Transverse roof beams that span the distance from the center posts of a vernacular house with a thatched roof to the *…

Cutting decorative patterns with an adze *chōna 釿 on chestnut wood …

Also written 釿初, 手斧初. Also called kozukuri hajime 木造り始め or onohajime 斧始め. A carpenter's ceremony performed…

Also called chōnahatsuri 釿斫. A decorative pattern carved into the visible surface of a timber using an adze *…

Also kairen 開蓮. A lotus flower found on the head of a *Fudō Myōō …

Lit. Korean type mountain castle. A general term for castle structures in Japan that resemble those in ancient Korea.…

Also read kōzogami and kajigami 梶紙. Formerly called kokushi 穀紙 during the Heian period. Paper…

Carved lacquer. A generic term used for many carved lacquer techniques where layers of lacquer are applied to a thickness of…

Lit. hyper-naturalism. The idea of basing a garden, or a single element in it, on nature, but exaggerating the natural…

Ch: Zhutou. A painting subject depicting the Northern Song dynasty eccentric priest Zhimeng (J: Shimō 志蒙). He was known…

Ch: chaoyang duiyue. A Zen painting subject depicting a priest sewing in the morning sun (Jp: chōyō …

Lit. hand-washing stone. One of the seven trump stones *nanatsu-ishi 七つ石…

Lit. hand water bowl. A water basin used to rinse the hands or as a decorative element in gardens. Usually made of stone,…

Also written 手水屋. Also called suibansha 水盤舎 or temizuya 手水舎. Shrine or temple building for cleaning hands…

Lit. medium-size format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term chūban…

A part of the mounting of a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. The chūberi…

The central, circular part of a round, eave-end, pendant tile *gatō 瓦当…

The middle base of a lantern *tōrō 灯籠 upon which rests the flame holder and…

Middle area. In upper class residences especially from the Momoyama period and through the Edo period, seating was…

The space *ai-no-ma 相の間 between the sanctuary *…

Lit. central hall. A hall situated between two Buddhist halls or a hall with corridors attached on either side. The most…

Lit. a middle-size book. A woodblock printed book, popular during the Edo period, which is one-half the size of a …

A term used in shrine architecture: a middle area between the *honden 本殿, *…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 supposedly intended to represent the 9th-century poet and…

Metal casting. A technique used in metalwork to produce vessels or sculptures by melting down metal and pouring it into a…

Lit. middle golden hall. An image hall *kondō 金堂 located at the center of…

1　Middle gate. The second or inner gate on the north-south axis of a temple compound in the ancient period…

A type of vernacular house *minka 民家, characterized by one or more wings or…

1　A Heian-period corridor intersected by gates. In the most elaborate Heian-period shinden style…

A term for a loft or attic occupying the roof space of a vernacular house *minka…

Lit. medieval architecture. Temple and shrine buildings erected during the Kamakura, Nanbokuchō, and Muromachi periods when…

A smoothing plane, used to further smooth the surface of timber after the general roughing plane *…

Also tenjō chūshinkazari 天井中心飾. Lit. center flower.

1　A group of decorative patterns in…

A pictorial subject matter taken from The Treasury of Loyal Retainers Chūshingura, an epic and well-loved story of…

Lit. center stone(s). A single stone or stone arrangement *ishigumi 石組,…

Also chūdai-no-son 中台の尊. The principal statue in a group of Buddhist statues. The central image in a triad or group…

A synonym for the large bearing block *daito 大斗 placed on the tops of pillars…

Also imono 鋳物. Casting. A technique used to make cast sculptural forms. 

The base material was heated…

1　Painting contest; a contest involving two teams, popular among Heian aristocrats from the 11th century.…

An *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print commonly used as writing paper. A sheet of *…

Lit. Illustrated Scripture of Cause and Effect. Also known as Kako genzai ingakyō emaki 過去現在因果経絵巻. 

The pictures on signs or billboards displayed in front of *kabuki 歌舞伎 puppet…

Also written 蝦の腰 or 蝦腰. A type of decorative molding *kurigata 繰形, used on…

1　Also ebi-iro 蒲萄色 or 葡萄色. A reddish -purple dye use in the Asuka and Nara periods, and the name…

Also ebigatakote 海老形篭手. A shrimp-shaped gauntlet *kote 篭手. Armor worn to…

Also written 蝦虹梁.

An usually-shaped rainbow tie beam thought to resemble the back of a lobster or shrimp or an s-shape…

Lit. the Plum Quiver. A pictorial subject taken from an incident during the Genpei 源平 war. Before going to battle the…

Also written 夷, 戎, or 蛭子.

1　One of the seven gods of good fortune *…

1　A structural post considered sacred in an Edo period vernacular house *…

A simple structure that was usually erected in the center of a market place to house the deity *…

Also written 蝦束; also hinazuka 雛束. 

