Basic structure of Tanaita was either three layered structure consists of Nedana (the components to structure the lowest part of a ship), Chudana (the components to structure the middle part of a ship) and Uedana (the components to structure the upper part of a ship) or two layered structure without Chudana and in the case of large ships, four layered structure with two layered Chudana was also seen.
棚板構成は、根棚・中棚・上棚の三階造りと中棚のない二階造りが基本となり、大型船では中棚を二段にした四階造りのものも存在した。