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irakagawara 甍瓦 | ||||||
KEY WORD : architecture / roofing tiles | ||||||
Also called irakamune 甍棟; hon-irakagawara
本甍瓦. The roof tiles that form the lowest part of the stack of high ridge tiles
that extend far above the structural ridge beam. Irakagawara are subdivided
into broad concave tiles with a pendant attached, called iraka karakusagawara
甍唐草瓦 or irakahiragawara 甍平瓦, and semi-cylindrical convex tiles with
a pendant attached, called irakatomoegawara 甍巴瓦 or irakamarugawara
甍丸瓦. The inclusion of the word karakusa meaning arabesque or tomoe meaning comma motif does not necessarily mean that the pendants are decorated
with these motifs. See *karakusamon
唐草文; *tomoemon 巴文. It is
believed that before the late 16c, only flat tiles *noshigawara
熨斗瓦, were piled up on the low ridge to make an imposing impression. However, the
absence of any transition between tiles stacked up on the ridge and the sloping
surface of the roof gave an abrupt, stark appearance. One way to remedy this abrupt
change in planes was to arrange a line of irakagawara on either side of
the high ridge, achieving an aesthetic contour. At first, ordinary-size broad,
concave eave-end tiles *nokihiragawara
軒平瓦, and semi-circular eave-end tiles *nokimarugawara
軒丸瓦, were used, but they proved to be too long. Thus, the irakagawara were
shortened. The use of these tiles provided the impetus for further elaboration
in ridge design which reached its zenith in the Edo period. |
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a) irakamarugawara 甍丸瓦 b) irakahiragawara 甍平瓦
Hasedera Nioumon 長谷寺仁王門 (Nara) |
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*gatou 瓦当 | ||||||
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(C)2001 Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System. No reproduction or republication without written permission. 掲載のテキスト・写真・イラストなど、全てのコンテンツの無断複製・転載を禁じます。 |
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