Noki-karahafu

What a noki-karahafu is

A noki-karahafu is a curved gable made by lifting part of the eaves line into a bow. It differs from the gable at the end of a roof in being set along the eaves, which is what defines this kind of curved gable.

It usually sits above a Kōhai or an entrance. The Konpira hall at Koryuji in Hokkaido, built in 1917, has a canopy under one at the front with a dormer gable above it. Jumyoin in Hyogo Prefecture, built in 1691, keeps one over the entrance reserved for distinguished visitors, and the entry reads it as a sign of that entrance's status.

Some stand at the back. The main hall of Tenmangu in Gunma Prefecture, built in 1789, is recorded as an Important Cultural Property, a three-bay Nagare-zukuri hall with a curved gable over its rear eaves. The main hall of Yakyu Inari Shrine in Saitama Prefecture, built in 1835, carries the same feature under a copper roof.

Even a small stone shrine can have one. The Takigawa Residence shrine in Aichi Prefecture, dated 1525, is described as having a Yosemune-zukuri roof curving in the Teri-mukuri manner with a curved gable at the front.

Distinguished from the forward-facing curved gable

Records also describe a canopy whose whole roof takes a curved-gable form facing forward. Sumiyoshi Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture is recorded with a one-bay canopy of that kind roofed in copper. There the roof itself is the curved form; here only part of the eaves is lifted.

The two look alike, but the records keep them apart, and the distinction is one of construction rather than appearance.

On site, follow the eaves line. A level eave that rises into a bow and then returns to level is this feature.