Also called Aouma-no-jin 白馬の陣. The front gate located near the center of the outer south earthen wall surrounding Kyoto…

A geometric pattern based on three joined hexagonal shapes. It closely resembles *…

Also read kenjo. The seating arrangement in the front and on both sides of the main stage in a *…

Also called Hi-no-gomon 日の御門. One of the twelve gates originally enclosing Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. A four-legged gate *…

Ch: Xianzi. A semi-legendary 9th-century itinerant priest and eccentric. His name, meaning something like "Clam Priest," is…

Also koboshi 零し. A waste-water container into which either hot or cold water is poured after a tea bowl has…

The marks carved in all the woodblocks of a set needed to produce a full-color woodblock print *…

A bearing block placed on top of a strut *tsuka 束 or a frog-leg…

A straight bladed chisel used to make *kentō 見当, guide marks used…

A votive light offered to a Shinto or Buddhist deity. The lantern which holds the votive light is called a *…

Also written 見徳. A comic mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays. Kentoku has a timid, clownish expression, with…

Lit. sword tip motif. Also kentomoemon noki hiragawara 剣巴文軒平瓦. Also kenbishimon 剣菱文. The pendant *…

A strut composed of a short post surmounted by a bearing block *masu 斗. It is…

Disciples or followers of Buddha. Often refers to groups of devotees who accompany an important Buddhist deity, for example…

A barge course, gable overhang or a raking eave. The part of the roof that extends beyond the gable wall or gable pediment…

Also called *kake domoegawara 掛巴瓦; *…

1　A tenon *hozo ほぞ and mortise *…

A line-engraving technique used in metal carving, which consisted of sequences of fine dots. The name keribori…

Buddhist surplice. A general term for an outer garment worn by Buddhist priests and found on Buddhist figures. See *…

Lit. surplice shape water basins. A stone wash basin *chōzubachi…

Exposed rafter. In general, any visible rafter as opposed to one not visible *nodaruki…

Refers to the appearance or exposed surface of an architectural structural element. Also a smoothly planed wooden finish as…

Also read keshōban; also keshōzai 化粧材. A planed timber. Keshō-ita are normally exposed to…

The pitch of exposed rafters *keshō daruki 化粧垂木. The pitch…

A visible horizontal lath set between roof sheathing *ura-ita 裏板 and widely…

Lit. exposed core purlin. A purlin *moyageta 母屋桁 in the core of a temple…

Lit. exposed ridge. While this ridge is not usually visible from inside a structure because of the installation of a ceiling…

The roof sheathing laid over rafters which is visible from under the eaves of an open-beamed ceiling. One such example is…

Also called *keshōyaneura 化粧屋根裏. The underside of a timber roof, commonly…

The underside of a roof visible because no ceiling has been installed. The pitch of the roof and various structural elements…

To trim the white margins off a finished woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 with a…

Bamboo facing placed close to the eave ends *nokisaki 軒先 of a…

The underside of an eave *noki 軒 in a hidden roof that is not…

Also kekyaku 華脚. Decorative legs that are attached to a desk, an offering stand or the dais a Buddhist image *…

Lit. beam cover. Also *kudarigegyo 降懸魚, ketakakushi…

1　The direction of the purlins or plates *keta 桁 in a building,…

The smudges that result on a woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 if the…

Ch: juetou dingmiao. A brush technique used to create the clothing of figures in an ink painting. The brush strokes…

The nosings that appear either as an extension of a tie beam *nuki 貫, or bracket…

Also kibi-zukuri 吉備造 and *hiyoku irimoya-zukuri 比翼入母屋造. A…

Lit. Buddhist wood sculptor. Term used to refer to makers of Buddhist statues from the Heian period onward. In the Asuka and…

A type of illustrated popular fiction *kusazōshi 草双紙. Lit.…

Also read Kisshōten. Also called Kichijōtennyo 吉祥天女 or Kudokuten 功徳天 (Sk: Sri Laksmi, Mahasri,…

Also read Kisshōten mandara. A variety of dedicated mandala *besson…

Also called *karadomen 唐戸面. A chamfer in which the corners of…

A class of platform or podium specially associated with Buddhist temple buildings dating from the 7th-12th century. It was…

Sometimes also written 木戸. A castle door or gate. The entrance and exit to a medieval castle. A simpler structure than the…

Also written 城戸. A gate in a fence or palisade.

1　The generic term for a gate in a fence between 250…

1　Also called *udegimon 腕木門. A gate that has transverse…

Also kakō kidori 加工木取; aradori 疎取; arakidori 疎木取.

