Zen Architecture - Katomado

At some Japanese Zen Buddhist temples, you will see an architectural element of great beauty: the Katōmado window. According to the original kanji writing, 火灯窓 katōmado means "fire light window". However, because it was considered bad to have a name that implies the presence of fire for a wooden building element, the kanji writing was changed to 花頭窓 or 華頭窓, both meaning "flower head window". Indeed, we can say now that the katōmado looks like a tulip flower...

Usually, like in this photo of the Kaizando Hall from the Kodaiji Temple from Kyoto, the window is made of dark colored wood and it is mounted on a white wall, creating, as you can see, a beautiful effect...