Also takushu 磔手 and chōshu 張手 (Sk: vitasti). A unit of measure that originated in India, used in the…

Lit. the hot water for tea. Also known as sadō 茶道 or chadō. The ritual art of preparing and drinking…

Father old man. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a cheerful old man. The powder…

The path purifier, mask worn by the first actor in a procession of ancient theatrical performances gigaku 伎楽.…

Plovers or (rarely) sanderlings: small birds that live in flocks near water, a popular design motif either alone or combined…

The Buddhist acolyte form of the name *Kūkai 空海 (774-835; see *…

Lit. knowledge-fist mudra. A mudra or hand gesture *in 印 formed by…

Also referred to as the First mandala. A small wooden painting. The oldest of the Three Jōdo Mandalas *…

Ch: Zhulin Qixian. Lit. Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. A pictorial theme based on seven Chinese literati who, to…

A yellow-brown paper made in China from bamboo fibers. Commonly known in Japan as *tōshi…

Also enjiraku or enchiraku 円地楽. A piece in imperial court dancing *…

Also called chinkinbori 沈金彫. A technique developed in aizunuri 会津塗 that involves cutting a design into a…

Also chinzō chōkoku, see *chinsō 頂相. Portrait sculptures of…

Also chinzō. Lit. head's appearance. A naturalistic portrait, sculpted or painted, of a Zen 禅 master's head.

A multi-colored print which was rolled around a bar and then rubbed to give it crinkles and creases as if it had been…

Ch: Zhang Guolao. Also called Tongxuan (Jp: Tsūgen 通玄). One of the Daoist, eight immortals *…

Ch: Zhang Liang・Huang Shigong. Heroic Chinese warriors of the Han dynasty. 

Zhang Liang (BC 168-137), originally…

Lit. pictures of horse training. One theme of genre painting *fūzokuga 風俗画…

Also read nagaban. Also called naga-e 長絵. Lit. long format. A size of *…

Eyes carved directly into the surface of a wooden sculpture. This method was in general use until the late Heian period when…

Also written 丁字. A deep yellow, dull orange, or tan colored aromatic dye senryō 染料 made from the flowers or…

1　A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 that is vertically oriented…

Also kinjūza 禽獣座 and jūza 獣座. A pedestal or throne for a Buddhist image in the form of a bird or a…

Ch: Niaoke. Lit. bird's nest. A painting subject depicting the Tang dynasty eccentric priest Dōrin 道林 (Ch: Daolin), also…

A bird's-eye view. Also fukan zuhō 俯瞰図法 (view from above). One type of perspective popular in Japanese…

Also pronounced chōketsui. A garment with long sleeves. Seen, for example, on images of *…

Chasing. Carving patterns or letters with a chisel on metal work. A common technique is nanako-uchi 魚々子打 (fish-roe…

Ch: diexingtu. Lit. Picture of the Butterfly of Happiness, or Picture of the Butterfly and the Emperor's Visit. A…

A painting and calligraphy technique where the brush is held perpendicular to the paper so that just the tip is used to…

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

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…

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. 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…

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

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…

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

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…

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

The base material was heated…

Also shibai-e 芝居絵 and geki-e 劇画. Includes kabuki gekijō zu 歌舞伎劇場図 and *…

The most popular form of theatre among townspeople in Japan since the early Edo period. The form has its origins in the…

The eighteen *kabuki 歌舞伎 plays selected as best by Ichikawa Danjūrō 7 七代市川団十郎…

Pictures of *kabuki 歌舞伎. In the broad sense of the term, kabuki zu…

Also written as 兜. A helmet, usually made of iron. The earliest Japanese helmets were made in the Kofun period. There were…

Lit. bird-and-flower painting. Paintings of birds and flowers, flowers only *kakiga…

Also ka'enkō 火焔光. Lit. flame nimbus. A halo *kōhai 光背 on a…

1　Lotus petal design carved around the lower base kiban 基盤 of a lantern *…

Also called sakaguma 反隈 (or 逆隈) or teriguma 照隈. Lit. highlighting. Reverse shading. A shading *…

A pictorial subject based on the "Flares" Kagaribi, Chapter 27 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

1　A pictorial subject taken from one of the eighteen great kabuki plays *…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Drake Fly" Kagerō (also translated as Dayfly or Mayfly), Chapter 52 of G…

Also called kaio'oi 貝覆. A shell-matching game played originally by nobles in the Heian period. A half clam shell…

