What dōban-buki means
Dōban-buki is roofing with thin copper sheets. Sheets cut to size are laid with their edges folded and interlocked. Lighter than tile, easily shaped to curves and durable, copper starts as a reddish metal and over the years develops a green patina.
It is common on the roofs of shrine sanctuaries and gates, on curved features such as cusped gables, on canopies and on small purification pavilions. Many roofs once of cypress bark or shingles have been re-covered in copper for ease of maintenance.
Reading the records
Records name copper roofing for the whole roof or a part of it. The portable-shrine storehouse of Kanda Shrine in Kaizuka, Osaka, a clay-walled building with a gable-entry tiled roof, has a copper-roofed cusped gable over its front. The purification pavilion of Kannonshoji in Omihachiman, Shiga, is a small gabled structure roofed in copper. The detached wing of the former Suzuki family house in Matsuyama, Ehime, a pantiled gabled building with a tea room, has a copper canopy over the veranda on its west side.
Roofing is often changed in repairs, so articles should compare the date of the record with the present state and note whether copper is original or a later replacement. On site, a green or a coppery red roof can hint at when it was re-covered.
References
- 感田神社神輿蔵｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007390
- 観音正寺手水舎｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/520194
- 旧鈴木家住宅離れ｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013893
Last verified: 2026.09.27