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.
古い町家に格子窓が並んでいる。
Lattice windows line the old townhouses.
格子窓から柔らかい光が差し込む。
Soft light streams in through the lattice window.
京都の祇園には美しい格子窓の建物が多く残っている。
Many buildings with beautiful lattice windows remain in Kyoto's Gion district.
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