1.
lattice window; window with a wooden grid
A window fitted with a crisscrossing wooden or bamboo lattice framework. A distinctive feature of traditional Japanese architecture, especially townhouses, tea rooms, and temples, providing ventilation and light while maintaining privacy.
Compound of 格子 ('lattice; grid framework') and 窓 ('window'). A hallmark of traditional Japanese 町家 (townhouse) architecture, especially in historic districts of Kyoto, Kanazawa, and other cities that preserve pre-modern streetscapes.
Usage
- The lattice patterns vary by function and region. In Kyoto, different 格子 patterns historically indicated the trade practiced inside: fine lattices for fabric merchants, wider ones for sake breweries.
- Functionally, 格子窓 allow air circulation and diffused light while screening the interior from the street — a balance of openness and privacy characteristic of Japanese spatial design.
- Still seen in modern Japanese architecture when designers incorporate traditional elements.
Common collocations
- 格子窓から光が差す: light comes through the lattice window
- 格子窓の町家: townhouse with lattice windows
- 格子窓を開ける: to open a lattice window
Similar words
- 格子: lattice; grid — the framework itself, without specifying a window
- 障子: shoji; paper sliding door — translucent paper panels in a wooden frame, another traditional window treatment
- 出窓: bay window — a window that projects outward from the wall
- 丸窓: round window — a circular window found in temples and tea houses