Chidori-hafu

What a chidori-hafu is

A chidori-hafu is a triangular gable set on the slope of a roof rather than at its end. Unlike the gable that closes a roof, it sits above the eaves line without meeting it.

Castles use them to mark the front of a keep or turret. The small keep at Matsuyama Castle in Ehime Prefecture, reconstructed in 1967, is described as Irimoya-zukuri with Hongawarabuki and one of these on the south face of its lower tier. The south corner turret carries one on its west face. Each has a single gable on one face of the lower tier.

Large roofs may carry several. The Konko-kyo Tamamizu church in Osaka Prefecture, built in 1935, is described as a large Japanese-style building with a pent skirt, its main hipped-and-gabled roof enlivened by two of these gables along the long slope.

Modern schools adopted them. The south wing of Shirakawa school in Mie Prefecture, built in 1954, has one over its central entrance porch, which the entry says gives the building the frontage expected of a school.

Distinguished from the curved eaves gable, and put to use

A Noki-karahafu lifts part of the eaves itself into a bow and remains continuous with the eaves line. This one stands separately on the roof slope and is a straight-sided triangle. The two can be combined: the Konpira hall at Koryuji in Hokkaido has a canopy under a curved eaves gable with one of these above it.

They are not purely decorative. The offices at Omi Jingu in Shiga Prefecture, built in 1940, have a north range whose ridge stands higher than the west range, and one of these gables on the west face serves as a steam vent above the bath.

On site, look at the roof from the front. Where the eaves run level and a triangle projects from the slope above them, that is the feature.