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JAANUS

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  • Accessories (2)
  • Architecture (852)
  • Aristocratic Dwellings (9)
  • Art History (511)
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  • Crafts (37)
  • Decorations (56)
  • Document (4)
  • Folk Dwellings (47)
  • Gardens (61)
  • Gates (24)
  • General Terms (375)
  • Iconography (55)
  • Joints (24)
  • Lanterns (12)
  • Measurement (2)
  • Painting (264)
  • Roofing Tiles (50)
  • Sculpture (138)
  • Shrines (29)
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  • Tea Houses (75)
  • Tools (18)

Displaying 601 - 700 of 1354
Title Contains Image(s) Description Keywords
kana zōshi 仮名草子

Lit. book in kana script. A popular literarily form produced between 1600-82, principally in the Kyoto area. These…

Art History, Painting
kanabakari-zu 矩計図

Sectional details. Also kanabakari 矩計. A detailed drawing of the specific parts of a structure in a scale larger…

Architecture, General Terms
kanagu 金具

Also kanamono 金物 (metal thing). Metal fittings that are not only functional but often decorative. 
 …

Architecture, Decorations
kaname 要

A term used for the imaginary center point from which fan rafters *ōgidaruki…

Architecture, General Terms
kanawa tsugi 金輪継 ✓

An oblique, housed (dadoed), rabbeted, T-shaped, half-blind, tenoned scarf joint. Because both the tenon and mortise are…

Architecture, Joints
Kanazawa hakkei 金沢八景

Lit. Eight views of Kanazawa. Eight scenic spots around Kanazawa, the southern part of Kuraki 久良岐 in Sagami 相模 Province (…

Art History, Painting
kanazuchi 金槌

A carpenter's hammer with an iron head. It differs from the steel double faced hammer *…

Architecture, Tools
kanbaku zu 観瀑図

Ch: guanputu. A pictorial theme that features a scholar gazing at a waterfall. The theme probably relates to the poem Ballad…

Art History, Painting
kanban 看板 ✓

A signboard placed outside or affixed to the front of a commercial premises displaying the name of the shop yagō…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
Kanbun bijin 寛文美人

Lit. beauties of the Kanbun 寛文 era (1661-73). A generic and recently coined term for paintings of beautiful women and men,…

Art History, Painting
kanbutsu-e 潅仏会

A ceremony held every year to commemorate Buddha's *Shaka 釈迦 birthday, April 8th…

Art History, General Terms
kandachi 神館 A place for Shinto purification rites, as well as a place for priests to go into seclusion for a set amount of time.
Architecture, Shrines
kane-no-te 矩の手

An architecutural element which incorporates a right angle. For example, a corridor with a right angle bend is referred to…

Architecture, Tools
kaneguchi no nuki 鐘口貫

A penetrating beam *nuki 貫 that is inserted into the structure of a belfry *…

Architecture, General Terms
kanehō 矩方

A line running at a right angle to another line, or something that moves at a direction of 90 degrees relative to something…

Architecture, General Terms
kanejaku 曲尺 ✓

A carpenter's square. It has a long side, about 49 cm, and a short side about 24 cm, and looks like an L shaped ruler. Also…

Architecture, Tools
kanekōbai 矩勾配

The 45 degree pitch of the hypotenuse, the side opposite the right angle, of an isosceles right-angled triangle. A right…

Architecture, General Terms
kanga 漢画

Lit. Chinese painting. Several painting styles which developed in Japan after the mid-13th century under the influence of…

Art History, Painting
Kanga Shinan 漢画指南

Guide to Chinese Style Painting. A late 18th century treatise on *nanga 南画 by…

Art History, Painting
Kangakuin 勧学院

Also omotemon 表門. The front gate of Shūgenji 宗源寺 a subsidiary temple of Hōryūji 法隆寺. It serves as a place for study…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
Kangiten 歓喜天

Also read Kankiten. Also Shōten/Shōden 聖天. Abbreviation of Daishō kangiten 大聖歓喜天. The elephant-headed…

Art History, Iconography
kangō shūraku 環濠集落

A settlement surrounded by a moat. The earliest enclosed settlement appeared about 2000 years ago and is associated with the…

