Many of the great architectural traditions of the world are based in post-and-lintel construction. The architectural style developed in China provides a good contrast to that of Greece, for while its principles were developed around the same time, the standard material is not stone but wood. We know from terra-cotta models found in tombs that the basic elements of Chinese architecture were in place by the second century b.c.e. During the 6th century c.e., this architectural vocabulary was adopted by Japan along with other elements of Chinese culture. We illustrate it here with a Japanese building, the incomparable Byodo-in