Skip to main content

JAANUS

  • # (1)
  • a (164)
  • b (123)
  • c (138)
  • d (144)
  • e (109)
  • f (114)
  • g (186)
  • h (452)
  • i (179)
  • j (138)
  • k (902)
  • m (398)
  • n (303)
  • o (176)
  • r (136)
  • s (783)
  • t (407)
  • u (134)
  • w (53)
  • y (199)
  • z (63)
  • Accessories (2)
  • Architecture (647)
  • Aristocratic Dwellings (11)
  • Art History (397)
  • Buildings (32)
  • Castles (37)
  • Crafts (35)
  • Decorations (51)
  • Document (8)
  • Folk Dwellings (42)
  • Gardens (53)
  • Gates (20)
  • General Terms (247)
  • Iconography (39)
  • Joints (22)
  • Lanterns (8)
  • Measurement (2)
  • Painting (198)
  • Roofing Tiles (32)
  • Sculpture (111)
  • Shrines (24)
  • Storehouses (2)
  • Structures (32)
  • Tea Houses (77)
  • Tools (12)

Displaying 101 - 200 of 1040
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
chōnabari 釿梁 ✓

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

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
chōnaguri 釿栗

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

Architecture, General Terms
chōnahajime 釿始

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…

Architecture, General Terms
chōnamekezuri 釿目削 ✓

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

Architecture, General Terms
chōren 頂蓮

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

Art History, Sculpture
chōsenshiki yamajiro 朝鮮式山城

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

Architecture, Castles
choshi 楮紙

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

Art History, Painting
chōshitsu 彫漆

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

Art History, Crafts
chōshizenshugi 超自然主義

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

Architecture, Gardens
Chotō 猪頭

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

Art History, Painting
chōyō・taigetsu 朝陽・対月 ✓

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

Art History, Painting
chōzu-ishi 手水石

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

Architecture, Tea Houses
chōzubachi 手水鉢

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

Architecture, Gardens
chōzuya 手水舎

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

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
chūban 中判

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

Art History, Painting
chūberi 中縁

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

Art History, Painting
chūbō 中房

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

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
chūdai 中台

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

Architecture, Gardens
chūdan 中段

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

Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings
chūden 中殿

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

Architecture, Shrines
chūdō 中堂

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

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
chūhon 中本

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

Art History, Painting
chūjin 中陣

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

Architecture, Shrines
chūjō 中将

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

Art History, Sculpture
chūkin 鋳金

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

Art History, Sculpture
chūkondō 中金堂

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

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
chūmon 中門

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

Architecture, Gates
chūmon-zukuri 中門造り

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

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
chūmonrō 中門廊

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

Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings
chūnikai 中二階 ✓

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

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
chūsei kenchiku 中世建築

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

Architecture, General Terms
chūshikō ganna 中仕工鉋

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

Architecture, Tools
chūshin kazari 中心飾

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

1 A group of decorative patterns in…

Architecture, Decorations
Chūshingura 忠臣蔵

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

Art History, Painting
chūshinseki 中心石

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

Architecture, Gardens
chūson 中尊

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…

Art History, Sculpture
chūtō 柱頭

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

Architecture, General Terms
chūzō 鋳造

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

The base material was heated…

Art History, Sculpture
kabe shitaji 壁下地

The framework for a mud-plastered wall. It consists of lath, bamboo crosspieces *…

Architecture, General Terms
kabedoko 壁床 ✓

A wall alcove. An alcove that has no recessed space and no appurtenances such as a framing board *…

Architecture, Tea Houses
kabegaki 壁垣

A generic term for shrine fences *tamagaki 玉垣. A fence built at shrines from…

Architecture, General Terms
kabekomai 壁小舞 ✓

Also written 壁木舞. Thinly split lath set vertically and horizontally to form the framework *…

Architecture, General Terms
kabemochi bashira 壁持柱

Small diameter posts set between two pillars to support horizontal circular laths called kabemawatashi 壁間渡. The…

Architecture, General Terms
kaben 花弁

The band of lotus petals *renji 蓮子 which encircles the seed pod *…

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
kabeshiro 壁代

A type of curtain hung from the upper non-penetrating tie beam, uwanageshi (or kaminageshi ) 上長押 in temple…

Architecture, Decorations
kabewatadono 壁渡殿

Lit. walled bridge corridor. An archaic term for a type of corridor that connects two buildings in a Heian period…

Architecture, General Terms
kabuki-e 歌舞伎絵

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

Art History, Painting
kabuki 歌舞伎

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

Art History, General Terms
kabuki 冠木

Also 衡木. A horizontal timber, lintel, or crossbar.

1 A lintel characteristic of gates called *…

Architecture, General Terms
kabuki jūhachiban 歌舞伎十八番

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

Art History, Painting
kabuki zu 歌舞伎図

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

Art History, Painting
kabukimon 冠木門 ✓

Also written kōmon 衡門. A roofless gate composed of two square gate posts *…

Architecture, Gates
kabumono 株もの

Lit. stump. The term is used to designate trees which have no trunk but grow so that the branches come directly out of the…

Architecture, Gardens
kaburagegyo 蕪懸魚 ✓

Lit. turnip bargeboard pendant. A gable pendant *gegyo 懸魚 decorated with…

Architecture, Decorations
kabuto 冑

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

Art History, Sculpture
kabutomon 兜門

Lit. helmet gate. A type of front gate in tea gardens *roji 露地 that resembles a…

Architecture, Tea Houses
kachōga 花鳥画

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

Art History, Painting
kadozuka 角束

A short strut used at the corners of podii *kidan 基壇, or a dais *…

Architecture, General Terms
kaen kōhai 火焔光背

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

Art History, Sculpture
kaeribana 反花

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

Architecture, Art History, Sculpture, Lanterns
kaeribanaza 反花座

Abbreviated to *kaeribana 反花. Also soribana 反り花. A…

Architecture, Decorations
kaeriguma 返暈

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

Art History, Painting
kaerumata 蟇股 ✓

Frog-leg strut. A strut with legs spread like those of a frog. Kaerumata in the early Nara period developed from an…

Architecture, General Terms
kagami-ishi 鏡石

Lit. mirror stone.

