cypress bark; bark of the Japanese cypress
Specifically the bark of the hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa), traditionally used as roofing material in Japanese architecture.
A roof thatched with cypress bark is beautiful.
Cypress bark is used for the roof of this shrine.
檜皮葺き is the traditional roofing technique using cypress bark; 檜皮 is the material.
cypress bark roofing; hinoki bark thatching
Standard kanji spelling using the common form 檜.
Variant spelling using the simplified form 桧; also common.
The reading developed from 檜（ひ） and 肌（はだ）, “outer surface; bark,” through voicing and contraction to ひわだ. The spelling 檜皮 expresses the resulting meaning, “cypress bark.”