Lit. horse-mouth mudra. A mudra or hand gesture *in 印, formed by placing both palms…

Lit. bind (Sk: bandha). A mudra or hand gesture *in 印, formed by clasping both…

A gigaku mask *gigakumen 伎楽面, representing a Brahmin (the highest…

Also written 髪頭, 鉢頭, 撥頭. A dance piece in *bugaku 舞楽 and the mask of a terse,…

Also 辮髪. A long rope of hair hanging down the left side of the face and the left shoulder of a sculpted figure.…

Also called akujō beshimi 悪尉べし見, depending upon the school of Noh mask *nōmen…

Also sōgyō 僧形. A statue of a figure with a round shaved head, usually representing a Buddhist priest. Most commonly…

An abbreviation of *Bishamonten 毘沙門天, one of the four heavenly kings, or *…

A box for sutras. Indian sutras were written on long, narrow palm leaves. The leaves were stacked one top of the other, with…

1　Abbreviation of bodai satta 菩提薩た, a transliteration of the Sanskrit bodhisattva (Pari bodhisatta…

A mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays to represent a demon. Glaring eyes, a wide jaw, and bared teeth give the mask a…

Masks worn when performing certain of the *bugaku 舞楽 dances developed from…

Also bukkō 仏工, zōbusshi 造仏師. A sculptor of Buddhist statues. 

The term was first used in the…

The lineage of a Buddhist sculptor *busshi 仏師, often presented as a…

A workshop or school of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師. Bussho usually…

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

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

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

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

Also called ichiboku chō 一木彫 or ichiboku chōsei 一木彫成. Antonym of *…

Also ikarakuri. A method of casting metal statues by joining several sections. In the case of a large statue it was…

Repairing a hole or crack in a metal object. There are two methods: 1) crack in a metal statue or vessel is…

One horned hermit. A *noh mask *nōmen…

A triad of Buddhist statues arranged in front of a large nimbus *kōhai 光背, that…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young man of noble birth. Very similar to *…

A school of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師, based in Kyoto, active from the late…

Also inzō 印相 also read insō, shu-in 手印, and mitsu-in 密印. Sk: mudra. A hand gesture…

A type of Buddhist print design made with a stamp. A seal, usually about 10 cm or smaller, is engraved with the image of a…

Also shizume ukibori 沈め浮彫. Hollow relief carving. An inscription or motif hollowed out of a surface using a burin…

The lowest section of a dais *kamachiza 框座 for a Buddhist sculpture that is…

Also izarai. A finishing stage in the making of cast metal statues. When a cast statue was removed from its mold,…

A square chair with armrests and a back in the form of a Shinto gateway *torii…

A method of metal casting where the form of the desired object was carved into a sandstone mold, and molten metal was poured…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing an old man. The slightly sunken…

Lit. board nimbus. A halo *kōhai 光背 on a Buddhist statue, carved…

Lit. one and a half *chakushu ちゃく手. Approximately 36.3 cm. A…

Lit. single casting. A term used in metal casting when the entire form of a statue was cast at once, and not in separate…

Also ichiji sanrai 一字三礼, ittō sanpai 一刀三拝. Lit. to worship three times with every stroke. A practice…

Also known as nara ningyō 奈良人形 or narabori 奈良彫. Small wooden sculptures made using a simple, rough-…

A base for Buddhist images *daiza 台座, made of rock. It is also referred to as…

Also called iza 倚坐, suisokuza 垂足坐, and chōjiza 丁字坐. An image that is seated on a stool or…