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Identifying feature

Dougong bracket

A set of interlocking wooden brackets stacked on a column to carry the roof's overhanging eaves. It is used in traditional Chinese temples and palaces and in Korean and Japanese buildings.

a sign of these styles

Foguang Temple, Mount Wutai, China: an example of Ancient Chinese Ancient Chinese c. 1500 BCE–1800s Timber halls of posts and beams under sweeping tiled roofs with upturned corners, joined by interlocking brackets. Hall of Supreme Harmony, Forbidden City, Beijing, China: an example of Chinese Traditional Chinese Traditional c. 200 BCE–present Courtyard compounds under sweeping glazed tile roofs carried on interlocking bracket sets.

also seen on

Japanese Traditional

often seen with

Courtyard An open-air space enclosed by the walls of a building or group of buildings. Glazed tile roof A roof of clay tiles coated with a shiny, often colored glaze, with decorated tiles along the ridges. Upturned eaves Roof edges, called eaves, that curve upward toward the corners. Deep eave overhang Roof edges, called eaves, that extend well beyond the walls. Exposed structure A building's frame, beams, trusses (triangles of linked beams), pipes or ducts left visible instead of… Carved wood ornament Decorative shapes cut into a building's wooden parts, such as brackets (supports under the eaves), porch… Roof finial A small upright ornament fixed to the top of a roof peak, gable or spire, often a spike, ball or carved…