Architecture, Castles
Kangyō hensō 観経変相

A transformation scene of the Pure Land *jōdo hensō 浄土変相 based on the…

Art History, Iconography
kanimendo gawara 蟹面戸瓦

Also kanimendo 蟹面戸. Lit. crab filler tile. A crab-shaped tile used to cover the gap created by the junction of two…

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
kanjin 勧進

1 To teach and encourage people to follow Buddhist teachings.



2 To…

Art History, Sculpture
Kanjinchō 勧進帳

A pictorial subject taken from Kanjinchō (The Subscription List), perhaps the best-loved *…

Art History, Painting
kanjōban 灌頂盤

A flag, made in cloth and covered with gilt-bronze, used for the Buddhist abhiseka ceremony of sprinkling water on the head…

Art History, Crafts
kanjōdō 潅頂堂

Also called kanjōin 潅頂院. The hall used to conduct the ceremony to confer the basic precepts and mystic teachings of…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kankai-zu 勧戒図

Ch: quanjietu. Also written 鑑戒図 (Ch: jianjietu). Lit. pictures of advice and admonishment. Paintings based on Confucian…

Art History, Painting
Kankaimon 歓会門

The front gate of Shurijō 首里城 in Okinawa Prefecture. It was burned down during World War 2 and rebuilt in 1974. It is an…

Architecture, Gates
kanmuridana 冠棚 ✓

Also called kanmuridai 冠台 or kanmurishoku 冠卓.



1 A light shelf of unusual…

Architecture, Aristocratic Dwellings
kanmurigawara 冠瓦

Roof tiles stacked up on the ridge of a temple or castle roof. Also called *…

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
kanna 鉋

A plane, used to shave away the surface of timber to get a smooth finish. In Japan, where most buildings in pre-Meiji…

Architecture, Tools
Kannon 観音

Also Kanzeon 観世音, Kanjizai 観自在. The bodhisattva *bosatsu 菩薩 who personifies…

Art History, Iconography
kannonbiraki tobira 観音開扉 ✓

1 A pair of swing doors *tobira 扉 designed to meet at the…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
kannondō 観音堂 ✓

A Buddhist temple hall dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy *Kannon 観音. Fukushima…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kannuki 閂 ✓

A gate bar. A heavy piece of timber or iron used to affix a plank door to its structure. The kannuki is slipped…

Architecture, General Terms
kannyū 嵌入

An inset or inlay technique. One example is the eyes in a wooden statue in which the shape of the eye is hollowed out and a…

Art History, Sculpture
Kano-ha 狩野派

A hereditary school of professional artists, patronized by military governments from the late Muromachi to the early Meiji…

Art History, Painting
kanpachiga 捍撥画

A painting depicted on a plectrum guard kanpachi 捍溌, a sheet of leather attached to stringed instruments, such…

Art History, Painting
kanrin zu 寒林図

Ch: hanlintu. Lit. pictures of a cold grove. A painting theme featuring a grove of leafless trees in a cold or…

Art History, Painting
kansen 鐶釧

Decorative rings on the arms and legs of Buddhist images. The rings are carved from the same material as the image, or are…

Art History, Sculpture
kansha 官社

1 Shrines which in the Nara and Heian periods received special government supported status. These shrines…

Architecture, General Terms
kanshiki 款識

Correctly read kanshi かんし. Connoisseurship. Originally referred to engraved inscriptions on Chinese bronzes, but…

Art History, Painting
kanshinjiyō 観心寺様

A composite style that includes a mixture of architectural elements from the daibutsu style *…

Architecture, General Terms
kanshitsu 乾漆

Also kanshitsuzō 乾漆像, kanshitsu-zukuri 乾漆造. Dry lacquer technique. A technique used to produce…

Art History, Sculpture
kanshō 鑑賞

Appreciation. To take intuitive pleasure in the total sense of form and expression of content of a work of art. Inherent in…

