ganryō 顔料

1　Pigment. Powdered colors used in oriental painting. Insoluble in water and most other liquid media. Usually mixed with animal glue *nikawa 膠 as a binder *baizai 媒剤 to make a paint. Ganryō are opaque, durable, and relatively resistant to fading. The term ganryō is used in contrast to senryō 染料, which refers to translucent soluble dyes. Senryō and ganryō are collectively known as *shikiryō 色料. Ganryō are divided into organic pigments *yūki ganryō 有機顔料 and inorganic pigments *muki ganryō 無機顔料, both of which can be synthetically produced or made from naturally occurring materials. Many pigments used in Japan are so-called *iwa-enogu 岩絵具 made from minerals kōbutsu 鉱物, and doro-enogu 泥絵具 made from earth materials, doshitsu zairyō 土質材料. The most important ganryō include the white pigments *hakudo 白土 and *gofun 胡粉, red *shu 朱, orange *tan 丹, yellow ochre *ōdo 黄土, green *rokushō 緑青, brown *taisha 代赭, and blue *gunjō 群青. Pigments are not usually mixed, but variations in tone can be achieved by grinding down the powder; finer grains give a lighter shade. Sometimes a fixative is used to bind an insoluble substance such as powdered metal to a soluble dye, producing a lake pigment, reiki ganryō レーキ顔料 such as red madder lake, mada reiki マダ レーキ.

2　As *enogu 絵具. Ganryō is sometimes used to refer to any type of coloring matter.