stone wash basin in a Japanese garden
A low stone basin used for ritual hand washing in traditional Japanese gardens, especially tea gardens (roji). Visitors crouch to use it, hence the name.
A tsukubai is placed in front of the tea room.
蹲で手を清める。
Purify your hands at the tsukubai.
Standard kanji spelling for this garden feature.
Kana spelling is sometimes used, especially in explanatory contexts.
Rare variant with okurigana; not commonly used.
Rare variant using the full kanji compound; may be encountered in older texts.
From the verb 蹲う (つくばう, 'to crouch'), referring to the low height that requires one to crouch when using it.