Glossary

A ceiling surfaced with thin strips of wood or bamboo woven in a plaited pattern, used in tea rooms and often set against other ceiling types in the same room.

A triangular dormer gable set on the slope of a roof rather than at its end, used to give a keep or a large roof a marked front.

The stone laid horizontally along the top of a wall or a tunnel portal, throwing rainwater clear of the structure below and finishing the line of the elevation.

The pair of timbers crossing above each end of a shrine ridge, recorded together with the short billets laid along it and a quick way of telling a shrine hall from a Buddhist one.

The unfloored part of a house at ground level, used for cooking and work, paired with the raised rooms; in a townhouse the through-passage of this kind has a name of its own.

The narrow boarded strip outside the rooms of a house, mediating between interior and garden, and called by another name when it lies beyond the shelter of the roof.

The niche of a stone shrine or pagoda hollowed out to hold an image, set between base and roof, sometimes with the figure carved directly inside.

A lower roof leaning against the main body of a building and the space beneath it, housing verandas, canopies and lesser rooms, and recorded by the face on which it stands.

A ceiling formed by a grid of moulded battens with panels laid over them, used in the inner sanctuaries of Buddhist halls and in the formal reception rooms of houses.

A carved board hung from the peak of a gable to cover the ends of the ridge and purlins, made in named shapes and one of the places where design shows.

A square hearth sunk into the floor of a farmhouse for heating and cooking, set in the earthen floor or a boarded room, and recorded under more than one name.

A projection built out over the stone base of a turret or keep, with an opening in its floor for striking directly at anyone climbing below.

The pair of main posts flanking the doorway of a gate, heavy squared timbers that hang the doors and anchor the composition of a gatehouse or a yakuimon.

A window whose head is shaped in a flame-like cusped curve, a Zen-manner detail on temple buildings, most often cut into a plastered wall.

The space between two columns, and the unit used to count them; also a unit of length, so that records give a building as so many bays or so many ken wide.

A veranda whose boards are laid across its width rather than along it, common as the walkway encircling a shrine hall and usually recorded together with its railing.

A small open shelter in a tea garden, rarely more than two metres across, where guests sit and wait before being called in to the tea room.

A decorative metal cover placed over the head of a nail fixing the horizontal trim, often bearing a family crest and ranged where the rank of a room is displayed.

A veranda whose boards run lengthwise along it, common around the reception rooms of houses and often serving as a link between separate buildings.

The part of a shrine or temple front where the roof is carried forward to shelter the place where worshippers stand, recorded with the number of bays it spans.

A railing set along the outer edge of a veranda or a bridge, named in records according to whether it carries knobbed finials or is framed like bracketing.

A beam curved gently upward along its length, used inside temple and shrine buildings and across gable ends, and often carved.

A structural block set on a beam to carry the load above, splayed towards its base, and one of the places where temple and shrine carpenters concentrate their carving.

The assembly of blocks and arms set above a column to carry the eaves and step them outward, named by how many steps it projects.

A ceiling treatment in which no ceiling is fitted at all and the underside of the roof is finished and left in view, so that rafters and boarding become the design.

A sliding door of boards faced with thin horizontal battens at even intervals, used around formal reception rooms and at service gates for its plain, restrained appearance.

A bracket set with an arm laid on the main block and three smaller blocks ranged along it, the basic form without projection, used widely on shrine halls and gates.

The preparation space attached to a tea room where utensils are washed and set out; in a farmhouse the same word can name the room used for water work.

A bracket projecting from a wall to carry a hood, a canopy or a ledge, made in timber, iron, stone or plaster and often ornamented.

A wooden tablet placed at the ridge when a building is raised, recording the date and the carpenters involved, and sometimes designated together with the building itself.

A window fitted with heavy vertical bars, set in the outer wall of a gatehouse to keep watch on the road and mark the estate as one of rank.

A bracket set projecting in three steps to carry the eaves, the deepest of the projecting types and reserved for pagodas, gates and buildings of standing.

A horizontal member fixed across the outside of the columns, binding the frame and, in a reception room, marking the formality of the space.

The inner sanctuary of a Buddhist hall, where the principal image is enshrined, paired with the outer area for worshippers and divided from it by bracketing and transoms.

A room for storing clothes and household goods, set behind the reception rooms and sometimes doubling as a bedroom; in large houses a block of its own.

A curved gable formed by lifting part of the eaves line into a bow, set over a canopy or an entrance to mark the front of a building.

The ornamental tile set at the end of a roof ridge, sometimes inscribed with a date that records when the roof itself was worked on.

A transom filled with fine vertical bars set close together like the reed of a loom, used in formal reception rooms and above gate doors.

A pair of columns set behind the altar dais in the inner sanctuary of a Buddhist hall, one of the two ways of closing the space behind the image.

The opening between the head of a doorway and the ceiling, admitting light and air and serving as a field for carving or fine latticework.

A small recess set at intervals into the side wall of a tunnel, giving workers inside somewhere to stand clear while a train passes.

A small opening cut in the wall of a turret or rampart wall for shooting through, made in forms for the bow and for the gun, and sometimes concealed behind plaster.

A ceiling of boards laid over thin battens running in parallel, simpler than the coffered kind and the commonest ceiling in Japanese houses.

A low boarded step between the entrance floor and the raised rooms, where guests were received, found in the houses of headmen and the well-to-do as a mark of standing.

A window formed by leaving part of an earthen wall unplastered so that the lath beneath shows through, used in tea rooms and garden buildings in no fixed shape.

The raised dais in the inner sanctuary of a Buddhist hall on which the principal image is placed, named after the world-mountain of Buddhist cosmology.

A vertical strut standing on a curved beam in gable framing, swelling towards its base and usually flanked by carved wings.

The sloping members that run from the ridge to the eaves to carry the roof, recorded by the number of tiers and the spacing between them.

The curve of a roof or gable that combines a concave sweep with a convex swell; the swell alone is also recorded on roofs, canopies and gables.

The raised recess in a reception room where a scroll or a flower arrangement is displayed, and the feature by which the standing of the room is judged.

The doorway of a storehouse together with the space in front of it, where a heavy door hangs under a protective hood.

The earth-floored passage that runs from the street front to the rear of a townhouse, with the living rooms ranged along one or both sides.

A heavy door built up from earth over a timber core and finished in plaster, hung at storehouse doorways and castle gates to check the spread of fire.

A built-in desk with a paper-screened window projecting towards the veranda beside the alcove, one of the fittings that define the formal reception room.

A window hinged at the top and pushed open from below, set in pairs on the fighting face of a castle turret alongside the loopholes.

A low upper storey without standing headroom, used for storage or sleeping, and a common feature of pre-modern townhouses.

The built face at the mouth of a tunnel, composed of pilasters, coping and string courses, and the part where design effort is concentrated.

A small fire wall raised at the gable end or above the roof of a townhouse, checking the spread of flame from a neighbour and, being visible from the street, advertising the owner's standing.

A shaft sunk vertically from the surface, combined with a horizontal drift to form part of a culvert or a tunnel.

A mat-floored room on the raised floor, most often the room where guests are received, fitted with an alcove and an anteroom and placed at the upper end of the house.