Ch: Ma Shihuang. An ancient, legendary practitioner of Daoist arts and horse doctor during the rule of Emperor Huang (Ch:…

Ch: Mei Fu. Chinese immortal shown in painting as riding a luan (Jp: ran 鸞), a mythical bird similar to a…

Lit. double format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print used for full-color woodblock…

Also kōchakuzai 膠着剤. Binder, vehicle. A liquid mixed with a pigment *ganryō…

Also written 馬棟 or 波連. The most important tool used in the process of woodblock printmaking. A baren is made up of…

Also written ベンガラ, 紅柄, or 紅殻. Sometimes pronounced benigara. Red earth pigment. A bright, purplish-red pigment *…

Discriminating Jade from Stone Collection, a late 17th-century miscellany on art which ranges from the discussion of tea…

A black-line hand-colored woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 that began to be…

A red dye, senryō 染料, and pigment *ganryō 顔料, made from the safflower…

Also murasaki-e 紫絵; beni-nuki 紅抜き. Woodblock prints which completely omit bright vermilion *…

Primitive polychrome woodblock prints in *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. Appeared after *…

Musashibō Benkei 武蔵坊弁慶, a semi-legendary warrior-monk of the 12th century, who was associated with Minamoto no *…

Also bero-ai ベロ藍. Prussian blue or Berlin blue. A synthetic blue paint made from ferric ferrocyanide, imported to…

Miscellaneous Record of Classified Sacred Images, a late Heian compendium of Buddhist iconography. Also called the…

A term which comes from the Portuguese for painting with oil pigments on the reverse side of glass. Fifty such paintings are…

Lit. pictures of beautiful women. Pictures depicting the beauty of the appearance, manners, and customs of women. The word…

Ch: Pipaxing. A painting subject based on the Song of the Lute, a narrative poem by the mid Tang dynasty poet, Bai…

Various block carving and printing techniques used to create gradated tones (shading) on woodblock prints, particularly 19th…

1　A gradation of colors or tones from dark to light or vice versa. One example is colorization of the…

Lit. pictures of horses at pasture. One type of genre painting *fūzokuga 風俗画…

Lit. ink plum. Ch: momei. Paintings of plum (actually prunus) rendered in sumi 墨 ink. Along with ink…

Ch: mozhu. Painting of bamboo rendered in *sumi 墨 ink. Bamboo…

Lit. herdboy and ox. Ch: mutong muniu. A Chinese painting theme long popular in Japanese ink painting. The subject…

Lit. ink play. Ch: moxi. The literati conception of painting as a form of self-expression, meant to convey ideas…

Ch: molan. Paintings of wild orchids rendered in *sumi 墨 ink. Related to…

1　Abbreviation of botan karakusagawara 牡丹唐草瓦. A roof tile, often an eaves-end tile, whose pendant…

A Chinese floral pattern *karakusamon 唐草文, composed of curling grape vines…

Paintings of *bugaku 舞楽, a classical Japanese court dance that sometimes used…

Ch: Fenggan. The Tang-dynasty priest noted for his eccentric behavior, who was usually depicted with his pet tiger. Fenggan…

Also bunbō shigan 文房四玩, bunbō shiyū 文房四友, and bunbō shikō 文房四候. Lit. the four treasures of the…

A general term for objects like brushes, paper, ink *sumi 墨, and inkstone *…

Bunchō's Treatise on Painting, an early 18th-century miscellany on painters, painting techniques, tools, and…

A class of mounting for hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物, that was originally…

Ch: wenrenhua. Lit. literati painting.  A type of painting in China, Korea, and Japan. In Japan, the term …

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

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…

Lit. "whose sleeves?" Painting theme depicting beautiful kimono 着物 draped across a wooden rack, ikō …

Ch: Taigongwang. A Chinese scholar who was thought to be a paragon of humble virtue and learned accomplishment, and who…

Red ochre. A red pigment whose main component is ferric oxide (haematite), Fe203. Used in Japanese style painting *…

Fading. A lessening of the intensity of a color by exposure to sunlight or air. Chemically unstable dyes or pigments undergo…

A type of folding screen *byōbu 屏風 used in the Imperial Palace…

A pictorial subject depicting the sport of falconry, birds trained to hunt cranes tsuru 鶴, pheasants kiji…

Now a modern city on the Inland Sea (southwest of Osaka in Hyōgo Prefecture), most famous as the sea-coast setting for the…

A pictorial subject taken from "Takekawa" ("Bamboo River"), Chapter 44 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

A long-sheet size of *hōsho 奉書 paper. Approximately 53 x 72 cm. The largest…

Pictures on kites. It is thought that kite flying became popular in Japan in the 18th century, and the early designs for…

Also written 託磨派 and 宅間派. One of the schools of *ebusshi 絵仏師, priest-painters…

A pictorial subject taken from "Tamakazura" ("The Jeweled Chaplet"), Chapter 22 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

A yellowish-red pigment *ganryō 顔料 used in Oriental painting …

A painting where the original ink lines show through after light pigment is added. The 11th-century Senzui byōbu …

