dīshuǐ

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  4. Materials (hierarchy name)
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  8. tile (material)
  9. [tile by function]
  10. roofing tile
  11. [roofing tile by location or context]
  12. dīshuǐ
Scope note
The term dishui 滴水 (literally “dripping water”) as an architectural term is first found in Ming dynasty literature. The texts explain that dishui are located at the end of the eaves and that the end of the tile “hangs down,” but there is no description of the specific shape. Recent research and existing examples indicate that the term dishui can be understood in both a narrow and a broad sense. When modern scholars define dishui, they are usually referring specifically to the plate tile with a “ruyi”-shape 如意形 descending from the lowest end of the gutter tiles, especially in the context of Qing architecture. Thus, dishui can be used to distinguish Qing style buildings from Song style buildings, the latter of which more commonly employed “multi-lipped plate tiles” (chongchun banwa 重唇瓪瓦)," as described in the the Song dynasty Yingzao fashi (Liang 1981, 85; Yao 1986, 111; Pan and He 2005, 157). More generally, dishui can be used to refer to any eaves gutter tile with an end that hangs down.
dīshuǐ
Accepted term: 09-Dec-2024