chāgǒng 插栱

Note

Chagong 插栱, which cannot be found in traditional Chinese literature, is a term translated by Liang Sicheng from the Japanese sashihijiki 挿肘木. Sashihijiki refers to the bracket arms of the outer eaves of the South Gate of Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan, which are directly inserted into the pillar shaft (Tanabe and Liang (trans.), 1932). 4

In modern Chinese scholarship chagong 插栱 generally refers to bracket-arms of many layers that are directly inserted into pillars. However, some scholars believe that the term chagong should only refer to such components when they are located in the outer eaves pillars of chuandou 穿斗 style structures in southern China. This is because both the positioning and multiple layers of the bracket-arms in chuandou style structures in southern China closely resemble the sashihijiki in “Indian Style” (tenjikuyou 天竺様; or “Great Buddha Style,” daibutsuyou 大仏様) architecture in Japan (Liu 1957, 85; Fu 1981; Zhu, 1983). The chagong in southern Chinese buildings are considered by most scholars to be the source of sashihijiki, and may also be the source of chagong in Jusimpo 柱心包-style structures in Korea (Zhang 1982, 1998, 2002; Ota, 2016; Fu, 1981; Choi, 2002, 2003; Nakanishi, 2021). In addition, some scholars use the term chagong to refer to the cantilevered components that are inserted into pillars and walls or which bear the brackets in outer eaves, such as those in ceramic building models from the Han dynasty (see Figure). 5

The formal similarities between chagong and dingtougong 丁頭栱 have given rise to discussions on the possible relationship between them. Scholars have various perspectives, which include the following: (1) chagong is a kind of dingtougong (Zhu, 1983; Zhang, 2002; Xie, 2010); (2) dingtougong is a kind of chagong (Li, 1996; Bi, 2015); and (3) they are not equivalent components (Fan and Zhu, 2013; Lin, 2018). 6

“插栱”一詞不見於中國古代文獻，由梁思成從日文“挿肘木”（さしひじき）翻譯而來，指日本奈良東大寺南大門的外簷斗栱。（田邊，梁(譯) 1932）挿肘木是日本大佛樣建築的顯著特徵。4

中文研究中“插栱”一詞被用來泛指後尾插入柱身、層疊出挑的栱。但根據其與日文“挿肘木”一詞的聯係，有學者認為“插栱”應特指中國南方尤其穿斗構架外簷中的此類構件。首先，中國南方木構（尤其穿斗構架）外簷常見的層疊入柱的挑簷之栱，在出跳數、使用位置上更貼近日本挿肘木。（刘致平 1957，85；傅 1981；朱，1983）其次，中國南方建築的“插栱”做法也被多數學者認為是日本大佛樣挿肘木之祖型，並也可能是朝韓地區柱心包樣式建築中的插栱的來源（张 1982, 1998, 2002；太田 2016；傅 1981；Choi 2002，2003；Nakanishi 2021）。 5

此外，也有學者借用“插栱”之名稱呼漢代陶楼等早期材料中插入墻身或柱身、承托外檐斗栱的悬挑构件。

“插拱”因與“丁頭栱”形態相近，引發學者對二者關係的討論，有插栱是丁頭栱的一種（朱 1983；張 2002；謝 2010），丁頭栱是插栱的一種（李 1996；畢 2015），以及二者並非同類構件等各種觀點（范和朱 2013；林 2018）。6

Broad Match: bracketing