Glossary (I-N)

i

• ichiba - a market
• ike -a pond
• ikeniwa - a pond garden
• ikebana - flower arrangement
• in - a building of a Buddhist temple or a Shintô shrine; houses of nobles; an honorific title of a retired emperor, a mother of an emperor, etc.
• ishigumi (iwagumi) - a stone arrangement or a stone grouping; one of the most important elements (if not the most) of Japanese garden

j

• -ji - a Buddhist temple; used only as a component of a noun, e.g. Kinkaku-ji.; see dera and tera
• jinja - a Shintô shrine
• jizô - a guardian Bosatsu who takes the first priority for relieving children and the weak
• -jô - a castle; used only as a component of a noun, e.g. Fushimi-jô; see shiro
• jôdo - Pure Land; Buddhists' paradise that is situated in the far west
• jôdo(-shiki) teien - a Pure Land garden; a style of a temple garden that is intended to realize Pure Land in this world; the garden of Byôdô-in is an example of this type.

k

• kaiyû-shiki-teien - a stroll garden; this type of garden is designed to be viewed from winding paths
• kaisan - the founder of a Buddhist temple
• Kamo-shi - Kamo clan; powerful clan resided in the north-eastern part of Kyoto; founded Kamigamo and Shimogamo-jinja shrines
• Kannon (Kan'non) - a bodhisattva who serves as one of Amida's two principal attendants; revered especially because of his compassionate vow to save all beings
• kanshô-shiki-teien - a viewing garden; a garden that is laid out for viewing from a room of a building; also, zakan-shiki teien
• karesansui (-teien) - garden designed without using water; dry landscape garden; water is represented by sand, gravel, or moss; one of three major styles of Japanese gardens; other two are chisen-teien (or ikeniwa) and chaniwa.
• Karikomi - clipped shrubs
• kawa - river
• kimono - a traditional outer garment
• kita - north
• kôdô - a lecture hall of a Buddhist temple other than Zen sects; called "hattô" in Zen temples
• kondô - literally "golden hall"; main hall of a Buddhist temple
• kuri - a kitchen of a Buddhist temple; in a wider sense, a temple building where the chief priest resides or priests' living quarters

m

• machiya - a Japanese traditional wooden house in a town or a city.
• maccha - powdered green tea used in tea ceremony; spelled also matcha.
• mae - in front of
• maiko - apprentice geiko; click HERE to see photos of maiko
• matsuri - a festival
• michi - a road
• miko - a shrine maiden
• minami - south
• Minamoto - family name of Genji clan
• mon - a gate
• monzeki - a temple of which the head priests had always been a member of the imperial family or of the nobility.

n

• nishi - west
• niwa - a garden
• Nyorai - Tathagata, the one who came from the world of truth; Buddha; Buddhist deities of the highest rank; there are several Nyorai, e.g. Shaka-Nyorai (the founder of Buddhism), Dainichi-Nyorai, Yakushi-Nyorai, Amida-Nyorai, etc.