Although
kara (唐) can be translated as meaning "
China" or "
Tang", this type of roof with undulating
bargeboards is an invention of Japanese carpenters in the late
Heian period. It was named thus because the word
kara could also mean "peculiar" or "elegant", and was often added to names of objects considered grand or intricate regardless of origin. The
karahafu developed during the Heian period and is shown in
picture scrolls to decorate gates, corridors, and
palanquins. The first known depiction of a
karahafu appears on a miniature shrine ('''') in
Shōryoin shrine at
Hōryū-ji in
Nara. Gates with a
karahafu roof, the
karamon (
mon meaning "gate"), became a means to proclaim the prestige of a building and functioned as a symbol of both religious and secular architecture. In the
Tokugawa shogunate, the
karamon gates were a powerful symbol of authority reflected in architecture. ==Images==