tarukisaki gawara　垂木先瓦

KEY WORD :　architecture / roofing tiles

A rafter pendant tile. A small tile formed to fit the shape of the cut end of a rafter *taruki 垂木, whether circular, square or oval. They are made of metal or glazed clay. The tiles are attached to the rafter end by a nail, hammered through a hole made in the tile for this purpose. Tarukisaki gawara are both decorative and functional, in that they protect the cut ends of rafters. Widely used in ancient times, Asuka period (538-645) rafter pendant tiles bear a single lotus-petal motif *soben rengemon 素弁蓮華文. The center of this motif either contains just the nail hole, or may be surrounded by a seed motif *shumon 珠文. From the latter half of the 7c, an eight-petalled lotus motif with added leaf sprout *tanben rengemon 単弁蓮華文 and a double-petalled motif with leaf sprouts *fukuben rengemon 複弁蓮華文 became common patterns. Also, tarukisaki gawara decorated with the flower-like motif *housouge 宝相華 and an interlaced pattern have been recovered from Naraikeji 楢池寺 site, Nara, and from Hourinji 法琳寺, Nara. It appears that in the 8c double rafters were used, with round pendant tiles on the base rafters *jidaruki 地垂木 and square ones on the flying rafters *hien daruki 飛檐垂木. Some of these tiles were glazed in several colors. An example of a square tile, glazed brown, green, and white, was found at Saidaiji 西大寺, Nara. Exquisite metal rafter end covers from the Asuka period can be seen on the Tamamushi miniature shrine, *Tamamishi no zushi 玉虫厨子 (mid 7c) at Houryuuji 法隆寺, Nara. Examples of Metal tile-end covers from full-scale structures include square tiles from the lecture hall Koudou 講堂 at Yakushiji 薬師寺, Nara, and the five storied pagoda Gojuu-no-tou 五重塔at Houryuuji, and circular tiles from Zenshouji 善正寺, Osaka.

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