1 A stone which is placed behind a hand wash basin *…

Architecture, Tea Houses
kagami ita 鏡板

Boards or panels planed to a perfectly smooth surface and employed for ceilings or flooring. An example is a thin board…

Architecture, General Terms
kagami no ma 鏡の間

Lit. mirror room. A room separated by a curtain from the passageway hashigakari 橋掛り leading to a noh stage *…

Architecture, General Terms
kagami tenjō 鏡天井 ✓

Also kagamiita tenjō 鏡板天井. Lit. mirror ceiling. A flat ceiling made of smoothly planed boards shiraki…

Architecture, General Terms
kagamizumi 鏡積み

Lit. mirror piling. A method of masonry used for a stone wall *ishigaki 石垣.…

Architecture, Castles
Kagaribi 篝火 ✓

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

Art History, Painting
kagariya 篝屋

Guardhouses for soldiers placed at street corners in Kyoto and Kamakura during the Kamakura period. The earliest known …

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kagebana sōshoku 懸華装飾

A festoon. Also fesutun フェストゥーン, hanazuna sōshoku 花網装飾, or sagewa kazari 下げ環飾. A carved or molded…

Architecture, Decorations
Kagekiyo 景清

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

Art History, Painting, Sculpture
kagemori 影盛 ✓

A plastered roof ornament on storehouses *dozō 土蔵. Located at the ends of…

Architecture, General Terms
Kagerō 蜻蛉

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

Art History, Painting
kagiya 鍵屋

Lit. key-shaped house. A widely used term for vernacular houses *minka 民家, of…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
kagobori 篭彫 ✓

Purfled work. Lit. basket carving. A type of decorative wood carving used on beam projections *…

Architecture, General Terms
kai 階

Floor or storey, and also a counter for floors in a building. For example, nikai 二階 refers to the second floor or…

Architecture, General Terms
kai no kuchitsugi 貝の口継 ✓

Lit. shell mouth joint. A straight end-to-end joint *tsugite 継手 used for very…

Architecture, Joints
kaiawase 貝合

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

Art History, Crafts
kaichō 開帳

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

Art History, Sculpture
kaidaka 階高 The distance from the floor of one story to the floor of the next story. The topmost story is measurement from the floor to… Architecture, General Terms
kaidan'in 戒壇院 ✓

A Tendai 天台 sect building that contains an ordination platform used exclusively for the ceremony to impart the Buddhist…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaidan 階段

One or more steps composed of a tread dan ita 段板 or fumi ita 踏板 and a riser *…

Architecture, General Terms
kaidan 戒壇 A platform or dais used for the Buddhist ordination ceremony.
Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaiga 界画

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

Art History, Painting
kaigata 貝形 ✓

1 A trapezoid.

2 Also called *tsuiji…

Architecture, General Terms
kaigata gegyo 貝形懸魚 ✓

Also kaigashira gegyo 貝頭懸魚. Lit. shell-head gable pendant. A type of decorative gable pendant *…

Architecture, Decorations
kaigen kuyō 開眼供養

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

Art History, Sculpture
Kaigetsudō-ha 懐月堂派

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

Art History, Painting
Kaihō-ha 海北派

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…

Art History, Painting
Kaiji higen 絵事鄙言

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

Art History, Painting
Kaiki 槐記

The words and deeds of court-noble Konoe Iehiro 近衛家熈 (1667-1736) as collected by his personal physician Yamashina Dōan 山科道安…

Architecture, Tea Houses
kaikō 開口

Also kaikō ana 開口穴; kaikōbu 開口部. A generic term for an opening made in a wall for a door and window, in…

Architecture, General Terms
kaimono 飼物 Any kind of material used to fill a gap. If the basic material is wood, then wood filler is used. Gaps in stone walls are… Architecture, General Terms
kaioke 貝桶

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

Art History, Crafts
kaiorekugi 貝折釘 ✓

Also written 皆折釘. A large, square, angular nail used for wooden or bamboo fences. Its head is bent at right angles but has a…

Architecture, General Terms
kairō 回廊 ✓

Also written 廻廊; also called bu 廡, sōrō 走廊 or *horō 歩廊. Single-…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaisandō 開山堂 ✓

A hall that enshrines a statue, portrait or memorial tablet of the founder of a temple or the founder of a particular…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kaisantō 開山塔

Lit. founder's pagoda. A rare type of wooden pagoda *hōtō 宝塔, constructed…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Kaishien gaden 芥子園画伝

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

Art History, Painting

Pagination

  • First page « First
  • Previous page ‹‹
  • Page 1
  • Current page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Page 7
  • Page 8
  • Page 9
  • …
  • Next page ››
  • Last page Last »

Contributor Login

JAANUS is the on-line Dictionary of Japanese Architectural and Art Historical Terminology compiled by Dr. Mary Neighbour Parent.

Originally built by the Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation, it is now hosted and maintained by the Media Center for Art History at Columbia University