gyaku enkinhō 逆遠近法

Lit. inverted perspective. A visual technique sometimes employed in Chinese and Japanese painting. While the Western perspective system uses parallel lines that are drawn on a picture plane convergent at a vanishing point, in gyaku enkinhō they are drawn to spread apart as they go further into the distance. In the case of Japanese painting, gyaku enkinhō was often used in 12th-13th century *yamato-e やまと絵 for residences, so as to allow greater space to depict the people inside. It was later employed by Suzuki Harunobu 鈴木春信 (1725-70) in the Edo period for his *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 and by the *Rinpa 琳派 (17th-18th century) for their decorative screen painting.