1　The…

1　The thickness of a timber.

2　The quality or grain of wood.

…

A method of metal casting using a wooden model. The wooden model was called kigata 木型. The kigata was…

Also pronounced kogawara. Wooden strips shaped to resemble traditional tile roofing *…

A yellow vegetable dye. Also called kiwada, ōbaku. The dye is taken from the bark of the philodendron (…

A tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室, at Myōshinji Keishun'in 妙心寺桂春院 in Kyoto.…

Kijin masks. Masks representing gods who dispel evil, animal spirits, and Buddhist deities, particularly as…

1　One of the seats around the sunken hearth *irori 囲炉裏, in the…

A large and powerful branch which dominates a tree. The kikieda featured in garden design and also in paintings…

A term which refers to the large roots of trees, for example in Kano Eitoku's 狩野永徳 (1543-90) painting, Birds and Flowers…

A stylized chrysanthemum pattern derived from the imperial crest used on the pendant *gatō…

Also called bekkōgata 鼈甲形. A geometric pattern comprised of hexagonal units resembling the shape and pattern of a…

Lit. tortoise shell stack. Also called roppōzumi 六法積; or hachi-no-su 蜂の巣 meaning honeycomb or bee hive. An…

Ch: Guiguzi. The Chinese eccentric and recluse Wang Xu (Jp: Ō Ku 王詡) who lived approximately 3rd-4th century BC. After a…

Also read sumigane 墨矩; kikujutsu 規矩術; tsubokane 壷矩.

1　Also…

Also called kikumaru 菊丸, kikumarugawara 菊丸瓦, or kogiku 小菊. A tile decorated with a…

A wooden nail. The term applies to dowels, also called joggles *daboso 太ぼぞ, pins kumisen 込栓 or daisen…

Ch: Jucitong. Lit. chrysanthemum love child. The childhood name of the Zhou dynasty Taoist immortal Peng Tan (Jp: Hō Tan 彭袒…

A design depicting chrysanthemums floating on a river. In China it is associated with longevity, probably in connection with…

Sometimes pronounced kikudo; also called onito or onimasu 鬼斗, sumito 隅斗, …

Also called *rokuyō 六葉. Lit. chrysanthemum seat. A decorative metal piece…

Ch: Guiqulai. Homecoming Ode by the Jin dynasty poet Tao Yuanming (Jp: *Tō Enmei…

Also kimekomi きめ込み or nikuzuri 肉摺 (flesh printing). A special printing technique used to raise the paper…

Also called tōkyōzuka 東京束. A strut that bulges out at top and bottom. The term is derived from a long-handled…

Also called dei-e 泥絵. Gold and silver powders mixed with glue and employed to decorate crafts, calligraphy,…

Two methods of printing gold or silver (and other metallic pigments) on a woodblock print *…

A portrait, sculpted or painted, of a Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) master (see *chinsō…

Also called tokomaedatami 床前畳. Lit. a nobleman's tatami. A straw mat *…

Lit. noble's stone. A type of trump stone *yaku-ishi 役石, used…

Also kinin agariguchi 貴人上り口. Lit. nobleman's entrance. An entrance made especially for noblemen or other…

Lit. gold ground. Generally refers to the gold background of a painting, regardless of whether the gold is applied as leaf…

Also written 金神. A golden figure of Buddha. This may be cast in gold, or made of copper or bronze with a golden colored…

Lit. Kinkakuji 金閣寺 style fence. A type of low, bamboo see-through fence *…

Lit. painting of Sakyamuni emerging from the golden coffin. A genre of painting depicting one of the scenes from the life of…

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

The four accomplishments celebrated by the Chinese scholar-literati elite as elegant pastimes : playing the qin (Jp; kin…

Ch: Qin Gao Xianren. A painting subject of the Taoist immortal sennin 仙人 (Ch: xianren) Qin Gao, noted for riding a…

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…

Ch: jinbi shansui. Lit. gold and blue landscape. A blue and green landscape *…

A large painting on a wall, screen, or sliding door *shōhekiga 障壁画 where…

Lit. gold and blue painting.

1　A decorative style of Chinese landscape painting that originated…

Also written 公平本. The typical early Edo period publication of the *eiri jōruribon…

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,…

Lit. gold-brocade wrap. Decorative metal fittings *kazarikanagu 飾金具 and…

Lit. recent ages. The proto-modern age that includes the Momoyama and Edo periods (1568-1868). During the former period…

A perfectly balanced design around a symmetrical central motif. A type of arabesque found on the pendants *…

Genre painting of the early modern period. Paintings depicting the daily activities and special pleasures of contemporary…

Lit. golden boy. A childhood name given in later centuries to Sakata no Kintoki 坂田公時, one of the four great generals of…

A generic name for an exceedingly smooth silky texture found on the shoulder, body, and lid of some kettles used for the tea…