Kōryō

What a kōryō is

A kōryō is a beam that curves gently upward along its length rather than running straight. It is common in temple and shrine building, and the Japanese name compares the profile to a rainbow.

It appears constantly in gable framing. The main hall of Kasuga Shrine in Oita Prefecture, from the late Edo period, is described as having a gable framed by two of these beams one above the other with a Taiheizuka between them, brackets projecting two steps, and a small ceiling with a curved fascia.

Gates use it as well. The middle gate at Hashikuraji in Tokushima Prefecture, built in the early Meiji period, is described as having its main posts tied by a lintel shaped like one of these beams, cross-beams in four lines, widely spaced rafters, a gable strut standing on a curved beam, and a Gō-tenjō throughout. The record distinguishes between the beam itself and a member merely shaped like one.

The beam is also a place for carving. The main hall of Sorinji in Shiga Prefecture, from the late Edo period, is described as modest in size but thorough in its detail, with bracketing at the boundary of the Naijin and carving on these beams.

Borrowed as a motif

Structural though it is, the beam came to stand for the manner of religious architecture. The bath hall at the Kanaguya annexe in Nagano Prefecture, built in 1929, is described as a large bath with round columns, these curved beams, bracket blocks and scissor framing, all in the manner of a Buddhist hall.

The motif survived a change of material. The treasure house at Ninnaji in Kyoto, built in 1927, is described as a two-storey reinforced concrete building whose outer walls imitate log construction and which exposes rafters and curved beams, and the entry calls it a fine example of Japanese expression in concrete.

To spot one, follow the horizontal members between the columns. A beam that lifts slightly at its centre instead of running level is this type; two of them stacked across a gable end make the doubled arrangement.