dǒugǒng 枓栱

Note

Dougong refers to a unit consisting of a number of mortised bearing blocks (dou 斗), arms (gong 栱), tie-beams (or "squared beams" fang 枋) and inclined beams (ang 昂). They are often used under the eaves, on beams, or on the tops of pillars.

The first use of the term dougong as a compound word can be traced to the Sui dynasty translation of the Scripture on the Original Vows of the Medicine Tathāgata (Yaoshi rulai benyuan jing or Bhaiṣajyaguru-nāma-mahāyāna-sūtra) (Dharmagupta trans. 616 CE, T0449:14.0402a22; English title from Muller, et al.): “The city-gate towers, walls and parapets, doors and windows, halls and pavilions, pillars and beams, blocks and bracket arms (dougong 斗拱), surrounding like a net, are all composed of the seven jewels.” After the Sui dynasty, dougong gradually became a set technical term and can be found in a number of different textual sources. The earliest known material evidence for dougong is the dragon-phoenix table-base excavated from the Warring States Period Zhongshan royal necropolis in Pingshan, Hebei province (ca. 310 BCE; Zhong 2010, 113-119). From the Han dynasty onward we have many extant examples of dougong in the visual record.5

斗栱，又作枓栱，是中國古代建築中最有特點的組成部分，一般來說是指出現在建筑物的檐下、梁架間或柱頭上，由一些斗形構件和一些栱形構件及枋木、昂等組成的一種單元。以枓栱作為名詞指代特定的對象始於隋代大業十二年（616年）所譯的《藥師如來本願經》，經文中提到 “城闕、垣牆、門窗、堂閣、柱樑、斗栱，周匝羅網，皆七寶成”。（T0449:14.0402a22）之後，逐漸成為固定的術語，普遍見於各類文獻中。目前最早的枓栱形象，一般認為是出土的戰國時期河北平山中山王墓的龍鳳銅案上的枓栱。（ca. 310 BCE; 鍾 2010，113-119）在漢代以後的遺存中，枓栱形象多見.5

Related concepts

昂 áng

斗 dǒu

鋪作 pūzuò

斗科 dǒukē

Broad Match: bracketing