Art History, Painting
kanshoku 冠飾

A general term for the ornamentation and style of Buddhist crowns *hōkan…

Art History, Sculpture
kanshūjigata tōrō 勧修寺形灯籠

A lantern style based on lanterns found in the Heian period Kanshūji or Kajūji 勧修寺 garden in Kyoto. It is low with a large,…

Architecture, Lanterns
kansubon 巻子本

Also kansu 巻子, makimono 巻物 and kansō 巻装. A handscroll or horizontal scroll. A bound-…

Art History, Painting
kansuryō 監寺寮

One of the administration offices within the priests' living quarters *kuri 庫裡,…

Architecture, Buildings, Structures
kantai 冠帯

Also kanzō 冠繪, tentai 天帯, hōzō 宝繪, tenkantai 天冠帯. The ornamental ribbons which…

Art History, Sculpture
kantan otoko 邯鄲男

Also kantan. Man from Kantan. A nō mask *nōmen 能面…

Art History, Sculpture
kantō 間道

Also written 広東, 漢島, 漢渡, and 閑島. A fine silk striped woven material, perhaps named after the Japanese pronunciation of…

Art History, Crafts
Kanzan Jittoku 寒山拾得 ✓

Ch: Hanshan Shide. Semi-legendary Tang dynasty, Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) eccentrics who were frequently depicted in Chinese and…

Art History, Painting
kanzashi 簪

A stick type of hair ornament. It may be a single stick or fork-shaped stick. The handle end usually has decoration.…

Art History, Crafts
kanzōiro 萓草色

A bright yellowish-orange color. Named after the yellow dye lily flower kanzō 萓草. Kanzō-iro dye was…

Art History, Painting
kaō 花押

Also kakihan 書判, lit. written seal mark, or han 判. Specifically designed character representing or…

Art History, Painting
kappa 河童 ✓

Lit. river child. A supernatural water-sprite believed to inhabit Japan's lakes and rivers. The name kappa varies…

Art History, Painting
kappazuri 合羽摺

Also かっぱ摺 or kappaban かっぱ版; sometimes kōhan 孔版 or katagamizuri 型紙摺. A technique used to apply…

Art History, Painting
kappitsu 渇筆

Ch: kebi. Lit. dry brush. Also kohitsu 枯筆 (withered brush) or sappitsu 擦筆 (rubbed brush). An ink…

Art History, Painting
kara-e mekiki 唐絵目利

Lit. inspector mekiki 目利 of Chinese painting. The post of official art appraiser for the Tokugawa 徳川 shogunate…

Art History, Painting
kara-e 唐絵

Although literally translated to mean Tang dynasty Chinese 'kara 唐' painting, its definition and usage changed with…

Art History, Painting
kara yakuimon 唐薬医門

A richly decorated gate with bracket complexes *tokyō 斗きょう, placed on top…

Architecture, Gates
karabitsu 唐櫃

A Chinese-style chest used to store clothes, arms, personal effects, sutra scrolls (in this case called kyōkarabitsu…

Art History, Crafts
karabori 空堀 ✓

A dry moat, usually with a V-shaped cross-section called *yagenbori 薬研堀. The…

Architecture, Castles
karadake 唐竹

Lit. Chinese bamboo. A common type of slender, long-jointed bamboo madake 真竹. It is often used to construct bamboo…

Architecture, Gardens
karado 唐戸

Either double plank doors *itakarado 板唐戸 in a single opening or paneled…

Architecture, General Terms
karadomen 唐戸面 ✓

A molding found on the corners of pillars, sills, etc, often used on paneled doors such as *…

Architecture, General Terms
karagaki 唐垣

Lit. Chinese fence. Also written 韓垣 meaning a Korean fence.



1 A generic name for an ancient…

Architecture, General Terms
karahafu gegyo 唐破風懸魚

A type of bargeboard pendant *gegyo 懸魚 found on a Chinese style…

Architecture, Decorations
karahafu 唐破風 ✓

An undulating bargeboard. The shape of a karahafu flows downward from the top center with convex-curves on each…

Architecture, General Terms
karahafu torii 唐破風不鳥居 ✓

A unique Shinto gate *torii 鳥居 in Kyoto, called Itsukushima…

Architecture, Shrines
karahanamon 唐花文 ✓

Lit. Chinese floral motif. Intricate foliage patterns transmitted from China to Japan. Karahanamon is a general…

Art History, Painting
karaishiki 唐居敷 ✓

Also pronounced karaijiki. An abbreviationof kara-ishishiki 唐石敷.



