Ch: Efang Gong. The Efang Palace. A residence for concubines built by the first emperor of the Qin dynasty, Qin Shi Huangdi…

Erotic or suggestive pictures. Derived from the word "abunai あぶない" meaning dangerous or risqué. More explicit works…

Also written あぶりだし. Hidden pictures that are painted or printed on paper using rice-wine, alum, or citrus juice, which then…

A subject of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵, especially of *…

Lit. locks of hair/four cornered; "an elaborate three-looped knot, it also designates a young girl's coiffure" -…

A method used by Japanese painters to produce a copy *mosha 模写, and in that way…

Woodblock prints *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 colored in shades of indigo blue *…

Indigo. A plant of the polygonacede family from whose stems and leaves comes a blue dye and pigment for painting. Produced…

Lit. intermediate format size. *Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints of two sizes, both…

Also aobanagami 青花紙, tsuyukusairo 露草色. A blue pigment extracted from the dayflower tsuyukusa 露草…

Ch: Ayuwangshan. Mt. Asoka. A mountain near Hangzhou (Jp: Kōshū 杭州) in Zhejiang (Jp: Sekkō 浙江) Province associated…

Also *ai-e 藍絵 or aizuri-e 藍摺絵. A type of woodblock print *…

Also akazuri-e 赤摺絵 and *hōsō-e 疱瘡絵. Woodblock prints produced in the…

Lit. red book. Forms of illustrated popular fiction, *kusazōshi 草双紙, with…

Lit. small red book. A type of *akahon 赤本. Woodblock printed picture books with…

Crimson; madder red. Known as *sohi そひ in the Nara and Heian periods. Originally…

A pictorial subject based on Chapter 13 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). In the third month,…

Lit. autumn plants. Often rendered as autumn grasses, a common design motif in decorative arts and painting. Most frequently…

Lit. Dutch paintings, ranga 蘭画 of Akita. A Japanese work in a European style produced by the earliest school of…

A small river running through Takatsuki 高槻 City, Osaka (formerly Settsu 摂津 Province). Famous from Episode 6 of Ise…

A woodblock print designed and privately published to expose a secret indiscretion, then distributed to the home and friends…

A school of painting that arose in Kyoto during the 15th century, separate from the dominant painting ateliers of the Zen 禅…

Woodblock printed sheets designed by lesser-known *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists…

An Edo period illustrated book of popular fiction *kusazōshi 草双紙, with a…

Pictorial subject matter based on "Heartvine" Aoi, Chapter 9 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Lit. blue gold. An alloy of gold or silver which contains impurities that create a color with a bluish tinge. In painting,…

1　An old name for the pigment *iwa-rokushō …

Also *kiwame-in 極印. The printed censor seals that appear on an *…

Sliding screens *fusuma 襖, on which various images are painted including a…

A shrine in Izumi 和泉 Province, Osaka. Best known from a tale about the famous poet Ki no Tsurayuki 紀貫之 (ca. 868-945), who…

A type of *ehon 絵本, a woodblock-printed picture book. Small books of…

A repeating six-sided geometric design that resembles the leaves of the hemp plant, asa 麻. The design has six…

A pictorial subject based on "The Morning Glory" Asagao, Chapter 20 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

A color-name used in dyeing. A light blue color with a hint of green, made by adding yellow to a pale indigo dye *…

Lit. reed-hand script. A decorative, pictorialized style of calligraphy, de 手, developed during the 9th century in…

A mountain in Kanagawa Prefecture associated with legends of *Yamauba 山姥 and *…

Lit. indeterminate shading. A type of *fuki bokashi 拭きぼかし, a…

Lit. later seal. An artist's seal placed posthumously on a painting or calligraphy, sometimes by a well-meaning person…

Lit. a later signature. A forged signature put on an unsigned painting or work of calligraphy in order to increase its…

Also read nochizuri. Woodblock prints *ukiyo-e 浮世絵, produced…

Also written 厚葉. A thick type of paper called *ganpishi 雁皮紙. Because both…

Multi-colored woodblock prints *nishiki-e 錦絵, depicting the…

Lit. going down to the East. In the pre-Edo periods, traveling from the capital city of Kyoto toward the Eastern provinces…

Also written 吾妻錦絵, *nishiki-e 錦絵, azuma-e 東絵, *…

Lit. Eastern cottage. A pictorial subject based on "The Eastern Cottage" Azumaya, Chapter 50 of Genji…

Lit. azusa bow. The azusa 梓 tree is a kind of birch. The phrase serves as a pillow-word, makurakotoba…

Refers to the books of the floating world, *ukiyo zōshi 浮世草子, published by…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Broom Tree," Hahakigi, Chapter 2 of Genji Monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

Simple paintings which accompany and interact with the 17-syllable poetic verse called haiku, 俳句. Haiga is…

A wide, multi-purpose brush made of animal hair attached to a wooden handle. Hake range in size from 3 cm to 18 cm…

Lit. eight views. Eight scenic spots from one geographic area specifically chosen to be treated in verse or pictures. The…

Lit. biographies of eight dogs. A pictorial subjectin *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 taken from…

