A room in traditional vernacular houses *minka 民家, in parts of Hyōgo Prefecture…

Also *daiyū hōden 大雄宝殿. The main hall of a Zen temple. Butsuden…

Lit. illustrated biographies of the Buddha. Artistic representations, usually painted or in low-relief sculpture, of the…

Also called *butsuden 仏殿; bukkaku 仏閣, *…

Also gan 龕. A niche carved out of a wall for the purpose of installing a Buddhist image, or a miniature Buddhist…

Also Butsugenson 仏眼尊 (Venerable Buddha-Eye). Lit. Buddha-Eye, or Mother of the Buddha. Sk: Buddhalocanal Locana. An Esoteric…

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 (a mandala concerning a single deity…

A room for Buddhist images (either two- or three-dimensional images) or, especially in a residence, an altar or tabernacle…

Lit. Buddha's gate. Also *nandaimon 南大門; *…

Catalog of objects in Butsunichian, the 14th-century inventory of artistic and other properties of Butsunichian 仏日庵…

A general term that refers to all images of the Buddha used as objects of worship, although most commonly used to refer to…

A generic term for the structural members which form the framework *honegumi…

Sandalwood; santalum album. A tree with fine-grained hardwood, native to India and Southeast Asia. The wood is pale-yellow…

Also Byakushozon 白処尊 and Byakue Kanjizaimo 白衣観自在母. (Sk: Panduravasini); White-robed *…

Also *mikenkō 眉間光, miken byakugō 眉間白毫, miken byakugōsō 眉間白毫相…

A pale blue pigment *ganryō 顔料, used in Japanese painting *…

A pale green pigment *ganryō 顔料, used in Japanese painting *…

Paintings on folding screens *byōbu 屏風. 

The earliest record of…

A folding screen consisting of multiple, joined panels. Folding screens vary in size; the standard size consists of six…

A type of decorative double hanging shelf *tsuridana 釣棚, placed in an alcove…

Also termed *orihei 折塀 (folding wall). A castle wall that zig-zags…

Also called reibyōmon 霊廟門. An entrance gate to a mausoleum. It can be an elaborate gate in two-storied or simulated…

Lit. mausoleum pagoda.
1　A pagoda constructed to enshrine a Buddhist image.
2　A five…

Lit. longevity screen. Type of folding screen made for celebrations of longevity, ga 賀. They were embellished with…

Also gatsurin, getsurin. A perfectly round circle meant to represent the full moon, a frequently used…

A pictorial work or works that appear within a painting as part of the overall composition. The best example being the *…

Lit. Vajra on the Way of Painting, Nakabayashi Chikutō's 中林竹洞 (1776-1853) reactionary critique of contemporary…

Lit. Secret Principles on the Way of Painting, a late 17th-century discourse on painting *…

Ch: huapu. Lit. Painting primers, often illustrated books explaining the canon of painting production or appreciation. In…

A heavy duty ripsaw. It is similar to a coarse, ordinary, standard ripsaw that cuts along the wood grain except that the…

Also read gangyō, gayō, nokigeta 軒桁, or *dashigeta…

Also read gangyōbane. A single heavy beam attached at right angles to the eave purlins *…

Lit. Summary of Painting Laws, the first Japanese theoretical text on Western painting. Published in 1778, the text…

Lit. Painting Laws: Methods of Coloring, a mid-18th-century painting manual edited by Sugaodō Yūsashi 菅生堂祐佐子…

Lit. outer garden. The area outside the sacred enclosure of a shrine, mausoleum, or temple. Typically, the approach to the…

The section of a pendant *gatō 瓦当, outside the lotus flower motif, on a semi…

An album of paintings. Small-size paintings, sketches, or drawings are either pasted or directly drawn on the pages of an…

Chinese term for a painting on a handscroll. The Japanese term *emaki 絵巻 has the…

Silk used for painting. Same as *eginu 絵絹.

Hungry ghosts. One of the types within the group *rokudō-e 六道絵 (paintings of…

Also read Gakō benran. Lit. Handbook on Painters, a late 17th-century history of Japanese painting…

A modern term for drafts and other preparatory drawings used for making a painting. Includes *…

Lit. Deep Probes into the Skill of Paintings. A mid-18th-century six-volume history of the *…

A tablet, plaque, or framed picture. The oldest form, dating back to the Nara period, is the wooden plaque *…

1　The wooden rails and stiles around doors or windows. 
2　Casing, trim, or…

Lit. plaque-viewing stone. One of the trump stones *yakui-ishi 役石 in the…

Also called gakuya 楽屋 or gakudokoro 楽所. A small, simple, open building, like a roofed platform at some…

Heavenly musicians. Heavenly beings *hiten 飛天, playing musical instruments,…

Ch: Hama Tiegue. Two Taoist immortals frequently paired in Chinese and Japanese painting. Gama 蝦蟇 (Ch: Hama), also…

Also called gamatenjō 蒲天井. A wood-board ceiling to which reed-mace, braided straw or rush mats are attached.…

Lit. flying geese. The poetic name given to a type of zig-zag arrangement of stepping stones *…

Also called *kanmurigawara 冠瓦, *…

Lit. zig-zag ladder. A kind of ladder, hashigo 梯子(see *kaidan 階段),…

Also written 岸岐.

