chuubou　中房

KEY WORD :　architecture / roofing tiles

The central, circular part of a round, eave-end, pendant tile *gatou 瓦当 attached to a semi-circular convex roof tile *nokimarugawara 軒丸瓦. The circular part represents the pod of a lotus flower where the lotus seeds are found. The size of the pod, the number, size, arrangement and style of the seeds vary. This motif is found on almost all nokimarugawara which are decorated with many types of lotus flower *rengemon 蓮華文 design dating from the late 6C to the late 12C. Exceptions include a tile with a *tanben rengemon 単弁蓮華文, a single petal plus a single leaf sprout shiyou 子葉 with a star-shape in the center area found at Mikawa Kokubunji 三河国分寺 ruins, Aichi prefecture, and a double petal lotus motif *fukuben rengemon 複弁蓮華文 with what appears to be a large plain center without seeds unearthed at Keiji 軽寺 ruins, Nara.

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*naiku 内区

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