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 *…