Ch: Fu Daishi. Buddhist Master Fu or Great Teacher Fu. The Chinese Buddhist layman Fu Xi (Jp: Fu Kyū 傅翕, 497-569)…

Sanskrit: Potalaka. Sometimes written 普陀楽山, 布落迦山; also called Fudaraku 補陀落. Octagonal island-mountain paradise…

Noh mask *nōmen 能面, representing *Fudō …

The chief of the Five Great Myōō, *Godai Myōō 五大明王, Fudō has been, and…

Depictions of Mt. Fuji 富士 painted from the Heian period to modern times in a variety of contexts. A usually quiet (but still…

Lit. universally good (Sk: Samantabhadra); also Henkitsu 遍吉. A bodhisattva, *bosatsu…

Lit. axe-cut stroke. A painting texture stroke, *shunpō 皴法, said to have been…

Devotional paintings of Mt. Fuji 富士 in a large hanging scroll format. Usually they are in the form of sankei mandara…

A pictorial subject taken from the "Wisteria Leaves" (Fuji no uraba, underleaves of wisteria), Chapter 33 of …

A pictorial subject taken from the "Purple Trousers" (Fujibakama, also translated as Mistflowers), Chapter 30 of…

Lit. Wind God and Thunder God. Based on popular Indian deities (Sk: Vayu and Varun) and Chinese deities (Ch: Fengshen 風神 and…

Fujiwara period. A period of approximately two hundred years corresponding to the Middle Heian period (Heian chūki…

Deep. A noh mask, *nōmen 能面, representing a middle-aged woman torn by…

Ch: Puhua. An itinerant priest of the Tang Dynasty depicted in paintings as wandering the streets of Zhenzhou 鎮州 in a state…

Lit. Landscape painting, a general term, usually applied only to works in the long western tradition of landscape by…

Also zōkin bokashi 雑巾ぼかし, rag shading. Any wiping technique used to produce gradated tones (shading) on a woodblock…

A technique to create tints by placing a cut-out pattern on paper and scraping paint through a wire mesh with a brush,…

The part of a lotus-petal base, *rengeza 蓮華座, for a Buddhist image…

1　Also written 葺返. A board which projects diagonally out from the top of a statue canopy, *…

A compositional technique used to depict a residential interior. The technique involves rendering a building without a roof…

1　The arrangement of muntins, lattice (*fukiyose gōshi…

Also fukiyosebuki 吹寄葺, fukiyose renben 吹寄蓮弁, or *fukiyose…

A later-era appellation given to a group of artists from the late Edo period who consciously attempted revive the past *…

The god of happiness, represented in kyōgen 狂言 plays by a masked figure, *…

A restoration copy. A painting that is copied with the intent of restoring it to near its original state. This means…

Ch: Fuxi. A legendary Chinese sage and ruler who was the founder of Chinese civilization and first sovereign of the Five…

Also known as Fukūkensaku Kannon. His name, "non-empty noose," is pronounced differently in Shingon 真言 (Fukaukenjaku) and…

The woodblock-printed paper that formed the outer covers for prints and woodblock books. In the 1770s-80s it became popular…

A type of mounting for hanging scrolls, *kakemono 掛物. The *…

Ch: Fu Lu Shou. A popular deity of wealth (fuku 福), happiness (roku 禄), and longevity( ju 寿),…

Also read fukurotsuzuri. Also called karatoji 唐綴 and fukurozōshi 袋草子. Lit. pouch-binding. The…

Also fuchoku 布置. Composition in Chinese painting. Included in the fifth canon, "Plan and Design, Place and Position…

Replica casting. A technique used in metal casting, where a simple, flat metal object was covered with clay to make a mold.…

Also funagatakō 舟形光. Lit. boat-shaped halo. A halo, *kōhai 光背, with a…

Also read fundame. A technique of coating a statue with gold. Used during and after the Kamakura period. The figure…

Also funnugyō 忿怒形 or shinnusō 瞋怒相. An angry expression found on Buddhist images. The opposite of *…

1　A Tang Dynasty term for rough sketches or underdrawings made with gesso powder, *…

Also pronounced funsōe or funsōi. A Buddhist monk's robe made from rags. According to Buddhist tradition,…

Lit. refined taste. An aesthetic ideal implying traditional elegance, chic stylishness, creative ingenuity, and sometimes…

Ch: Fengliuzhentu. Lit. Depictions of Elegant Battles. A Chinese painting subject included among the Pictures of…

Lit. cloth masks. Also sakumen 作面. Eighth-century burlap (ramie) pieces with a human face sketched in the…

Lit. satirical pictures. Paintings and prints satirizing current events, world affairs, government, and politics. The…

Knotted zō. A noh mask, *nōmen 能面, representing a mature young woman. A…

Biography of Famous Painters in Japan, a comprehensive mid-19th-century biography of painters. Supplemented and…

Primer on Master Painters of Japan, an early 18th-century biography of painters by Asai Fukyū 浅井不旧. Asai, a native…

Ch: Fengshuidong. Lit. the wind and water caves. A grotto complex near Hangzhou 杭州 which was the subject of poems by Su…

Abbreviation of fusumashōji-e 襖障子絵. Paintings on sliding-door panels, *fusuma…

A term used for one of the parts of the mounting of a hanging scroll, *kakemono…

Also shokanbukuro-e 書簡袋絵. The woodblock-printed pictures on folded paper covers which functioned as envelopes, …

Abbreviation of either the *kekka fuza 結跏趺坐 (full-lotus posture) or the *…

Paintings with the daily activities and special pleasures of contemporary life as their subject matter. Equivalent to the…

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, …