Shibi (roof tile)
Encyclopedia
Tile
A tile is a manufactured piece of hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, or even glass. Tiles are generally used for covering roofs, floors, walls, showers, or other objects such as tabletops...
set on both ends of the ridgepole that tops a shingled roof. The kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
for the word mean "kite" and "tail" respectively. Because it resembles a shoe, it is sometimes also called a , meaning "shoe shape".
Shibi often take the form of a shachihoko
Shachihoko
A is an animal in Japanese folklore with the head of a tiger and the body of a carp. It was believed that this animal could cause the rain to fall, and as such, temples and castles were often adorned with roof ornaments crafted in the form of a shachihoko, in order to protect them from fire.The...
.