1 A thick…

Architecture, General Terms
karajishi 唐獅子

Ch: tang shizi. The Chinese lion. Representations of lions were produced by Chinese and then Japanese artists based…

Art History, Painting
karakami shōji 唐紙障子

Also called *karakami 唐紙. A term used in the late 19th century for opaque…

Architecture, General Terms
karakami 唐紙

1 Any paper imported from China. Although the terms karakami and *…

Art History, Painting
karakasadate 傘建て

A structural system found in small-scale, Edo period thatched farmhouses in the area of Shiga Prefecture north of Lake Biwa…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
karaki 唐木

Also pronounced tōboku; also meiboku 銘木. Timber from the tropics including red sandalwood (rosewood…

Architecture, General Terms
karako asobi 唐子遊 ✓

Ch: tangzi you. A painting subject of Chinese children at play. The theme has two types: in the first children play…

Art History, Painting
karakusagawara 唐草瓦

Lit. arabesque roof tile. Also *hanahiragawara 端平瓦.


1…

Architecture, Roofing Tiles
karakusamon 唐草文 ✓

Lit. Chinese grass motif. Also called karakusa 唐草. Often used interchangeably with *…

Art History, Painting
karametemon 搦手門

Also karameteguchi 搦手口. Term used for the rear gate of a castle from the medieval period onward. Term used in…

Architecture, Castles
karamon 唐門 ✓

Also read karakado. A generic term for a gate with undulating bargeboards *…

Architecture, Gates
karamono 唐物

Lit. Chinese things. The term is especially common in *chanoyu 茶湯 to designate…

Art History, Crafts
karasu tobi 烏鳶

Also written 烏飛び.

1 A set of fire fighting equipment installed on the roof ridge of an urban…

Architecture, General Terms, Folk Dwellings
karasudomari 烏止まり ✓

Lit. crow's perch. A widely used term for a range of elements used to decorate the ridge of the roof in vernacular houses *…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
karasugami 烏紙 Lit. crow paper. Very black paper used under straw mats *tatami 畳.
Architecture, General Terms
karasuodori 烏踊り

Lit. crow dance. A widely used term for a range of elements used to decorate the ridge of the roof in thatched vernacular…

Architecture, Folk Dwellings
karatsuyaki 唐津焼

Karatsu 唐津 ware. A general name for the glazed, high-fired pottery made at kilns producing Korean style pottery grouped…

Art History, Crafts
karayō-no-niwa 唐様の庭

Lit. Chinese style garden. A general and problematic term used to distinguish gardens with an exotic continental flavor from…

Architecture, Gardens
kareike 枯池

Lit. dry pond. A symbolic pond made with rocks, pebbles, and white sand instead of water. Along with the more common dry…

Architecture, Gardens
karenagare 枯流 ✓

Lit. dry stream. A common garden element construction in dry landscape *karesansui…

Architecture, Gardens
karesansui gogan 枯山水護岸

Lit. dry landscape revetment. The technique of arranging stones to suggest the bank gogan 護岸 of a dry pond or…

Architecture, Gardens
karesansui 枯山水 ✓

Lit. dry landscape. A common type of garden which suggests mountains and water using only stones, sand or gravel and,…

Architecture, Gardens
karetaki 枯滝

Lit. dry waterfall. A common technique in dry landscape *karesansui …

Architecture, Gardens
Kariba Myōjin 狩場明神

Also called Kōya Myōjin 高野明神. An old hunter represented with a white dog or dogs or as a courtly figure in formal…

Art History, Iconography
kariden 仮殿 Also karidono. A temporary shrine building to which a deity is transferred while the main sanctuary *… Architecture, Shrines
karigasumi 雁霞 ✓

A pattern used for muntins *kumiko 組子. It is thought to resemble…

Architecture, Decorations

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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