1　1) A general term for any architectural element built in a stepped or zigzag…

A thatching tool, kayayane fuki kōgu 茅屋根葺き工具, with a timber head, about 25 x 30 x 5 cm, fixed to a cylindrical…

Also aikidana 合木棚 or kangidana 函木棚. An alcove in a *shoin…

One type of warrior run *mushabashiri 武者走, comprised of stone steps …

Formerly called hishi 斐紙. Paper made from the fiber of the ganpi plant (Diplomorpha sikokiana honda or…

Also called chadō 茶堂. A tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室 which…

Also called *ganro-no-seki 丸炉席. A cylindrical iron stove used in a tea…

1　Pigment. Powdered colors used in oriental painting. Insoluble in water and most other liquid media.…

A fake or forgery. To produce a likeness of another painting with intent to deceive. Generally the forger is careful to use…

Also called ganaidoko, gangōdoko 龕合床. An alcove with the floor board the same height as the matted room, a…

Images carved in a niche. In a broad sense the term refers to the Buddhist images of high relief carved into the rock walls…

The arrangement of buildings within the precinct of a Buddhist temple constructed between the late 7th century to 12th…

Also garanseki 伽藍石. Lit. temple stone. A base stone from a ruined temple used as a stepping stone *…

An abbreviated form of sōgya ranma 僧伽欄摩 (Sk: samgha arama). Lit. A garden for monks. Also rendered as sōen…

Glass painting. Oil or thick pigments are mixed with glue and applied to the reverse sides of glass plates, to be viewed…

Ch: hualun. Discourses on Painting. Writings on painting theory, criticism, principles or classification, also including…

A kind of poetic inscription, added to a blank area above or next to a completed painting. Typically, this inscription gives…

Net of Paintings, an early 18th-century introductory text on the study of painting by Hayashi Moriatsu 林守篤 (fl. early 18th…

Also written 画箋紙 or abbreviated to gasen, written 画箋, 画牋, or 雅宣. A paper of Chinese origin, xuanzhi (Jp:…

Monks who produced paintings of Buddhist subjects to accumulate religious or spiritual merit. Gasō refers to those…

Principles of Painting. A mid-18th-century five-volume treatise on painting by Sakurai Sekkan 桜井雪館 (1715-90). An ally of the…

1　The triangular frame created by joining a pair of cruck-like members *…

A distinctive style of farmhouse nōka 農家 which evolved in the Edo period in the Shirakawa 白川 and Shōkawa 荘川 areas…

Also oigata 笈形, *taiheibire 大瓶鰭. Lit. principal-rafter fins. A…

Lit. Worthless Discussion of Painting. A late 18th-century three-volume treatise on painting by sinophile, Southern…

Patterns, motifs, designs applied to the circular antefixes *gatō 瓦当 on semi…

1　Eave-end tiles with a circular or semi-circular ornamental pendant. Gatō were brought to Japan…

Also pronounced kawageta. 
1 Exterior wall purlins. Long horizontal beams *…

Also read sokuheki or kawakabe. The exterior wall of a building. An outside wall or end wall.

Also hyōdai 表題. The title daimoku 題目 of a literary work or painting. It is written on the outer cover of a…

Lit. low step. The lowest level of floor space in a formal *shoin 書院 style room…

Lit. outer hall. The outer part of a two part structure called the *sōdō 僧堂…

Also gegyo 掛魚 (Ch: guayu); formerly also pronounced kengyo. Gable pendant, lit. hanging fish.…

1　In shrine architecture, the main hall *honden 本殿 is divided…

Lit. dismounting stone. A type of keystone *yakui-shi 役石, stepped on when…

Lit. lower space. It is a room adjoining the main rooms of the priests' quarters in a Zen temple. It is located near the…

Also hoko 鉾. A weapon, found as an attribute of fearsome Buddhist figures such as *…

1　A gate in the corridor connecting the two halls Kyōshoden 校書殿 and Anpukuden 安福殿 in the Imperial Palace at…

A guest hall at Gokokuji 護国寺 in Tokyo. It is a large single storied structure of 7 x 6 bays, and has a hip-and gable roof *…

Ch: Yan Ziling. A scholar-recluse of the later Han period, who was a childhood friend of Emperor Guangwu (Jp: Kōbu 光武, AD 4-…

Pictorial representations whose subject matter comes from Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji). Either a…

Genji 源氏 fence is a board fence with posts set at intervals and a base runner set between the foundation stones of the posts…

Also kō-no-zu 香の図. A geometrical design pattern originally symbolizing combinations of incense fragrances. The…

Also called hakuraku utsushi 剥落写し. Lit. a copy of the exfoliated state of a painting. An exact copy of the present-…

Ch: Xuanzhuang/Xuanzang (600/2-664). A Chinese monk of the Tang Dynasty and the founder of the Hossō sect (see *…

Return to the castle dance, Alternative names: Genkyōraku 環京楽 (Return to Capital Dance), Genjōraku 還成楽 (Return of One of…

Lit. Genkai bridge. A type of bridge used to span deep garden streams or ravines. It is constructed with a triangular timber…