Hongawarabuki

What hongawarabuki is

Hongawarabuki lays flat pan tiles side by side and covers the joints between them with half-round cap tiles. Two tile shapes mean more tiles and more weight, and in return a strongly modelled surface of ridge and hollow.

It belongs to temples, shrines and buildings of standing. The main hall of Saifukuji in Shiga Prefecture, built in 1862, is described as a Pure Land hall roofed Irimoya-zukuri in this tiling. Sumiyoshi Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture, built in 1808, is recorded as three bays by four, Kirizuma-zukuri with the same tiling, and a one-bay Kōhai at the front under a curved gable roofed in copper.

That second entry also shows the covering changing between parts of one building. Roof shape and material are recorded section by section, and a single structure is rarely covered in one material throughout.

The lighter alternative uses a single tile shape to do the same work. From the early modern period onward Sangawara-buki spread widely, leaving this heavier system to temples, shrines and storehouses.

Mixed roofs, and how to tell them apart

One property may carry both. Kadocho in Wakayama Prefecture, from the late Edo period, is recorded as a timber building 15.9 by 7.9 metres, partly two-storeyed and gabled, with this tiling on the main range, pantiles and copper on the projecting wing, a mixture on the annexe, and formal tiling again on the workshop.

The storehouse on the same property, from the middle Meiji period, is recorded as Dozo-zukuri, 6.9 by 4.0 metres, two storeys, gabled, roofed the same way. Storehouses use it as readily as halls do.

To identify it, look up at the eaves. Raised cylindrical caps at regular intervals with flat tiles sunk between them mean this system; an unbroken wave with no separate caps means pantiling.