538/552-645). So called because the capital of the new Yamato 大和 region was located in the Asuka district…

A type of rectangular pillar employed in the construction of a gate at a castle or dwelling. This pillar, front to back, is…

The capacity to be moved deeply, an aesthetic ideal associated with Heian period literature and aristocratic values. An…

Also pronounced azeki. Chamfered logs used to build walls for storehouses *…

Lit. airing. Also called mushiboshi 虫干. The practice of inspecting and airing valuables that have been in storage…

A heavy wooden plank placed above the ceiling of the first story of a two-storied pagoda *…

A system used to label each structural members of a building before construction, while being dismantled for repair, or…

Also written 枇杷板.

1　The board inserted between a bottle strut *…

Lit. straight corner.
1　Buildings of any traditional type without curves on structural members under the…

Imperial court dance that is accompanied by Imperial court music, gagaku 雅楽, as performed from the late 8th century…

A style of residential architecture in use among the bushi 武士 or warrior class. As defined by the early 20th-…

Also jukubukku 熟仏供, butsuhan 仏飯, or butsushō 仏餉. Cooked rice made as an offering to the Buddha,…

Narrative paintings, reliefs, or group sculptures of Buddhist stories (sutras or legends), which were made in great…

Lit. stage framework. A framing member that runs the entire width of the upper part of a *…

Lit. proscenium wall. The wall at the front part of a *kabuki 歌舞伎 stage.

A generic term for the structural members which form the framework *honegumi…

Lit. the hot water for tea. Also known as sadō 茶道 or chadō. The ritual art of preparing and drinking…

Lit. a plover bargeboard. Also written 鵆破風, lit. a trianglular shape. A dormer gable or a dormer bargeboard, or both…

Staggered shelves. Considered part of the *shoin 書院 style…

An offspring ridge. The shorter and outer of the two corner ridges which descend along the line of the adjoining surfaces…

Lit. a strengthening bracket arm. An extension of an interior tie beam which terminates on the exterior as a bracket arm *…

The rounded-off top of a pillar. In the daibutsu style *daibutsuyō…

Also called inukuguri 犬潜. The opening between the floor frame of the alcove *…

A generic term used to express the distance between two flat, adjacent surfaces, between the surface of a wall and a post…

1　The age divisions of peasants recruited by the state for labor service, building or civil/military…

In ancient Japan, a complex of buildings within the Imperial Palace used for affairs of State, enthronement ceremonies, and…

Lit. straight line roof. Roofs without any curved surfaces. A hip roof *yosemune…

Cutting decorative patterns with an adze *chōna 釿 on chestnut wood …

Also written 釿初, 手斧初. Also called kozukuri hajime 木造り始め or onohajime 斧始め. A carpenter's ceremony performed…

Also called chōnahatsuri 釿斫. A decorative pattern carved into the visible surface of a timber using an adze *…

Lit. medieval architecture. Temple and shrine buildings erected during the Kamakura, Nanbokuchō, and Muromachi periods when…

A synonym for the large bearing block *daito 大斗 placed on the tops of pillars…

Lit. Indian style. The style of architecture introduced to Japan when the priest Chōgen 重源 (1121-1206) returned from China.…

Also daibutsuyō tokyō 大仏様斗きょう. Lit. Great-Buddha-style bracket complex. A bracket system introduced by the priest,…

Also called wakibashira 脇柱; taishōbashira 大将柱. Initially, the square post placed at the right front corner…

Also called daikagurabashira 太神楽柱; *kudabashira 管柱 or…

Carpenter.

1　Often pronounced daikō. Also ōtakumi or ōkitakumi in old…

A center joint. An oblique scarf joint combining a housed *daboso 太ぼそ joint and blind tenons. The mortises are…

The largest type of bearing block *masu 斗, usually placed directly on top of a…

A large bearing block *daito 大斗 with a bracket arm *…

1　A wall plate or top plate placed along the top of head-penetrating tie beams *…

1　Also written 反. A step. The level part or tread of a flight of stairs. When made of wood, the tread is…

1　A generic term for a level mound or platform raised above the surrounding ground. An earthen mound may be…

A simple step-ladder, also called hashigo 梯子 or hashigodan 梯子段. Examples include a *…

1　A roofing method that uses copper sheets laid in a step-like pattern.

2　A roofing…

Also written 壇正積; danjōzumi kidan 壇上積基壇. A style of podium introduced to Japan from Korea in the latter half of the…

Lit. a section. A vertical section scale drawing of a building or architectural detail shown either transversely, …

Also yokodanmen-zu 横断面図, also read ōdanmen-zu. Lit. a cross section drawing on the longitudinal axis. …

1　Also called *gagyō 丸桁 or gangyō. A round-eave purlin…

1　Also deha 出端. Any architectural member which protrudes, projects, or extends outward. When…

The framing of opaque sliding screens, *fusuma 襖, and translucent sliding…

A one-stepped bracket complex parallel to but separated from the wall by the extension of a rainbow beam, *…

Also called de 出.

1　Also called *noki-no-de…

Lit. three-on-one at right angles. Sometimes called crisscrossed 3-on-1. A bearing block and bracket complex consisting of…

Lit. things from overseas.

1　Objects brought from abroad, including numerous art works. See *…

Lit. things from past generations. Art works or antiquities which have been treasured among people for long period of time.…

Also pronounced dezumi. Also written 出角. The external corner where two walls join to form an angle. The interior…

Entasis. The bulge in the center of a circular pillar to make it appear straight. In Japan, circular pillars called *…

Also read tsuchibei. Also called *tsuiji 築地. An earthen wall or…

A sill, ground sill, or footplate. Generally the heavy timber members laid horizontally at the base of a wooden building…

Also called tsuchidomesan. Narrow timber strips nailed horizontally to roof sheathing, *…

1　Generally a base for tile roofing, *kawarabuki 瓦葺. A…

The process of spreading clay on the prepared surface of a roof in order to lay roof tiles, *…

Lit. guardian boy's stones. Two symbolic garden stones (see *yakuishi 役石）…

Independent post. An internal freestanding post, *hashira 柱, not attached to…

Also written dōzuri 胴摺. The widest horizontal stile in the door of *heijūmon…

Also read dodome-ita, and called *seki-ita 堰板. The sheathing boards…

A large, heavy horizontal timber attached to the tops of posts, *hashira 柱,…

Also written 蝦虹梁.

An usually-shaped rainbow tie beam thought to resemble the back of a lobster or shrimp or an s-shape…

Also written 蝦束; also hinazuka 雛束. 

A small strut with chamfered corners used between two staggered…

Also written 絵振板 or 恵振板.

A board cut in a decorative shape and attached at a right angle to the projecting end of a…

Also written 絵振台. Also called onigawaradai 鬼瓦台, *onidai 鬼台. 

Lit. branch strut. Also called hōzue 方杖; hasuzuka 斜束 or nanamezuka 斜め束. Diagonal braces used in…

Less commonly, *Tokugawa jidai 徳川時代. The Edo period, the time in which…