Ch: Danxia shaofo. A painting subject which captures the Chan 禅 (Jp: Zen) parable of the monk Danxia (Jp: Tanka 丹霞…

A tool used in woodblock printmaking *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. A piece of wood, a flat…

Lit. "red and green books." Also called edoribon ゑどり本 or 絵取本 (colored books) during the Edo period. Early Edo…

An abbreviation of tansaiga 淡彩画 (light-colored painting).
Lit. "lightly colored." Very often ink paintings…

"Collection of Young Trees of Painting"; one-volume biography of Japanese painters by Kano Ikkei 狩野一渓 (1599-1662). Compiled…

Small vertical poem cards, approximately 36 cm long x 6 cm wide that may be decorated with colored designs, sprinkled with…

Lit. "poem-slip" *tanzaku 短冊 format. A size of *…

Any long, rectangular-shaped object which is similar in size to a long, rectangular poem card called *…

A painting technique in which pale black ink *sumi 墨 or a color (…

Also called *hishigōshi 菱格子. A design motif of crossed…

A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 that is vertically oriented; in…

Also read tatewaki or written 立枠. A design motif made of vertical, tate 立, curvilinear lines which bulge…

1　An abbreviation of tatōgami, or tatamigami. Also known as…

Also written 龍田川 or 立田川. The lower reaches of a tributary of the Yamato 大和 River in Nara. Long famous for its maple leaves,…

A painting shop *eya 絵屋 or atelier founded by Sōtatsu 宗達 (?-1640?), who is thought…

Ch: Zheng Siyuan. A Chinese sage depicted riding a tiger and accompanied by a tiger cub who carries his books. The tiger…

Lit. "paintings of Teika's poems of the flowers and birds of the twelve months." According to his diary Meigetsuki …

Ch: dijiantu. The genre of paintings of advice and admonition *kankai-zu…

Ch: dingtou shuweimiao. Lit. "nail head-rattail drawing." A brush stroke technique used to create the clothing of…

A pictorial subject based on "Tenarai" ("At Writing Practice"), Chapter 53 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

The upper part of a piece of paper is referred to as the "heaven" or ten 天, and the lower part as the "earth"or…

Lit. "celestial dog." A bird-like goblin frequently encountered in Japanese folk-beliefs, literature and their pictorial…

Also written 天具帖, 天宮上, 天久常. Fine Japanese paper made from high quality fibers (see *…

Paintings on a ceiling. The coffered ceilings *gōtenjō 格天井 of…

Also tenkei jinbutsu 点景人物. Small-sized human figures and animals added as secondary elements to a landscape…

Ch: tiexianmiao. Lit. "iron-wire line drawing." A technique used to render the thin, even lines commonly seen in…

Ch: Tao Yuanming (365-427). The Jin dynasty poet and quintessential Chinese scholar-recluse. A virtual prototype for the…

Ch: Du Fu (712-770). A Chinese poet, considered to be one of China's greatest. An innovator of both poetic style and subject…

A caricature picture *giga 戯画 which was popular in the…

Ch: Dongfang Shuo (ca. 154-93 BCE). A Chinese Daoist immortal of the Western Jin associated with the peaches of immortality…

Ch: taoyuantu. Paintings depicting the Chinese story Peach Blossom Spring (Ch: Taohuayuanji, Jp…

Tōhaku's Explanation of Painting, comments of the Momoyama period painter Hasegawa Tōhaku 長谷川等伯 (1539-1610) on well…

Also read Dōhō kosei. Lit. "Dongfeng's tiger voice." A Zen 禅 dialogue in which a tiger is a metaphor for spiritual…

Ch: Tuhui baojian. Precious Mirror of Painting, a late Yuan dynasty history of Chinese painting by Xia…

Also sometimes read Zue sōi. Ch: Tuhui zongyi. Principles of Painting. Chinese painting manual…

Lit. "Eastern Sea [coast] Road, fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō 東海道," which is the road and rest places that linked…

Lit. "everlasting summer." A pictorial subject taken from "Tokonatsu" ("Wild Carnations"), Chapter 26 of Genji…

Ch: Deshan. The Chinese priest Deshan Xuanjian (Jp: Tokuzan Senkan 徳山宣鑑, 780-865) who helped preserve Chan 禅 (Jp: Zen) after…

1　Also tomoe 巴. A pattern of one or more curled tadpole shapes inside a circle. The pattern is…

Also kusashiō 草雌黄, abbreviated to *shiō 雌黄. Gamboge.…

Lit. "Torii school." A family of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists which became a…

Also written 鳥子紙. Sometimes abbreviated to torinoko. An eggshell colored, handmade paper *…

A school of painting, active from the early 15th century until the late 19th, that specialized in courtly subjects painted…

A type of Chinese paper imported and used in Japan for painting and calligraphy and as backing paper urazuke 裏付 for…

Pictures of the archery competition held on the 33-bay-long (394 ft) veranda of Sanjūsangendō 三十三間堂 (Rengeōin 蓮華王院) in…

Prints originally designed in the first half of the 19th century by provincial artists and distributed by itinerant peddlers…