Also called kaio'oi 貝覆. A shell-matching game played originally by nobles in the Heian period. A half clam shell…

Shell buckets. Paired octagonal wood-based lacquer-decorated containers with fitted inrōbuta zukuri 印籠蓋造 lids used…

A variation of *tenmokuyū 天目釉. A red-brown glaze which is often used on straight…

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also written 猟衣, 雁衣. Lit. hunting silk. Often translated as hunting robe. Originally a long, loose informal jacket worn by…

A plain weave fabric with designs developed in India and brought to Japan via Indonesia (where it is called ikat), then…

Also written 帷子. An unlined garment worn in summer since the Heian period. For court nobles, it was woven with cotton, hemp…

A popular simple, bold *kosode 小袖 design from the Kamakura…

Lit. shoulders and hem. The type of *kosode 小袖 decoration where…

Lit. gold Chinese leather. A kind of decorated leather with patterns created by painting, relief, or gold foil. Introduced…

It is also written 金間, 金磨, 金馬. A lacquer technique in which patterns are carved on black lacquer and filled in with red…

Gold brocade. Woven of patterns with gold or silver woof on a plain ground of hiraori 平織 (plain fabric), ayaori…

The Japanese name for the gold color added to Chinese wucai porcelain gosai 五彩, featuring a white-base with red,…

Kiyomizuware. One of the terms commonly given to similar wares produced by several local kilns and associated with the old…

A kind of bronze used in North China and Japan. It was known in Japan by the Muromachi period, with variants including …

Incense containers. Also called kōbako 香箱. Small, lidded containers usually made of lacquer or ceramic, and…

Bound resist. An early type of resist dying for textiles, along with wax resist rōkechi 臈纈, and carved wooden-block…

Lit. small pattern. A small-scale repeated pattern usually in a single color against a colored ground. Originally used…

Bridal trousseau. An Edo period daimyō 大名 bride brought to her husbands' home a lavish set of household…

Incense burner. Common materials are metal, pottery, horn, and lapis lazuli as well as various gems and woods. There are a…

Also read yanagui and written 胡禄. A kind of quiver which hangs from the right side of the waist with the arrowheads…

Lit: hip wrap. Part of the formal summer attire of elite warrior women, and placed over the *…

Lit. small sleeves. A modern generic name for all full-length garments made before the Meiji period. Originally a lower-…

Kutani ware. The term was used from around 1803, but only the original, ko-kutani 古九谷 (old Kutani) was…

Sutra box. Although usually rectangular these come in many shapes, having a lid and sometimes a foot. Typically the material…

Kyoto ware. General name of the ceramic wares of Kyoto (except *rakuyaki…

Sutra cylinder. A container for the Buddhist sutras placed in the sutra mound kyōzuka 経塚: cylinders of circular,…

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…

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…

Satsuma 薩摩 ware. A general name for pottery and porcelain made in Satsuma and Ōsumi 大隅 in Shimazu 島津 fief (modern Kagoshima…

Seto 瀬戸 ware. Pottery made in Seto city and nearby areas of modern Aichi Prefecture. The Seto area was the center of pottery…

Reliquary. A container for the bones of the Buddha *shari 舎利 placed in a stupa or pagoda. In…

Tie dye. A name for a resist-dyeing technique and the fabric made by it. Shibori 絞 designates a huge variety of…

Shigaraki 信楽 ware. Sueki 須恵器 ware was made in this clay-rich area from early times, but a distinctive ware fired in…

Ch: si'erhu. A jar with four lug handles (loop ears) around the mouth or neck of the jar, the handles may be round…

Shino 志野 ware. One of the best known of the Mino wares *minoyaki 美濃焼, first…

Lacquered leather. Untanned skins of cow, wild pig or deer are softened by soaking, wrapped around a mold to dry in the sun…

A satin textile woven with colored woofs to form a pattern, originating in Ming China. As more than seven colors were used,…

Blue-and-white ware. A white pottery with indigo patterns. On the surface of white pottery, mainly porcelain, designs are…

Openwork. A method of decoration in which a design is cut out of a plain surface. While sukashibori refers to…

Rubbed metal foil. A decorative technique for textiles in which metal foil is impressed on a design first drawn in paste.…