1　A general term that refers to the title or preface, dai 題 or daiji 題辞, and the…

Also daibusshi-shiki 大仏師職, zōbutsu-chōkan 造仏長官. An important Buddhist sculptor *…

Also jōrokubutsu 丈六仏. The term used to describe a very large statue of Buddha. Originally any statue more than…

A standard lotus pedestal *rengeza 蓮華座 used to support a *…

Also sōgyari 僧伽梨 (Sk: sanghati). A robe worn by Buddhist priests. The largest of the three robes *…

Also Taigensui Myōō 太元帥明王. Sometimes read Daigen Myōō. In Sanskrit, Atavaka, which means lord of the forest, and which is…

Lit. *myōō 明王 of great awesome virtue. A god thought so powerful as to be able to…

Translation of Sanskrit Mahesvara (also transliterated as Makeishura 摩醯首羅), one of the many names of Shiva, who, along with…

Also called Yukisuki-no-byōbu 悠紀主基屏風. Folding screens *byōbu 屏風 used…

1　An abbreviation for *Daikokuten 大黒天 (Sk: Mahakala). Regarded by…

Daikokuten is generally famous as a god of luck. He is most familiar in Japan as a fat, smiling figure with a big sack over…

Lit. Great Sun. Translation of the Sk. Mahavairocana "(Great) Illuminating One"; also translated as (Dai)Henjō (大)遍照 "(Great…

Also written 題箋. Also called *harigedai 貼外題 and gedaigami 外題紙. A…

A pedestal or dais upon which a Buddhist image is placed. The type of pedestal is related to the type of image it supports…

Also dakkanshitsu 脱乾漆, dakkatsu kanshitsuzō 脱活乾漆像, dakkatsu kanshitsu-zukuri 脱活乾漆造. Hollow dry…

1　The traditional term for kinpeki nōsaiga 金碧濃彩画, a painting which has strong colors, particularly…

1　Also written 反. A step. The level part or tread of a flight of stairs. When made of wood, the tread is…

Japanese paper *washi 和紙 originally made from mayumi 檀 fibers (the…

A Buddhist statue made from fragrant, fine-grained wood such as white sandalwood *…

Sk: Bodhidharma. Ch: Damo. A semi-legendary Indian monk credited with bringing the teachings of Zen (Ch: Chan) to China.…

Also written 伊達. Originally derogatory, the term implies a man arrogant and full of his own prowess; it later came to…

Lit. pictures of Tartars hunting. A popular screen painting theme in the late 16th and early 17th century. The pictures…

Also kindei 金泥 and gindei 銀泥.

1　Gold or silver foil ground to a fine powder to…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 used to represent a terrestrial spirit or a dragon god.…

Gold eyes. A Noh mask, *nōmen 能面, representing a mature woman who carries within…

Lit. things from overseas.

1　Objects brought from abroad, including numerous art works. See *…

Lit. things from past generations. Art works or antiquities which have been treasured among people for long period of time.…

Lit. pasted paper leaf book. Also called *kochōsō 胡蝶装, as it is called in…

Also hōdō 宝幢, tendō 天幢, or bandō 幡幢. A small, rectangular cloth banner on a pole used as a…

The movable face plate. The most elaborate gimmick used on the bugaku mask, *…

Lit. body carving. The carver of woodblocks for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints who was…

A title of artistic or cultural advisors in the Ashikaga 足利 shogunate, established about the time of Yosimitsu 義満 (1358-1408…

A man's hip-length jacket, generally worn over other clothing or armor by high-ranking samurai 侍 from the late…

Rotating eyes, a gimmick used for many bugaku masks, *bugakumen 舞楽面…

Lit. child, young boy.

1　A boy between 8 and 20 years old living in a Buddhist temple. He studies…

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 (a form of mandara centered…

A temple of the Tendai 天台 sect in Hidaka 日高, Wakayama Prefecture. The setting of a dramatic old Japanese tale first recorded…

Decorative drapery used on statues in the Kamakura region from the late Kamakura period. The drapery was made in clay relief…

Also written 純子. Patterned damask weave. A thick and glossy silk variety of shusu 繻子 (satin), with the design made…

Any painting produced with a type of thick, opaque paint made from inexpensive pigment and the white pigment, *…

A technique where a mixture of animal glue, *nikawa 膠, and powdered burnt clay…

Also 礬沙, 陶砂. Sizing. Dōsa is made by dissolving animal glue, *nikawa 膠…

Lit. Daoist Buddhist paintings. A genre of painting on Daoist (Taoist; Jp: Dōkyō 道教) and Buddhist (shaku 釈 from *…

Also Sae-no-kami 塞の神 (also read Sai-no-kami), Dōrokujin 道陸神, and other less common names. A folk deity associated with roads…

Bronze work. Bronze casting has been very important in Japan since ancient times, and was used for Yayoi period dōtaku…

Also hōbachi 宝鉢 (Sk: patra). A bowl used by Buddhist monks for meals, and as a begging bowl. The hachi is rounded and deep…

Abbreviation of Tenryū hachibushū 天竜八部衆. Eight classes of Indian deities who were converted by *…

Lit. eight great youths. Eight attendants of either *Monju 文殊 or more commonly *…

Also read hachijū shukō, hachijū zuigyōgō 八十随形好 hachijū zuigōsō 八十随好相. The 80 auspicious bodily…