Lit. foil or leaf. Gold, silver, copper, tin, or brass pounded into a thin flat sheet and used for the decoration of art…

Ch: Bo Ya Zhong Ziqi. A pictorial theme of friendship in Chinese painting. When the Zhou dynasty musician Bo Ya (Jp: …

Lit. Be Le assessing a horse. A Chinese painting subject of the 4th century horse trainer named Be Le (Jp: Haku Raku…

Ch: Bai Letian (772-846). A Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty, depicted in a tradition of imaginary portrait paintings.…

Although the term literally means white drawing, hakubyō 白描 is a technique of painting that relies primarily on the…

Kaolin. Also todo とど. A fine soft white clay produced by the decomposition of other clays feldspar. Hakudo…

Painting on silk. In ancient China, before paper-making was developed, silk or haku (also called so 繪) was…

Ch: Boyi Shuqi. Brothers who lived during the late Shang - early Zhou dynasties, who were praised by Confucius for declining…

Paintings of a flat, undulatory sandy beach or sand spit with windswept pines, a traditional theme of *…

A plug used in *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 woodblock printmaking for making corrections or…

Ch: Pan Lang. Chinese Zhou dynasty recluse, originally a retainer of King Mu (Ch: Muwang; Jp: Bokuō 穆王, ca. 1001-972 BC).…

Pictorial Subject matter of *yamato-e やまと絵 painting. "The…

Also hanabishimon 花菱文. Decorative patterns *mon'yō 文様, or…

A pictorial subject based on Chapter 11 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji), "The Orange Blossoms" …

A pattern that features flying birds grasping flowers or small branches in their beaks. The design may feature phoenixes,…

Also written 咄本 or 話本. Lit. storybooks. Collections of humorous short stories and anecdotes popular during the Edo period.…

One of the painting guilds or studios za 座 in the atelier *nanto-edokoro…

The standard size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints. Print sizes are given in the…

Also called ita 板. The wood used for the curved blocks which make woodblock prints *…

A print based on a rebus. A collection of images that might suggest a place name, the name of a courtesan, or a phrase from…

Also written 板本.

1　Also kanpon 刊本. A printed book of any type.

…

Also written 半折 and 半截. A size of paper obtained when full-size paper *zenshi…

Also written 判紙. A small-sized paper, approximately 25 cm by 35 cm. Being a convenient size for a variety of documents, …

Abbreviation of hanshita-e 版下絵. The final master drawing or design which was used by an artist or his workshop to…

Pictures on paper pasted onto small boxes and prized by women and girls in the early 18th century. Most of the pictures were…

A strip of paper encircling the outside cover *hyōshi 表紙 of a book, on which…

Also written 貼交絵. Prints of two or more subjects on a single page. Most common are colored paper shapes, poem-card *…

Also haritsukega 貼付画. Abbreviation of kabe haritsuke-e 壁貼付絵. Paintings on paper (or infrequently on silk)…

A thin (1.5 cm+), flat wooden frame glued to silk to stabilize it while it is being painted *…

A school of painters active in the 16th century and the 17th century, founded by Hasegawa Tōhaku 長谷川等伯 (1539-1610) who is…

1　A pictorial subject based on "The Lady at the Bridge" Hashihime, Chapter 45 of Genji…

1　Paintings e 絵 executed on the interior pillars *hashira…

Ch: baxian. Lit. eight immortals. The eight figures considered to be the experts in and protectors of Taoism. The impetus…

Ch: Bazhong huapu. Primer on Eight Varieties of Painting, a compilation of eight texts on poetry and painting…

Also written 八双, 雙双, 八宗. Can also be called hyōmoku 表木 when referring to hanging scrolls *…

An abbreviation for Yoshitsune hassōtobi 義経八艘飛 or Yoshitsune's Leap over Eight Boats, one of the many…

Ch: pomo. Lit. splashed ink. An ink painting *suibokuga 水墨画…

A pictorial subject taken from "The First Warbler" or more literally "The First Song," Chapter 23 of Genji monogatari…

Lit. paintings of Heike. The usual abbreviation of Heike monogatari-e 平家物語絵, illustrations of famous incidents…

Lit. wall painting or mural.

1　A generic term applied to all the paintings related to…

1　Also called *gaku 額. A tablet or board, framed or unframed, on…

Also called zanzan jōsui 残山剰水 (Ch: canshan shengshui) or left-over mountains and remaining water. A compositional…

Ch: bianxiang. Also called hen 変 (Ch: bian) or kyōhen 経変 (Ch: jingbian). Transformation scenes, tableaux,…

Also known as Hie 日吉 (can be read Hiyoshi) matsuri 祭 or Sannō matsuri 山王祭. A pictorial…

A woodblock printed advertisement used to announce a store, publicize a product, or advertise a new publication. In the…

Also read hikime kagibana and written 引目鈎鼻. Lit. slit eyes, hooked nose. A technique used to draw faces of the…

Lit. hemp-fiber texture stroke; a type of brushstroke, so called because it resembles a loose hemp thread. A texture brush…