What kumimono are
A kumimono is the assembly of blocks and arms set on top of a column to carry the eaves and step them outward. Square blocks and horizontal arms are stacked in alternation to build it up.
Records name the type by how far it projects, and since a deeper projection carries a deeper eave, the type corresponds to the scale and standing of the building.
At the simplest end, the subsidiary Itsukushima Shrine at Kasuga in Oita Prefecture has an arm laid directly on the column head, while the offering hall in the same precinct, built in 1905, has a block carrying an arm with three smaller blocks above it.
Projection begins one step further on. The lantern tower at Hashikuraji in Tokushima Prefecture, built in 1884, projects one step at its lower tier with fan-set Taruki, and the main hall of Sorinji in Shiga Prefecture, from the late Edo period, carries brackets of that kind with a curved fascia at the boundary of the Naijin, along with carving on the Kōryō.
Two steps and three
Larger buildings step out further. The bell tower at Koryuji in Hokkaido, built in 1922, has a frame based on the Zenshūyō manner, open between the columns, with brackets projecting two steps and a Gō-tenjō inside. The three-storey pagoda at Chinzanso in Tokyo, built in the late Muromachi period, is based on the native manner with Zen details added, its brackets projecting three steps and its rafters running parallel at every level.
They can also be packed along the wall rather than set only over the columns. The gate at Hashikuraji, built in 1880, has brackets projecting one step and set densely across both tiers, with double rows of closely spaced rafters. That density is one of the marks of the Zen manner.
Records state the type in a fixed short phrase. Knowing the sequence, from an arm on the column head through blocks and one, two and three steps of projection, lets a few words in an entry place the whole building.
On site, look up under the eaves. Where blocks and arms climb outward in steps from the column head towards the eaves edge, count the steps and the record's term becomes legible.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties (structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/kokuho_bunkazai.html
- National Cultural Properties Database: Itsukushima Shrine, a small single-bay nagare-zukuri hall roofed in copper sheet
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009085
- National Cultural Properties Database: Kasuga Shrine offering hall, its round columns tied by horizontal trim and head-beams
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009087
- National Cultural Properties Database: Hashikuraji lantern tower, pyramidal and pantiled, its lower brackets projecting one step
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009066
- National Cultural Properties Database: Sorinji main hall, with bracketing and carved beams at the boundary between outer and inner areas
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003105
- National Cultural Properties Database: Koryuji bell tower, in the Zen manner with a coffered ceiling inside
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009107
- National Cultural Properties Database: Chinzanso three-storey pagoda, mainly in the native manner with Zen details added
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003195
Last verified: 2026.09.02