Inoko-sasu

What inoko-sasu means

Inoko-sasu is a way of treating the gable end of a gabled or hip-and-gable building in which two inclined members are set in an inverted V on a beam or a curved tie beam, the Kōryō, so that their apex carries the ridge beam, with a short post standing at the centre. The inclined pieces are called sasu and the centre post the sasu post. The arrangement exposes the structure itself and is regarded as an early form. Records write the name with two slightly different characters, and both appear.

Gable decoration, tsumakazari, is the design of the triangular area at the gable end, and it changes a building's appearance considerably. Besides inoko-sasu, common types include a single large post on a curved beam, described under Taiheizuka, and Kitsure-goshi, a lattice backed with boards filling the gable. Inoko-sasu can be told from the single-post type by its visible diagonals and from kitsure-goshi by leaving the triangle open rather than filling it.

Thatched farmhouses also have members called sasu. There they are the main roof frame, pairs of inclined timbers joined at the ridge that carry the whole roof, and they are usually hidden within it. The inoko-sasu of a shrine is composed to be seen at the gable, so the shared word covers different roles and appearances.

Reading the records and the building

Records list it alongside the bracketing and eaves, noting that the gable is inoko-sasu. The record for the main hall of Kenkun Shrine gives Funahijiki for the bracketing and inoko-sasu for the gable and calls the building a good example of a modern sanctuary of clear, simple design. The record for the main hall of Kojinyama Shrine likewise cites funahijiki on the posts and inoko-sasu at the gable as part of a design looking back to earlier forms. The two plain features are often found together.

On site, look straight at the triangle of the gable. If two members rise in an inverted V from the beam to the ridge with a short post between them, it is inoko-sasu. A single large post on the beam points to the single-post type, and a triangle filled with lattice to kitsure-goshi.