Ruyimen's Ruyimen

The basic practice of Ruyi Gate is to build a wall between the front eaves and the columns, and leave a moderately sized doorway in the middle of the wall. Door frames, doorsills, door leaves and drum stones are installed in the door opening. There are two groups of brick components in the left upper right corner of the Ruyi doorway, which are made by cutting, polishing and carving, and are called Ruyi statue (called "elephant-nosed owl"). The two doornails above the door are engraved with the word "Ruyi" for the sake of "all the best", which is probably the origin of the name Ruyi Gate.

Ruyimen, a kind of house door, is mostly used by ordinary people. Although its shape is not high, it is not limited by grade and can be decorated at will. It can be beautifully carved or made very concise, depending on the owner's interest and economic situation. For well-made doors, a large area of brick carving should be carried out above the lintel, and most of the brick carving is in the form of railings facing the sky. The names of its parts are hanging down, first floor eaves, mixed beads, semi-mixed, cover plate and fence column from bottom to top. In these parts, according to the owner's preference or traditional decorative content, patterns such as flowers, Bo Gu, swastika, chrysanthemum brocade, bamboo leaf brocade, peony flower, T-shaped brocade and grass bend are carved respectively. If the owner lacks financial resources, or prefers simplicity and elegance, he can do simple work, or just add a little carving as an ornament. Simple people can also use tiles to put out various patterns. In a word, the forms are diverse, which fully embodies the randomness of Ruyimen decoration and shows the wisdom and artistic talent of the ancient Han working people.

The structure of Ruyi Gate is mostly in the form of five-purlin hard mound, with four or six columns in the plane, two front eaves columns built in the wall and not exposed, and five beams or two-step beams should be applied above the column head. Ruyi door is different from other house doors in the door wall between the front eaves and columns and its structural decoration. The entrance of Ruyi Gate should be sized according to functional needs and geomantic requirements. Generally, it is about 0.9m ~ 1m wide and 1.9m high (referring to the net size of Lippi at the entrance). There is a folk saying that the width of the door is two feet eight, which means that the width of two feet eight can meet the functional needs of weddings and funerals. This size also meets the requirements of the "financial door" in the door ruler. The lintel decoration of Ruyi door, whether in the form of ice tray hanging eaves or in other forms, should have brick components on it to cling to the lower skin of eaves rafters to block the purlin inside and prevent it from being exposed, so as to highlight the integrity of bricklayers.