A small strut with chamfered corners used between two staggered…

Woodblock engravers who specialized in carving blocks for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 or other…

Also written 絵振板 or 恵振板.

A board cut in a decorative shape and attached at a right angle to the projecting end of a…

Also written 絵振台. Also called onigawaradai 鬼瓦台, *onidai 鬼台. 

Painters who specialized in Buddhist religious painting. The term was widely used from the late Heian period when the demand…

Handmade paper *washi 和紙 produced in Echizen 越前 (now Fukui Prefecture), probably…

Lit. branch strut. Also called hōzue 方杖; hasuzuka 斜束 or nanamezuka 斜め束. Diagonal braces used in…

Lit. branch charcoal. A type of charcoal which is both ornamental and easy to ignite, used in either a sunken hearth *…

Lit. painting model. A prototype, or more commonly, a modelbook produced by a master painter for his students or for people…

Pictorial 'e 絵', biographies 'den 伝' of important persons, most frequently Buddhist patriarchs and holy…

Also *azuma nishiki-e 東錦絵.
A general term applied to all…

Less commonly, *Tokugawa jidai 徳川時代. The Edo period, the time in which…

The Edo period Edo branch of the Kano school of painting *Kano-ha 狩野派. The…

An archaic term for tiles of low quality used in Edo (now Tokyo) during the Edo period to roof tenement houses *…

Lit. Edo black. A black plaster finish applied to the walls of fireproof mud-plastered storehouses *…

Also written 画所. An atelier producing paintings and painted decoration for the court and nobility, located at the palace…

A standard unit of measurement used in Edo and various towns in the Kantō 関東 region. In constructing an ordinary…

Lit. painting brush. Any of numerous categories of paint brushes made in Japan of various natural materials and used to…

1　A generic term for paper used for painting. In general, strong paper with a minimal tendency to blur,…

Silk used for painting. Plain, non-glossy raw silk was favored. Called huajuan (Jp; *…

The name of a courtesan from the Eguchi 江口 area of northern Settsu 摂津 (now Osaka) immortalized in the biography of…

Also called shibai ezōshi 芝居絵双紙 or shibai ehon 芝居絵本. Illustrated woodblock printed programs for *…

Lit. picture book.

1　In the broad sense of the term, the Edo period ehon referred to any…

Books of poetry, haikai 俳諧, with pictures, published during the Edo period. 

One of the oldest examples…

Woodblock printed books published during the Edo period, from the Kan'ei 寛永 to the Kyōhō 享保 eras (1624-1736).

…

Also known as *kyōgenbon 狂言本. Woodblock printed illustrated booklets,…

Illustrated Edo period woodblock printed books containing humorous poems known as kyōka 狂歌. 

Early…

Also jōyatō 常夜灯. 

A device to prevent the votive light in a lantern from going out.

Also ei 影, *shin-ei 真影, *miei…

Ch: Huike duanbi. Lit. Eka cutting (his) elbow. 

A painting subject based on the legend of Eka…

Also written 腋門, or read *wakimon 脇門. 

A small gate…

1　The textual part of an illustrated handscroll *emaki 絵巻. The…

Lit. horse painting. Illustrated wooden plaques given as votive offerings to shrines and temples. 

It is believed…

Lit. picture horse hall. Also called emaden 絵馬殿; emadokoro 絵馬所 or gakuden 額殿 (frame hall),…

Also called emakimono 絵巻物, or less commonly *ekotoba 絵詞. 

…

Folds in a garment, or the pattern made by these folds. 

In Buddhist statues, the style of drapery folds changed…

The domed lid of a tea ceremony kettle with an indentation or depressed area around the knob. Sometimes called a fuji…

The boards used to make the floor over a veranda framework. There are two common methods: kirime-en 切目縁 and …

Also written 椽長押; sometimes called *kirime nageshi 切目長押. A non-…

Also known as En no Ozunu 役小角 (also read En no Shōkaku) and En no Ubasoku 役優婆塞.

A semi-…

A Buddhist sculpture school *bussho 仏所, active in Kyoto from the 11th century…

Ch: Yuanye. Lit. garden building. The only extant treatise on classical Chinese garden construction. Written by the…

1　Also *engawa 縁側. A veranda. Formerly, en and …

Also engawabashira 縁側柱. 

Posts or pillars usually set on the floor boards *…

An imaginary type of gold which, according to Buddhist scriptures, was the most precious of metals. It was said to be found…

Also written 苑池. Lit. garden pond. The large ponds in gardens of the Nara, Heian, and Kamakura periods. Specifically, the…

Lit. circular pillar seat. A rounded molding carved into the top of a base stone *soseki…

Lit. circular hall. Although the literal meaning of endō is round structure (see *…

A heavy horizontal member attached to the outside of the veranda framework over the veranda struts *…

Also called *gatō 瓦当. The circular pendant tiles attached to semi-circular…