Sk: yaksa. Evil spirits believed to harm human beings and hinder Buddhist teaching. Usually appear in sculptures as small…

Also hikkōbori 筆耕彫. The engravers or block-carvers of written text woodblocks for printed books. From…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a sprite who possesses the elixir of long life…

Commonly known as Jie Daishi 慈恵大師 or Great Master Jie. The posthumous name of Ryōgen 良源 (912-85), abbot at…

A famous courtesan of Sakai 堺 known for her relationship with the Daitokuji 大徳寺 priest *…

A picture based on a word pun, popular around the mid-18th century. Most were drawn by town painters *…

Also bosatsusō 菩薩相. The expression of compassion found on Buddhist images. The opposite is *…

A lidded food container, usually layered and lacquered with decorations of sunken gold *…

Lit. Picture of the ten realms. In Buddhism the ten realms jikkai 十界 refer to the ten realms of being, which are…

Also kanshi 干支 and eto えと. Ch: shigan shierzhi. Lit. ten stems and twelve branches. Referred to…

Sk: Dhrtarastra. A guardian deity with fierce expression *funnusō 忿怒相,…

1　A roller used for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 or hand…

Also read jibutsu. Sk: lakasana. The hand-held attributes of a Buddhist image. Along with the mudra *…

Campaign jacket. A short garment worn over armor. Based on European prototypes introduced by the Portuguese at the end of…

Ch: renwu shibamiao. Lit. eighteen types of figural portrayal. A group of brush styles traditionally employed in painting to…

Also ninchū. A vertical groove between the nose and upper lip of Buddhist images. The jinchū differed…

Also read Jinja Daishō. Lit. General Deep-Sand. A divinity said to have appeared in a dream to the renowned Chinese…

Lit. God body or God style; also written 神容. A noh mask*nōmen 能面 representing a…

A base coat. The process of preparing ancient painting surfaces by completely covering the materials used, such as paper,…

An object shaped like a lotus bud and stem used in Buddhist rituals, particularly favored by the Ji 時 sect. Usually made of…

A portrait bearing a poetic inscription written by the painter.

The Ten Greatest Ancient Sculptors of Noh masks *nōmen 能面…

Ch: Shizhuzhai shuhuapu. Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting, a late Ming period color woodblock-printed…

Also nitō. Round earrings found on sculpted Buddhist images. These were used on Chinese figures, but were extremely…

Also tsubushi 潰し. A plain background of a single color on a woodblock print *…

Also jitsugetsu zu 日月図. A pictorial subject that combines the motifs of the sun and moon in landscapes of the four…

Lit. earth repository (Sk: Ksitigarbha). A bodhisattva *bosatsu 菩薩 believed to…

Making carbon ink *sumi 墨 by grinding an ink stick on an inkstone…

Amida with the jō-in 定印 or *zenjō-in 禅定印 (Sk: dhyanamudra;…

1　A form of concertina-folded book *orihon 折本.

…

Ch: Jingping tidao. Also reads jōhei tōtō. A painting subject of the Tang dynasty Zen priests Izan Reiyū い山霊祐 (Ch:…

A style of sculpture created by the Buddhist sculptor *busshi 仏師 Jōchō 定朝 (?-…

The Five Chinese Patriarchs of the Pure Land Jōdo 浄土 sect. The sect was organized in Japan by *…

Abbreviation of jōdo hensō zu 浄土変相図. Also known as jōdo mandara 浄土曼荼羅. Pictorial representations, often…

Art of the Pure Land faith. Originating in the Nara period, Pure Land Buddhism is a more personal form of the faith than…

Lit. superior cloth. A jōfu lightweight, fine hand-woven cloth made lightweight from delicate hand-twisted ramie…

A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 made of a paper called *…

Also called tenchi 天地 or jidai 地題. A part of the mounting of a hanging scroll *…

Also called *kaiga 界画. A line drawing technique where a straight edge or…

A standard height for a Buddhist statue. A variation of the *jōroku 丈六.…

A decorative scarf worn by Buddhist deities and guardian figures. It is draped diagonally across the upper body, usually…

Also read Jōe Monju (Ch: shengyi wenshu). Lit. rope-robed *Monju…

A mask representing an old man, jō 尉, in particular the old men masks of the *…

Lit. cord-mark period. The Jōmon period ran from ca. 10,000 BC-ca. 300 BC. The period takes its name from the decoration on…

A standard height for a Buddhist statue. Abbreviation of one *jō 丈 and six …

Also written 縄牀. Also jōton 縄榻. A rough chair, originally from India, with the back or seat wrapped in rope or cord…

Abbreviation of Shaka jūdai deshi 釈迦十大弟子. The Ten Chief Disciples of the historical Buddha *…

Ch: jiuniu. Lit. ten bulls. A Zen 禅 (Ch: chan) allegory in which Buddhist training, from first initiation to final…

Sk: Ekadasamukha. Eleven-headed Kannon; a form of *Kannon 観音 with eleven miniature faces…

