Bamboo facing placed close to the eave ends *nokisaki 軒先 of a…

1　One of the seats around the sunken hearth *irori 囲炉裏, in the…

Also called tōkyōzuka 東京束. A strut that bulges out at top and bottom. The term is derived from a long-handled…

1　Also called Kōjinsama 荒神様; Kōjinsan 荒神さん.

2　A god that…

1　A low fence of latticework *kōshi 格子, construction, used to…

Also written 小見世.

1　A deep covered walkway *hisashi…

Also shōgi 床几. A folding chair or a stool. These folding chairs were derived from the chairs used by the Huns (Jp:…

A roof style found on vernacular houses *minka 民家 in Saga…

1　A generic term for a small door, very often a wicket door set into the leaf of another larger door or…

1　A small low gate cut through an earth wall, tsuchibei 土塀, or timber fence *…

1　A cooking structure which houses a cooking range *kamado…

1　The standard measurement used for bay size in the Kansai 関西 region, along the Inland Sea, along the San'…

Also pronounced chōnami.

1　Streetscape in an urban area. The linear space defined by the…

1　Also written 町屋. One of the two main categories of vernacular house *minka…

Also written 曲屋. A farmhouse, nōka 農家, with a room that housed stables *umaya…

A general term for farmhouses with an L-shaped plan *magariya 曲り屋

1　A structural system employing posts called *matabashira 股柱, which…

A type of post found in vernacular houses *minka 民家, of the 17th…

A well with a particular arrangement of stone sidings for its top and shaft lining. It has four lining elements each of…

1　A dialect variant of *mizuya 水屋, used in the Edo period to designate an…

A general term for vernacular dwellings of the ancient, medieval, or premodern periods, or rebuilt in the style of the…

Also pronounced tana.

1　Abbreviation of *misedana 見世棚.
…

Also written 店棚.

1　A small-scale shop in the mediaeval period. Known from the late Heian…

The front part of the earthen-floored area *doma 土間, in urban vernacular…

The space outside the front part of the earthern-floored area *doma 土間 of…

Lit. "beyond the shop." A term used most commonly in the Kinai 畿内 district and Kii 紀伊 (Wakayama Prefecture), during the Edo…

1　Also written 水遣, 水谷, 水舎. Also called *daidokoro 台所, *…

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

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 *…

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

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

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

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…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

2　…

Also written 生子壁. A traditional finish for *dozō-zukuri 土蔵造 and *…

Also *nema 寝間, *nando 納戸, *heya…

A room for sleeping in vernacular houses *minka 民家 of the Edo period.…

Roughly dressed lumber measuring less than three *ken 間 (5.5 m) in length and more…

The main living room *hiroma 広間, adjacent to the earthen-floored area…

Also abbreviated to niwadaikoku 庭大黒.

1　A freestanding post *…

1　A new cooking range *kamado 竃, or open hearth *…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also written 御釜柱. A pillar which is erected opposite the main central support pillar *…

1　A room that abutted the earth-floored area *doma 土間, at its…

The houses of procurers keeping teams of yūjo 遊女, female entertainers and prostitutes in the authorised pleasure…

The upper roof erected over storehouses, kura 倉, of the *dozō …

1　A general term for the final or innermost room of a *shoin 書院…

Lit. "the front, surface, or exterior of something."
1　The front part of a house and the area around the…

A row of urban vernacular buildings *machiya 町家, directly facing the street at…

A layout of urban vernacular residences *machiya 町家, found during the Edo…

1　A low four-legged table used in the Kamakura and early Muromachi periods in upper class priestly and lay…

1　The wife of a member of the upper classes and her living chambers. The term, used in the Muromachi period…

1　The part of the kitchen where the finishing stages of food preparation took place and where meals were…

A township composed of *shake 社家, families who held posts (usually…

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

Lit. "lower kitchen."

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

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

1　A large window in the front wall frame of a principal living room *…

A type of settlement or township which developed along major trunk roads during the medieval and early modern periods,…

A vernacular house *minka 民家, in the style known as *…

1　A term for a style of vernacular residence *minka 民家, with…

Lit. "sleeve udatsu." Extensions of the gable parapet walls *udatsu 卯立…

Lit. "latticed door gate." A type of garden gate which features lattice, or basket-work of split bamboo. Varieties include…

Lit. "sparrow dance." A widely-used term for a range of elements used to decorate the ridge of the roof in vernacular houses…

Also pronounced takahe. The gable walls of the central thatched portion kirizuma 切妻 of the roof *…

Also pronounced takahe-zukuri. Lit. "high wall construction." Also called *…

The stokehole or stokeholes in the side of a cooking range *kamado 竃. The…

Shelves.

1　 A type of shelf, sometimes with a rack, of which there are many ordinary household…

Bamboo rafters that span from the ridge *munagi 棟木 to the eave ends *…

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

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

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

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

Also written 供部屋. A room used principally by the servants or attendants tomo 伴, 供 of high ranking visitors both as…

An earthfloored area *doma 土間 or *…

1　In the Heian and Kamakura periods, a gate in a pise mud wall *tsuiji…

1　A crossroads or intersection of two roads. See *zushi…

1　An alternative term for the base ridge *jimune 地棟. The base…

Lit. "connecting beam."

1　Also *geyabari 下屋梁. A short…

A small upper floor or mezzanine loft space *chūnikai 中二階, usually only about…

Also read zushi nikai. A loft in the roof space of a single-story vernacular house *…

A subordinate entry in houses possessing a formal guest entry *genkan 玄関, and…

Also written 卯建, 宇立, うだつ; all read udachi, odatsu, or odachi.

1　A term…

1　A wide post at the interface between the earth-floored space *doma…