A ceremony where a Buddhist image not normally on view is unveiled to all worshippers. Normally carried out during a…

Ch: jiehua. Lit. boundary painting. Both a painting technique and a painting genre in China. As a technical term,…

Also abbreviated to kaigen or kaigan 開眼, jugan, or jugen 入眼. Lit. eye-opening ceremony.…

Kaigetsudō school. A school of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists in early 18th century who…

A school of painters active from the 16th century to the 19th century founded by Kaihō Yūshō 海北友松 (1533-1615) and passed…

Lit. Humble Words on Matters of Painting, a late 18th century polemic on painting theory by Kuwayama Gyokushū 桑山玉洲 (1746-99…

Shell buckets. Paired octagonal wood-based lacquer-decorated containers with fitted inrōbuta zukuri 印籠蓋造 lids used…

Ch: Jieziyuan huazhuan. Lit. Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting; a Qing dynasty painting manual that had a…

A round metal or wooden plate with a separately made or repousse (hammered from the rear) image of a Shinto deity *…

A print mounted on a hanging scroll. A format used for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints.…

Also called by names such as kakejiku 掛軸, kakefuku 掛幅, jikumono 軸物, *…

Lit. persimmon color. An orange color, said to resemble the persimmon fruit, or a reddish-brown like the color of persimmon…

Ch: huahui hua. Paintings of flowers and various types of grass. This term is usually applied to Chinese painting,…

The moveable paintings used as backdrops for a *kabuki 歌舞伎 play. A piece of…

A variation of *tenmokuyū 天目釉. A red-brown glaze which is often used on straight…

Ch: Guo Ziyi (697-781). A Tang dynasty general, known for his military conquests and progeny. A native of Huazhou 華州 in…

Compilation of Kakuzen. An early Kamakura-period compilation of traditional Buddhist iconography. Also called Hyakkanshō…

Lit. frame base. The pieces of wood used around a window used to denote the lowest horizontal section of the dais for a…

The Kamakura period (1185-1332) is named for the city in modern Kanagawa Prefecture where Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-99…

The subject of a number of paintings in the possession of Danzan Jinja 談山神社 on Tōnomine 多武峯 in Nara. Kamatari is a deity…

A pre-13th century term for small paintings executed on paper in the *yamato-e…

A Shinto deity. Although the word deity may imply a singular definite presence, kami have no fixed number, form or…

*Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints from the Osaka-Kyoto area (kamigata 上方 denotes…

Lit. paper figure. The preliminary underdrawing *shita-e 下絵 for a Kamakura and…

Hairless old man. Also written 上無尉. Alternate name, inarijō 稲荷尉. A nō mask *…

A painting subject of horse racing at Kamigamo Jinja 上賀茂神社 in Kyoto. The event was a popular custom held on May 5th (today…

Also sentenmon 旋転文. A spiral pattern used in drapery folds on Buddhist statues. Ridges, representing creases in the…

Ch: Han Wudi (159-87 BC). Lit. Emperor Wu of Han. The seventh emperor of the Former Han (Jp: Zenkan 前漢), who ruled from 141-…

Kan'ei culture. The culture of the Kan'ei era (1624-44) and by extension that of the whole early Edo period *…

A signature *rakkan 落款 or a seal *…

Ch: Guan Yu (d. 219 CE). A Chinese general. A painting theme and the subject and title of a *…

Lit. book in kana script. A popular literarily form produced between 1600-82, principally in the Kyoto area. These…

Lit. Eight views of Kanazawa. Eight scenic spots around Kanazawa, the southern part of Kuraki 久良岐 in Sagami 相模 Province (…

Ch: guanputu. A pictorial theme that features a scholar gazing at a waterfall. The theme probably relates to the poem Ballad…

Lit. beauties of the Kanbun 寛文 era (1661-73). A generic and recently coined term for paintings of beautiful women and men,…

A ceremony held every year to commemorate Buddha's *Shaka 釈迦 birthday, April 8th…

Lit. Chinese painting. Several painting styles which developed in Japan after the mid-13th century under the influence of…

Guide to Chinese Style Painting. A late 18th century treatise on *nanga 南画 by…

Also read Kankiten. Also Shōten/Shōden 聖天. Abbreviation of Daishō kangiten 大聖歓喜天. The elephant-headed…

A transformation scene of the Pure Land *jōdo hensō 浄土変相 based on the…

1　To teach and encourage people to follow Buddhist teachings.

2　To…