Ch: shuxia meiren. A painting theme of a beautiful woman under a tree. The subject found throughout Asia may have…

Also jūni yakusha taishō 十二薬叉大将, jūni shinshō 十二神王. The twelve protective deities *…

Twelve Deities. A group of tutelary deities consisting of various Hindu gods, which was incorporated into Esoteric Buddhism…

Sk: Cundi. Also Juntei Butsumo 准胝仏母, Shichigutei Butsumo 七倶胝仏母, or Butsumo Juntei 仏母准胝. …

Ten Kings. The ten kings of hell who preside at the gates of the underworld, assigning souls to heaven or hell. The Buddhist…

Ch: Shou laoren. A Chinese Taoist god known as the immortal of the Northern Song and also considered the personification of…

A kind of table game played with one king and 16 round, pawn-like piece of paper on each side of a divided board. The board…

Sixteen arhats *rakan 羅漢. The saintly ascetics who gathered at the death and…

Sixteen. A noh mask *nōmen 能面, representing the young Heike 平家…

Also read jūroku zenjin. Abbreviation of Shaka jūroku zenshin 釈迦十六善神 or Shaka sanzon jūroku…

Thirteen Buddhas. A set of thirteen Buddhist deities, including *myōō 明王 (Sk…

A general term for any ornamental band of cloth found on a bodhisattvas *bosatsu…

A portrait, sculpted or painted, made during the lifetime of the subject. The most common was a *…

Also written 寂.
1　An idea of beauty particularly important in the tea ceremony and haiku 俳句…

Also sabi 錆. A paste made by mixing powdered burnt clay *tonoko 砥の粉…

When woodblocks are being carved to reproduce pages of handwritten characters, sometimes the point of a small knife will be…

Also called kōetsubon 光悦本 or suminokurabon 角倉本, although some scholars consider each of these names to…

A pictorial subject of an area in the western part of Kyoto city, famous for autumn grasses and singing insects. Besides…

Also written 佐波理. An alloy of copper containing less than ten percent tin, lead and zinc and of a pale yellowish color. It…

Paintings based on Saigyō monogatari 西行物語 (The Tale of Saigyō), a fictionalization of the poet-priest…

The name for a group of *ukiyo zōshi 浮世草子 (books of the floating world;…

Ch: suihan sanyou. Lit. "three friends of wintery seasons." A painting theme featuring pine matsu 松, plum…

Also Yoshiwara saiken 吉原細見. Annually published guide to the new *Yoshiwara…

Miniature paintings in a detailed style best suited for fans or albums. Two other terms, mitsuga 密画 and saiga…

Lit. "festival pictures." Paintings that originated in folk beliefs and Shinto rituals shinji 神事, mostly related to…

Lit. "Buddhist colorist." An artist who applies colored pigment to the nimbus or pedestal of a Buddhist statue. A …

The application of color to various architectural elements. In the case of paintings, this normally involves the use of…

A painted statue, usually a Buddhist image. Saishikizō are colored over the entire surface of the figure;…

A *bugaku 舞楽 dance and mask *bugakumen…

Also simply saitan 歳旦. A woodblock print commissioned by a poet, or a man of versatile tastes, to give to his…

A pictorial subject based on "Sakaki" ("The Sacred Tree"), Chapter 10 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

The three types of distances desired for mountains in Chinese ink painting as defined by the famous Academy landscapist of…

Sanage 猿投 kilns. A group of old kilns in an area stretching from the western area of modern Nagoya 名古屋 city to the northern…

1　A pictorial subject taken from the auspicious *kabuki 歌舞伎…

Lit. "Chatter of a Mountain Dweller." A two-volume treatise on painting theory by the late Edo artist and Confucian…

Lit. "three great Buddhas." The three largest images in the history of Buddhist statuary in Japan. Originally the …

Three horizontal grooves in the neck of a Buddha *nyorai 如来 or bodhisattva *…

Lit. "three countries Buddha." Buddhist statues made from the fourth to the seventh centuries in Korea. At that time, Korea…

A Buddhist sculpture workshop *bussho 仏所 that was located in Kyoto's Sanjō 三条…

Abbreviation of Sanju hajinraku 散手破陣楽. *Bugaku 舞楽 dance and mask *…

Also read Sanjūbanjin. Various sets of thirty *kami 神 who…

The thirty-two physical characteristics that symbolize the superhuman qualities of the Buddha. These originated in Indian…

Lit. "thirty-six immortal poets." Imaginary portraits of the 36 outstanding poets from the 7th to 10th centuries selected by…

Abbreviation of Kannon sanjūsanshin 観音三十三身. The 33 forms in which, according to the *…

Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods (Sk: Trayastrimsa deva). Also referred to as Tōriten とう利天, with tori thought to be…

Large-scale hanging scroll paintings of the landscapes of shrines and temples which include images of pilgrims worshipping…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a plebeian old man. Deep furrows line the…

A pestle with three prongs at each end, usually made of gilt bronze. The central grip is often encircled by demons' eyes…