inverted pillar; pillar placed upside down
In traditional Japanese carpentry and folklore, a wooden pillar intentionally or accidentally set with its base pointing upward, believed to bring bad luck or ominous phenomena.
If you find an inverted pillar in an old house, it is said to be unlucky.
A sakabashira is a pillar that has been erected with its top and bottom reversed.
intentionally inverted pillar; pillar inverted to avoid perfection
A deliberate practice in traditional Japanese architecture where one pillar is placed upside down to introduce imperfection, based on the belief that perfection invites misfortune or is inauspicious.
There is a concept of not striving for perfection in a building by intentionally including an inverted pillar.
I heard that in shrine architecture, they sometimes use just one inverted pillar.
Compound of 逆 (saka, 'reverse') and 柱 (hashira, 'pillar'), with rendaku voicing of hashira to bashira. The term is associated with traditional Japanese carpentry and folk beliefs about inauspiciousness and imperfection.