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

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

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

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

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

A portrait bearing a poetic inscription written by the painter.

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

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…

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

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

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

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…

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

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

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…

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…

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…

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

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…

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

Ch: Sanjiao. A painting subject of the three patriarchs, Confucius (Jp: *Kōshi…

Lit. "crossing the Sano." A historic river crossing often a subject of ancient poetry. The place recorded as Sano 狭野 in Kii…

Also read sanpei niman. A homely woman's face characterized by three flat or low parts sanpei 三平: the…

Ch: Sanping kaixiong. Lit. "Sanpei baring his chest." Also Sanpei Sekkyō 三平石鞏 (Ch: Sanping Shigong) and Sekkyō…

Ch: sanpin. Lit. "three classes." Three classes of Chinese calligraphy and painting. In ascending order, the…

Ch: sansuantu. A painting subject of three san 三, Northern Song Chinese sages tasting wine san 酸…

Ch: sanshengtu. A type of painting of Taoist and Buddhist figures dōshaku jinbutsuga 道釈人物画, which features…

Ch: shanshuihua. Lit. "mountain and water painting." Far Eastern painting of an idealized nature. Although…

Lit. "inserted pictures." The term applies to any illustrations in books, magazines, and newspapers.

Also read sassubon. A bound book as opposed to a handscroll *kansubon…

A picture drawn for the purpose of inducing a sudden insight or "enlightenment". A caricature often *…

A pictorial subject based on "Sawarabi" ("Early Ferns"), Chapter 48 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

A picture which is incomprehensible when viewed with the naked eye but which appears in normal proportions when viewed…

1　Also pronounced seikaiha. A wave design made of the arches of concentric circles superimposed…

Ch: Xihu. Lit. "west lake." Of the several Chinese lakes known as West Lake, the most famous is the West Lake at Hangzhou 杭州…

Ch: Xiwangmu Dongwangfu. Ancient Chinese female and male deities associated with immortality and popular Daoism. Originally…

Ch: Zhenghuangniu. Lit. "Zheng (Jp: Sei 政) of the Yellow Ox." The popular name for a Chinese Northern Song Zen 禅 (…

Ch: qinglu shanshui. Lit. "blue-and-green landscape." A style of Chinese landscape painting heavily colored with…

Lit. "Discussion of Western Painting," Shiba Kōkan's 司馬江漢 (1747-1818) slim theoretical work in praise of Western naturalism…

An impromptu painting done upon request at a meeting with a guest or patron. It is recorded that Kano Kagenobu 狩野景信(fl. ca.…

Ch: Chibi. Lit. "Red Cliff." A painting subject of a peak in Hubei 湖北 Province featured in the prose-poem The Red Cliff…

Also yūō 雄黄. Orpiment, king's yellow. A lustrous yellow pigment *ganryō…

Ch: jixue kanshu. Lit. "reading by the light of piled snow." A Chinese painting subject depicting the dedication…

A pictorial subject based on "Sekiya" ("The Gatehouse"), Chapter 16 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

A pictorial subject in *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 taken from Senbonzakura (One…

Ch: qianjiang shanshui. A type of Chinese landscape painting using light red coloring for rocks and trees. The…

Votive papers. Small slips of paper on which pilgrims to temples and shrines wrote their names and addresses and which were…

Screens decorated with fan paintings. There are two basic types of senmen byōbu: fan painting taken from used or…

Also ōgi-e 扇絵. Paintings or calligraphy on paper fans. In Japan, two basic types of fans have been used since the…

A flutter book. A variation of an accordion book *orihon 折本 in which a single…

Ch: Chuanzi Jiashan. A painting subject of the meeting between the Chinese ＣChan 禅 (Jp: Zen) priests Chuanzi (Jp: …

Ch: Shisheng wenji. Also shashin monge 捨身聞偈 (Ch: Sheshen wenji). Lit. "giving up the body to hear…

Ch: zhezhihua. Lit. "cut-branch flowers." A type of highly idealized Chinese flower painting that focuses on a…

Painting subjects of winter snow, the autumn moon, and spring cherry blossoms, often presented in a triptych format. The…

Fundamental Advice for Students, a late Muromachi period treatise on painting technique attributed to the painter…

Ch: zhelumiao. Lit. "bent-reed drawing." An ink-painting technique that employs brush strokes with pronounced…

The painting of any kind of narrative story such as popular folk tales, war stories, novels, diaries, etc. The term has come…

A representation or drawing created from the imagination or from the feeling or spirit of the object rather than from its…

Often abbreviated to engi-e 縁起絵. Paintings of the origins and history of a temple or shrine, usually amplified with…

Ch: Shiqiao. Lit. "stone bridge." A bridge on Mt. Tiantai 天台山 (Jp: Tendai) in eastern Zhejiang 浙江 Province, China. Mt.…

Also konnyakubon 蒟蒻本 or kohon 小本 (typically made of folded half-sized *…

Realistic sketches of nature made for study purposes, often in small handscroll format and later mounted in an album. The…

A seal used for private as opposed to official matters. The use of shi-in became popular in China after the Tang…

Ch: siai. Lit. "the four favorites." A painting subject of four beloved flowers and the four Chinese literati who…

Ch: Sima Guang (1019-86); also called Sima Wenguan (Jp: Shiba Onkō 司馬温光), and used the name Junshi (Jp: Kunjitsu 君実). A…

Lit. "ranking lists of plays." A generic term for a *kabuki 歌舞伎 playbill. A…

A pictorial subject taken from the *kabuki 歌舞伎 play by the same…

One of the three painting studios or guilds za 座 of the *nanto-…

Ch: jiuniaotu. Lit. "pictures of eagles and hawks." A painting subject that features eagles and hawks but may…

An old name for purple pigments *ganryō 顔料 and dyes senryō…

A hanging scroll with a literary inscription written above an ink painting. This format is a visual extension of the ancient…

A paper support for painting or calligraphy.

A pictorial subject taken from "Shiigamoto" ("Beneath the Oak"), Chapter 46 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

Lit. "pictures of the riverbed at fourth avenue Shijōgawara 四条河原." Shijōgawara was the amusement center of Kyoto…

Also written 仕懸本. A type of book which flourished during the Bunsei 文政 and Tenpō 天保 eras (1818-1844) and contained …

Paintings of the four seasons. The term designates representations of Japanese landscapes, flora, and people engaged in…

Paintings of birds and flowers representative of each of the four seasons. Most often these comprise a set of screens on…

Dyes and pigments. A collective name for all insoluble pigments *ganryō 顔料 and…

Thick colored square sheets of paper used for calligraphic poems or paintings. During the mid-Heian and Kamakura periods,…

Also called kakuban 角判. Lit. "poem card format." A size of *ukiyo-e…

Colored, square-shaped paper inscribed with verses, then cut and pasted onto the upper portion of large screens and sliding…

Paintings produced for general sale rather than upon the specific request of a patron. These works are therefore comparable…