Refers to the books of the floating world, *ukiyo zōshi 浮世草子, published by…

Lit. *Amida, 阿弥陀, with teeth exposed. An image of a standing Amida with his…

The joining or gluing together of parts when making a wooden statue or vessel. Originally the term meant sticking feathers…

Hagi ware. A general name for pottery made in the Matsumoto, 松本, area of western Hagi City, and in Nagato Fukawa, 長門深川, in…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Broom Tree," Hahakigi, Chapter 2 of Genji Monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

Lit. abolish Buddha. It was government policy during the early Meiji period to repress Buddhism in favor of Shinto which was…

Simple paintings which accompany and interact with the 17-syllable poetic verse called haiku, 俳句. Haiga is…

A wide, multi-purpose brush made of animal hair attached to a wooden handle. Hake range in size from 3 cm to 18 cm…

Lit. eight views. Eight scenic spots from one geographic area specifically chosen to be treated in verse or pictures. The…

Lit. biographies of eight dogs. A pictorial subjectin *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 taken from…

A Buddhist image contained in a box-shaped miniature shrine. Two symmetrical rectangular wings flank a main image, carved in…

Lit. foil or leaf. Gold, silver, copper, tin, or brass pounded into a thin flat sheet and used for the decoration of art…

Ch: Bo Ya Zhong Ziqi. A pictorial theme of friendship in Chinese painting. When the Zhou dynasty musician Bo Ya (Jp: …

Lit. Be Le assessing a horse. A Chinese painting subject of the 4th century horse trainer named Be Le (Jp: Haku Raku…

Ch: Bai Letian (772-846). A Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty, depicted in a tradition of imaginary portrait paintings.…

Although the term literally means white drawing, hakubyō 白描 is a technique of painting that relies primarily on the…

Kaolin. Also todo とど. A fine soft white clay produced by the decomposition of other clays feldspar. Hakudo…

Painting on silk. In ancient China, before paper-making was developed, silk or haku (also called so 繪) was…

The Hakuhō period (645-710) referred to in recent scholarship as the Late Asuka period, Asuka jidai kōki 飛鳥時代後期.…

Ch: Boyi Shuqi. Brothers who lived during the late Shang - early Zhou dynasties, who were praised by Confucius for declining…

Also hakuire 箔入れ, hakuoki 箔置き. Making a design by stitching gold, silver, or colored foil with glue onto…

Devotional paintings of the cult of Hakusan 白山 (white mountains), a group of mountains that border Gifu, Fukui,…

An artist who applies gold or silver leaf *shippaku 漆箔 to the surface of a…

Paintings of a flat, undulatory sandy beach or sand spit with windswept pines, a traditional theme of *…

A plug used in *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 woodblock printmaking for making corrections or…

Ch: Pan Lang. Chinese Zhou dynasty recluse, originally a retainer of King Mu (Ch: Muwang; Jp: Bokuō 穆王, ca. 1001-972 BC).…

Pictorial Subject matter of *yamato-e やまと絵 painting. "The…

Also hanabishimon 花菱文. Decorative patterns *mon'yō 文様, or…

A pictorial subject based on Chapter 11 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji), "The Orange Blossoms" …

Bumpynosed fierce old man. A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a…

A pattern that features flying birds grasping flowers or small branches in their beaks. The design may feature phoenixes,…

Also written 咄本 or 話本. Lit. storybooks. Collections of humorous short stories and anecdotes popular during the Edo period.…

One of the painting guilds or studios za 座 in the atelier *nanto-edokoro…

The standard size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints. Print sizes are given in the…

Also called ita 板. The wood used for the curved blocks which make woodblock prints *…

A print based on a rebus. A collection of images that might suggest a place name, the name of a courtesan, or a phrase from…

Lit. half *jōroku 丈六. A measure of height for a Buddhist statue. Eight …

Also hanka 半跏, hankaza 半跏坐, hanfuza 半趺坐, daibosatsuza 大菩薩坐, and bosatsuza 菩薩坐.…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a female serpent-demon filled…

In full Hannya-haramitsu (or Hannya-haramitta) bosatsu 般若波羅蜜(般若波羅蜜多)菩薩. A bodhisattva *…

Lit. half arm. A sleeveless short undergarment for aristocratic men. From the Nara through the early Heian periods, …

Also written 板本.

1　Also kanpon 刊本. A printed book of any type.

…

Also written 半折 and 半截. A size of paper obtained when full-size paper *zenshi…

Also written 判紙. A small-sized paper, approximately 25 cm by 35 cm. Being a convenient size for a variety of documents, …

Abbreviation of hanshita-e 版下絵. The final master drawing or design which was used by an artist or his workshop to…

Pictures on paper pasted onto small boxes and prized by women and girls in the early 18th century. Most of the pictures were…

A strip of paper encircling the outside cover *hyōshi 表紙 of a book, on which…

Also written 貼交絵. Prints of two or more subjects on a single page. Most common are colored paper shapes, poem-card *…

Also haritsukega 貼付画. Abbreviation of kabe haritsuke-e 壁貼付絵. Paintings on paper (or infrequently on silk)…

A thin (1.5 cm+), flat wooden frame glued to silk to stabilize it while it is being painted *…