A xieshan style or roof in Japanese architecture is a hip roof

Hip roof

A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...

 (sloping down on all four sides) integrated on two opposing sides with a gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

. It can be also described in English as a hip-and-gable, gablet

Gablet roof

A gablet roof or Dutch gable is a roof with a small gable at the top of a hip roof. The term Dutch gable is also used to mean a gable with parapets....

, or (more ambiguously) Dutch gable

Dutch gable

A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...

 roof. When however the angle of the hip-and-gable roof is greater at the gable, the roof is said to be a or (see gallery).

Originally used only at Buddhist temples

Buddhist temples in Japan

Along with Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples are the most numerous, famous, and important religious buildings in Japan.The term "Shinto shrine" is used in opposition to "Buddhist temple" to mirror in English the distinction made in Japanese between Shinto and Buddhist religious structures. In...

 or shrines, its gable is usually right above the moya

Moya (architecture)

In Japanese architecture is the core of a building. Originally the central part of a residential building was called moya. After the introduction of Buddhism to Japan in the 6th century, moya has been used to denote the sacred central area of a temple building. It is generally surrounded by aisle...

, or core, while the hip covers the hisashi

Hisashi (architecture)

In Japanese architecture the term has two meanings:* As more commonly used, the term indicates the eaves of a roof, that is, the part along the edge of a roof projecting beyond the side of the building to provide protection against the weather....

, a veranda-like aisle surrounding the core on one or more sides.
The style is of Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 origin and arrived in Japan together with Buddhism in the 6th century. Normally called , it was originally used in the kon-dō

Main Hall (Japanese Buddhism)

Main hall is the term used in English for the building within a Japanese Buddhist temple compound which enshrines the main object of veneration. Because the various denominations deliberately use different terms, this single English term translates several Japanese words, among them Butsuden,...

and kō-dō (lecture hall) of Buddhist temples, but started to be used also for the honden

Honden

The , is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined kami, usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a statue. The building is normally in the rear of the shrine and closed to the general public. In front of its usually stands the haiden, or...

at shrines later, during the Japanese Middle Ages.
It is still in wide use, especially in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, but also in palaces, castles, and folk dwellings. In the last case, it is often called .