Katsuogi - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

or are short, decorative logs

Logging

Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...

found on Japanese

Japanese architecture

' originated in prehistoric times with simple pit-houses and stores that were adapted to a hunter-gatherer population. Influence from Han Dynasty China via Korea saw the introduction of more complex grain stores and ceremonial burial chambers....

and Shinto architecture

Shinto architecture

Shinto architecture is the architecture of Japanese Shinto shrines.With a few exceptions, the general blueprint of a Shinto shrine is Buddhist in origin. Before Buddhism, shrines were just temporary structures erected to a particular purpose. Buddhism brought to Japan the idea of permanent shrines...

. They are placed at a right angle

Right angle

In geometry and trigonometry, a right angle is an angle that bisects the angle formed by two halves of a straight line. More precisely, if a ray is placed so that its endpoint is on a line and the adjacent angles are equal, then they are right angles...

along the ridge of roof

Roof

A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....

s, and are usually featured in religious or imperial architecture. Katsuogi predate Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

influence and is an architectural element endemic to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. They are often placed on the roof with chigi
Chigi (architecture)
, or are forked roof finials found in Japanese and Shinto Architecture. Chigi predate Buddhist influence and are an architectural element endemic to Japan. They are an important aesthetic aspect of Shinto shrines, where they are often paired with katsuogi, another type of roof ornamentation...

, a forked ornamentation used on Shinto shrines. Today, katsuogi and chigi are used exclusively on Shinto buildings and can be used to distinguish them from other religious structures, such as Buddhist temples in Japan

Buddhist temples in Japan

Along with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples are the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan.The term "Shinto shrine" is used in opposition to "Buddhist temple" to mirror in English the distinction made in Japanese between Shinto and Buddhist religious structures. In...

Origin

The original purpose of the katsuogi is uncertain. A theory is that the wooden logs were initially used to weigh down the thatch roofing seen in early Japanese structures. As construction techniques improved, the need for weights disappeared, and the logs remained only for ornamental value. Their existence during the Jōmon period (250–538) is in any case well documented
by numerous artifacts.

Like the chigi
Chigi (architecture)
, or are forked roof finials found in Japanese and Shinto Architecture. Chigi predate Buddhist influence and are an architectural element endemic to Japan. They are an important aesthetic aspect of Shinto shrines, where they are often paired with katsuogi, another type of roof ornamentation...

, the katsuogi was initially reserved only for the powerful nobility. It was first described in the Kojiki
Kojiki
is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. The Kojiki is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami...

, a 7th century Japanese text, where it seemed to be something accessible only to the emperor

Emperor of Japan

The Emperor of Japan is, according to the 1947 Constitution of Japan, "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people." He is a ceremonial figurehead under a form of constitutional monarchy and is head of the Japanese Imperial Family with functions as head of state. He is also the highest...

. In the excerpt, Emperor Yūryaku

Emperor Yuryaku

was the 21st emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession.Yūryaku is remembered as a patron of sericulture.No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conventionally considered to have reigned from 456–479....

(418-479) sees an official's house laden with katsuogi on the roof. Angered by this, he pronounces the official a knave and a scoundrel for building a house in imitation of the imperial palace.

Later in history, emperors granted families such as the Nakatomi clan

Nakatomi clan

The Nakatomi clan was an influential clan in Classical Japan. Along with the Inbe clan, the Nakatomi were one of two priestly clans which oversaw certain important national rites, and one of many to claim descent from divine clan ancestors "only a degree less sublime than the imperial ancestors"...

and the Mononobe clan

Mononobe clan

The was a Japanese clan of the Kofun period, known for its military opposition to the Soga clan. The Mononobe were opposed to the spread of Buddhism, not on religious grounds, but more so as the result of feelings of conservatism and a degree of xenophobia...

permission to use katsuogi on their houses. As these clans were fervent supporters and administrators of Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

, the katsuogi would eventually come to decorate Shinto shrines. By the 6th century, katsuogi were beginning to be used on the homes of powerful families, along with chigi. After the Meiji restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

(1868) their use in new shrines was limited to the honden.

Design

The katsuogi is usually a short, rounded log. Most are round, although square or diamond shapes have occasionally been used. Some are carved with tapered ends. More ornate katsuogi will be covered in gold or bronze, and decorated with the clan symbol or motif.

The number of katsuogi used on any given roof varies, but in general there is always at least one on each end. Earlier buildings tend to employ more katsuogi. Katsuogi are always used in buildings constructed in the shinmei-zukuri
Shinmei-zukuri
is an ancient Japanese architectural style typical of Ise Grand Shrine's honden, the holiest of Shinto shrines. It is most common in Mie prefecture.-History:...

, kasuga-zukuri
Kasuga-zukuri
is a traditional Shinto shrine architectural style which takes its name from Kasuga Taisha's honden. It is characterized by the use of a building just 1x1 ken in size with the entrance on the gabled end covered by a veranda. In Kasuga Taisha's case, the honden is just 1.9 m x 2.6 m.Supporting...

, sumiyoshi-zukuri
Sumiyoshi-zukuri
is an ancient Shinto shrine architectural style which takes its name from Sumiyoshi Taisha's honden in Ōsaka. As in the case of the taisha-zukuri and shinmei-zukuri styles, its birth predates the arrival in Japan of Buddhism.-History:...

, and taisha-zukuri
Taisha-zukuri
is the oldest Shinto shrine style. Named after Izumo Taisha's honden , like Ise Grand Shrine's shinmei-zukuri style it features a bark roof decorated with poles called chigi and katsuogi, plus archaic features like gable-end pillars and a single central pillar...

styles. They are almost always paired with the chigi.

Origin

Design

See also