Chinese or Japanese architectural piece #1

Hi Folks,
Wasn't sure what sub forum to list these in so came to the discussion area. Went to a estate sale that was full of Asian items. This was the second sale of this particular estate. The first sale was for inside the house only items and this second sale was for the outside items and left over inside items.
The outside was just one massive Zen garden. There were buddhas and cherubs and fountains everywhere. Old stone urns and iron benches. It was quite the place to see at one time I am sure. It hadn't been properly taken care of for a long time. You could tell by the amount of work that went into it that it was some ones pride and joy until they couldn't take care of it anymore.
Many items were very old and just as many were newish as well. I thought all of them were very classy though. It was a fun sale to attend and I was able to come away with some very interesting things. My wife loves the big and heavy stuff , so I ended up with 3 truckloads of back damaging goodies.
Several pieces are architectural but I am unsure of exactly what they are. Anyway , I am going to start a few threads here to feature a few of the pieces to see if I can get some help to I.D. them. The prices were so fair that the estate was empty in no time at all. There was 4 cherub garden statues with plinth's that I wanted to get but someone beat me to them. You just gotta brush it off and refocus and go get the other stuff at that point.
So without any more rambling , here is piece #1. It appears to possibly be a roof support of some kind? Just a guess. It is 39" long. It cost me $8 so I am only out a little bit if it is just strange looking fire wood.
As always , thanks for any help.

 

I'm not seeing either origin here.........

 

My bad.
That was just an assumption on my part. Most items at the sale were of Chinese and Japanese origin which left me to think these were likely as well.
Sorry.

 

It happens...
When I die, several of the fake native art items I have will be thought to be authentic ...unless I have them well marked or documented...

 

Hi,
Looks like an Indian peacock.
greg