JAPANESE HOUSE-BUILDING. 



649 



order not to weaken the uprights by the mortises. From these beams 

 run short supports to the horizontal rafters above. 



The roof, if it be of tile or thatch, represents a massive weight — 

 the tiles being thick and quite heavy, and always bedded in a thick 



Fia. 5.— End-Framing op Large Building. 



layer of mud. The thatch, though not so heavy, often becomes so 

 after a long rain. The roof-framing, consequently, has oftentimes to 

 support a great weight ; and, though in its structure looking weak, or 

 at least primitive in design, yet experience must have taught the Jap- 



Fig. 6.— Roof-Fraitk of Large BuiLDiNa. 



anese carpenters that their methods were not only the simplest and 

 most economical, but that they answered all requirements. One is 

 amazed to see how many firemen can gather upon such a roof without 

 its yielding. I have seen massive house-roofs over two hundred years 



