What udeki means
An udeki is a short horizontal member projecting from a post to carry an eave beam or canopy at its outer end. It is set into or passed through the post and carries load out beyond it. The Udekimon is a gate whose roof rests on eave beams carried by such brackets projecting before and behind the main posts, and the gate takes its name from them.
Beyond gates, udeki are widely used to extend the eaves of houses and support canopies. Sometimes two are stacked, the lower called the female beam and the upper the male beam. The related Mochiokuri usually denotes a bracket that props from below at an angle, and the bracket arm of a bracket set sits on top of a post rather than projecting from its side.
Reading the records and the building
Records describe udeki carrying eave beams or extending eaves. The front gate of Sesonji on Sado is recorded as an udekimon whose eave beams rest on udeki. The garden gate of the former Nagashima family house in Kumagaya, Saitama, has main posts carrying the ridge and stacked udeki in the manner of female and male beams carrying the eave beams. The detached wing and kitchen of the Takahashi family house in Nichinan, Miyazaki, extend their west eaves on udeki over a brick-paved passage.
On site, look for short members projecting level from the side of a post with an eave beam or canopy resting on their tips. An angled prop is a mochiokuri; a member resting on top of a post is a bracket arm.
References
- 世尊寺表門｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005791
- 旧長島家住宅木戸門｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014743
- 高橋家住宅離れ及び台所｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008392
Last verified: 2026.09.26