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

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…

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,…

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

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

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…

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 *…

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…

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

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

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, …

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

Lit. "whose sleeves?" Painting theme depicting beautiful kimono 着物 draped across a wooden rack, ikō …

Ch: Taigongwang. A Chinese scholar who was thought to be a paragon of humble virtue and learned accomplishment, and who…

Red ochre. A red pigment whose main component is ferric oxide (haematite), Fe203. Used in Japanese style painting *…

Fading. A lessening of the intensity of a color by exposure to sunlight or air. Chemically unstable dyes or pigments undergo…

A type of folding screen *byōbu 屏風 used in the Imperial Palace…

A pictorial subject depicting the sport of falconry, birds trained to hunt cranes tsuru 鶴, pheasants kiji…

Now a modern city on the Inland Sea (southwest of Osaka in Hyōgo Prefecture), most famous as the sea-coast setting for the…

A pictorial subject taken from "Takekawa" ("Bamboo River"), Chapter 44 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

A long-sheet size of *hōsho 奉書 paper. Approximately 53 x 72 cm. The largest…

Pictures on kites. It is thought that kite flying became popular in Japan in the 18th century, and the early designs for…

Also written 託磨派 and 宅間派. One of the schools of *ebusshi 絵仏師, priest-painters…

A pictorial subject taken from "Tamakazura" ("The Jeweled Chaplet"), Chapter 22 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

A yellowish-red pigment *ganryō 顔料 used in Oriental painting …

A painting where the original ink lines show through after light pigment is added. The 11th-century Senzui byōbu …

Ch: Danxia shaofo. A painting subject which captures the Chan 禅 (Jp: Zen) parable of the monk Danxia (Jp: Tanka 丹霞…

A tool used in woodblock printmaking *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. A piece of wood, a flat…

Lit. "red and green books." Also called edoribon ゑどり本 or 絵取本 (colored books) during the Edo period. Early Edo…

An abbreviation of tansaiga 淡彩画 (light-colored painting).
Lit. "lightly colored." Very often ink paintings…

"Collection of Young Trees of Painting"; one-volume biography of Japanese painters by Kano Ikkei 狩野一渓 (1599-1662). Compiled…

Small vertical poem cards, approximately 36 cm long x 6 cm wide that may be decorated with colored designs, sprinkled with…

Lit. "poem-slip" *tanzaku 短冊 format. A size of *…

Any long, rectangular-shaped object which is similar in size to a long, rectangular poem card called *…

A painting technique in which pale black ink *sumi 墨 or a color (…

Also called *hishigōshi 菱格子. A design motif of crossed…

A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 that is vertically oriented; in…

Also read tatewaki or written 立枠. A design motif made of vertical, tate 立, curvilinear lines which bulge…

1　An abbreviation of tatōgami, or tatamigami. Also known as…

Also written 龍田川 or 立田川. The lower reaches of a tributary of the Yamato 大和 River in Nara. Long famous for its maple leaves,…

A painting shop *eya 絵屋 or atelier founded by Sōtatsu 宗達 (?-1640?), who is thought…

Ch: Zheng Siyuan. A Chinese sage depicted riding a tiger and accompanied by a tiger cub who carries his books. The tiger…

Lit. "paintings of Teika's poems of the flowers and birds of the twelve months." According to his diary Meigetsuki …

Ch: dijiantu. The genre of paintings of advice and admonition *kankai-zu…

Ch: dingtou shuweimiao. Lit. "nail head-rattail drawing." A brush stroke technique used to create the clothing of…

A pictorial subject based on "Tenarai" ("At Writing Practice"), Chapter 53 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

The upper part of a piece of paper is referred to as the "heaven" or ten 天, and the lower part as the "earth"or…

Lit. "celestial dog." A bird-like goblin frequently encountered in Japanese folk-beliefs, literature and their pictorial…

Also written 天具帖, 天宮上, 天久常. Fine Japanese paper made from high quality fibers (see *…

Paintings on a ceiling. The coffered ceilings *gōtenjō 格天井 of…

Also tenkei jinbutsu 点景人物. Small-sized human figures and animals added as secondary elements to a landscape…

Ch: tiexianmiao. Lit. "iron-wire line drawing." A technique used to render the thin, even lines commonly seen in…

Ch: Tao Yuanming (365-427). The Jin dynasty poet and quintessential Chinese scholar-recluse. A virtual prototype for the…

Ch: Du Fu (712-770). A Chinese poet, considered to be one of China's greatest. An innovator of both poetic style and subject…

A caricature picture *giga 戯画 which was popular in the…

Ch: Dongfang Shuo (ca. 154-93 BCE). A Chinese Daoist immortal of the Western Jin associated with the peaches of immortality…

Ch: taoyuantu. Paintings depicting the Chinese story Peach Blossom Spring (Ch: Taohuayuanji, Jp…

Tōhaku's Explanation of Painting, comments of the Momoyama period painter Hasegawa Tōhaku 長谷川等伯 (1539-1610) on well…

Also read Dōhō kosei. Lit. "Dongfeng's tiger voice." A Zen 禅 dialogue in which a tiger is a metaphor for spiritual…

Ch: Tuhui baojian. Precious Mirror of Painting, a late Yuan dynasty history of Chinese painting by Xia…

Also sometimes read Zue sōi. Ch: Tuhui zongyi. Principles of Painting. Chinese painting manual…

Lit. "Eastern Sea [coast] Road, fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō 東海道," which is the road and rest places that linked…

Lit. "everlasting summer." A pictorial subject taken from "Tokonatsu" ("Wild Carnations"), Chapter 26 of Genji…

Ch: Deshan. The Chinese priest Deshan Xuanjian (Jp: Tokuzan Senkan 徳山宣鑑, 780-865) who helped preserve Chan 禅 (Jp: Zen) after…

1　Also tomoe 巴. A pattern of one or more curled tadpole shapes inside a circle. The pattern is…

Also kusashiō 草雌黄, abbreviated to *shiō 雌黄. Gamboge.…

Lit. "Torii school." A family of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists which became a…

Also written 鳥子紙. Sometimes abbreviated to torinoko. An eggshell colored, handmade paper *…

A school of painting, active from the early 15th century until the late 19th, that specialized in courtly subjects painted…

A type of Chinese paper imported and used in Japan for painting and calligraphy and as backing paper urazuke 裏付 for…

Pictures of the archery competition held on the 33-bay-long (394 ft) veranda of Sanjūsangendō 三十三間堂 (Rengeōin 蓮華王院) in…

Prints originally designed in the first half of the 19th century by provincial artists and distributed by itinerant peddlers…

Lit. "giant ground spider." A demon in popular literature and art known for its battle with the early 11th-century warrior…

An *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 woodblock printing technique used in cases where…

A method of paper decoration *ryōshi sōshoku 料紙装飾. Two or more…

A general term for hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物 that make a…

A woodblock-printed fortune with pictures which was sold on street corners *tsuji …

A type of *mokkotsu 没骨 technique. Tsuketate does not…

Pictures depicting activities associated with the months of the year, representing one of the most important categories of…

Also written つくり絵. A painting process associated with the *yamato-e …

Lit. "narrow road of ivy." Pictorial subject matter taken from Episode 9, *Azuma…

A shiny black colorant made by mixing thick carbon ink *sumi 墨 with rice paste…

Also written 続画. A set of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints with a continuous composition in…