tap’o style

tap’o style, Korean adaptation of a Chinese architectural style first introduced from China late in the Koryŏ period (935–1392). Tap’o means literally “multibracket,” and its main feature is the adoption of intercolumnar brackets besides those on column heads. With the introduction of tap’o style, the brackets had more than three longitudinal spreaders to support eaves purlins, or timbers. Buildings in the tap’o style are much more decorative than those in the preceding chusimp’o, or column-head bracketing, style because the intercolumnar brackets fill the otherwise empty spaces between columns.

The buildings also have coffered ceilings to conceal the girder beams and eaves purlins. The style is called ama-gumi in Japanese. Still a minor style in the final years of the Koryŏ period, tap’o became the prevailing style in the early Yi period (1392–1910) and had replaced the traditional chusimp’o style by the 17th century.