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 *…

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

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…

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

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

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. 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…

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

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

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…

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

A painting subject based on the legend of Eka…

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…

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

…

A deep red color, sometimes with a hint of purple. Dyes senryō 染料 and paints *…

Ch: Yanxi fangdai. Also known as Ō Shiyū hōtai 王子猷訪戴 and Setsuya hōtai 雪夜訪戴. Lit. A…

Perspective. In Western art perspective derived from 15th-century developments in science, and the problem of representing 3…

Ch: Yuanhou zhuoyue. A painting subject of the Buddhist parable that features a monkey (Jp: enkō 猿猴)…

Paint. Usually refers to an insoluble pigment *ganryō 顔料 or soluble dye…

Also hakuen 白鉛, oshiroi 白粉, hafuni 白粉. White lead. A toxic white powder of basic lead carbonate (…

A portrait which is drawn in a circular background.

Red lead. A crimson red pigment *ganryō 顔料 produced from lead oxide Pb O…

Also written 画師. Also read ekaki. A painter or decorator, often a master painter. A term used especially to refer…

A written or spoken explanation of *shaji engi-e 社寺縁起絵 (historical scenes…

A shop which produced and sold painting. Distinguished from fan shops ōgiya 扇屋 and screen shops shōjiya…

The paintings of the Ainu アイヌ of Hokkaidō 北海道 and Sakhalin サハリン, focusing on their everyday activities and yearly…

Also written 絵双紙. An illustrated booklet published during the Edo period. These were short publications written in kana…

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

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

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…

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…

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

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" …

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…

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 *…

A school of painters active in the 16th century and the 17th century, founded by Hasegawa Tōhaku 長谷川等伯 (1539-1610) who is…

1　A pictorial subject based on "The Lady at the Bridge" Hashihime, Chapter 45 of Genji…

1　Paintings e 絵 executed on the interior pillars *hashira…

Ch: baxian. Lit. eight immortals. The eight figures considered to be the experts in and protectors of Taoism. The impetus…

Ch: Bazhong huapu. Primer on Eight Varieties of Painting, a compilation of eight texts on poetry and painting…

Also written 八双, 雙双, 八宗. Can also be called hyōmoku 表木 when referring to hanging scrolls *…

An abbreviation for Yoshitsune hassōtobi 義経八艘飛 or Yoshitsune's Leap over Eight Boats, one of the many…

Ch: pomo. Lit. splashed ink. An ink painting *suibokuga 水墨画…

A pictorial subject taken from "The First Warbler" or more literally "The First Song," Chapter 23 of Genji monogatari…

Lit. paintings of Heike. The usual abbreviation of Heike monogatari-e 平家物語絵, illustrations of famous incidents…

Lit. wall painting or mural.

1　A generic term applied to all the paintings related to…

1　Also called *gaku 額. A tablet or board, framed or unframed, on…

Also called zanzan jōsui 残山剰水 (Ch: canshan shengshui) or left-over mountains and remaining water. A compositional…

Ch: bianxiang. Also called hen 変 (Ch: bian) or kyōhen 経変 (Ch: jingbian). Transformation scenes, tableaux,…

Also known as Hie 日吉 (can be read Hiyoshi) matsuri 祭 or Sannō matsuri 山王祭. A pictorial…

A woodblock printed advertisement used to announce a store, publicize a product, or advertise a new publication. In the…

Also read hikime kagibana and written 引目鈎鼻. Lit. slit eyes, hooked nose. A technique used to draw faces of the…

Lit. hemp-fiber texture stroke; a type of brushstroke, so called because it resembles a loose hemp thread. A texture brush…

Also pronounced hiinagata bon. Lit. miniature stamped book. A small-sized woodblock printed book produced during…

The manor of using a painting brush in Eastern art and calligraphy. Brush use technique was first mentioned by Xie He (Jp:…

A technique used to apply color evenly over an underpainting, without regard for lines. If the overcoat is opaque the under…

1　Also hishigata 菱形. A diamond or lozenge shape. A term used to describe diamond-shaped cross…

1　 Diamond- or lozenge-shaped lattice or muntins used on doors, transoms, and fences *…

A diamond or lozenge-shaped motif that is a type of traditional design motif *…

Also Hitomaru-zō 人丸像. An imaginary portrait of the Nara period poet Kakinomotono Hitomaro 柿本人麿, who is…