A pictorial subject taken from "Maboroshi" ("The Wizard"), Chapter 41 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Painters born during the period extending from the Nanbokuchō through the Muromachi periods, when major social changes took…

A general term for the Kano school *Kano-ha 狩野派, or for Kano-…

A pictorial subject based on "The Cypress Pillar" Makibashira, Chapter 31 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (…

Ch: Magu. Two female Taoist immortals. The first is said to have lived in the Han dynasty and was sister of the immortal…

A low folding screen about 50 cm high, and usually with two panels, *nikyoku byōbu…

Also called keshibon 芥子本, keshigatabon 芥子形本, and hinamamehon 雛豆本. A miniature book. The…

Lit. "chopping board format." An extremely large size of wood-block *ukiyo-e…

Edo period sketches usually done impromptu or in fun, often of unusual or humorous subjects. In modern times manga…

Also read maniaishi, maniai 間似合. A rough paper of poor quality attached to sliding partitions *…

Also written 卍文. A decorative pattern symbolizing good fortune, popularly known as the swastika motif. It is thought to have…

Ch: manhuahui. Lit. "gathering amid myriad flowers." A Chinese painting subject showing the peony procession of…

A circular, decorative design used either as a single unit or repeated to create patterns for textiles and family crests. A…

Sometimes referred to as Kyō-ha 京派 or the Kyoto school. A painting school in Kyoto which was popular during the…

Also written 政. An abbreviation of masagami 柾紙, also written 政紙. A smooth grain, lightweight, off-white paper…

Traditional Japanese paper *washi 和紙 made from hemp, asa…

A zigzag pattern which forms a decorative band resembling a series of lozenge shapes. It was used on the built-up ridges of…

1　A pictorial subject taken from "Matsukaze" ("The Wind in the Pines"), Chapter 18 of  Genji…

Also matsu-ni-taka-(no)-zu 松に鷹図. Lit. "paintings of hawks in pine trees." Pine trees matsu 松 were not…

Lit. "glasses picture." A painting which is designed to be viewed through an apparatus which further heightens an illusion…

Paintings of famous locations around the Japanese capital of Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō 平安京) at certain characteristic…

Illustrated topographies of famous places within a defined geographical region, published from the mid-to-late Edo period.…

A privately published Edo period topography and guide to famous places. Official topographies were compiled before these…

A picture calendar koyomi 暦 totally set out in pictures. Originally these were made for the illiterate, but when…

Ch: Malangfu. One of 33 manifestations of *Kannon 観音 (Sk:…

1　A surface of a Japanese architectural component that faces front.

2　Endpaper,…

A type of mounting for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. In this mounting, the…

A type of mounting for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. A …

Also read minoshi. Lit. "mino paper." A generic term for handmade paper *…

A pictorial subject based on "Minori" ("The Rites" or "The Venerable Law"), Chapter 40 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (…

Chinese painting of the Ming (Jp: Min 明) and Qing (Jp: Shin 清) dynasties. The term, used primarily in distinction to *…

A pictorial subject based on "Miotsukushi" ("Channel Buoys"), Chapter 14 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Also written 水松色.

1　Olive color. A color name used in dyeing, produced by…

Pictures depicting shows of acrobatics, jugglers, magic tricks and curious animals which were produced with intent to…

Ablutions performed to remove sin or illness. As a pictorial theme it is most closely associated with Section 65 of Ise…

A piece of silk used for a Buddhist painting, particularly icon painting, which is sanctified at a ceremony in esoteric…

Parody pictures. Also nise 擬, yatsushi 略絵, fūryū 風流. Analogues of Japanese and Chinese…

Lit. "Litharge painting." A modern term for a type of ancient oil painting that uses lead oxide, or *…

Lit. "yellow lead monoxide," PbO. Made by heating lead. Used as a yellow pigment in early Japanese painting, for example on…

Paper made from the fibres of mitsumata 三椏 (edgeworthia papyrifera). The mitsumata bush, native…

A pictorial subject taken from "Miyuki" ("The Royal Outing"), Chapter 29 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

One kind of early polychrome print *benizuri-e 紅摺絵, or…

Also suisai-enogu 水彩絵具. Water colors. Paints with a water binder *baizai…

Ch: Mao Bao zhugui. Lit. "Mao Bao rescuing a tortoise." A Chinese painting theme showing the Jin dynasty scholar…

Pictorial subject matter depicting the episode of Watanabe no Tsuna 渡辺綱 (953-1024) fighting against a demon at Modoribashi,…

1　Also written 萌黄色, 萌木色. A strong yellow-green color. A dye of this colour was made by mixing yellow…

1　A copy of an original painting or text. Used generally and interchangeably with *…

A picture with the Japanese syllabary cleverly used as part of the motif. Another type of moji-e was called …

Sutras written in such a way that the characters form the image of a pagoda. One of the two methods is called moji…

Also mokkōgata 木瓜形, kamon か文. A decorative pattern shaped like a flower with an oval center and four…

Lit. "mokkō double diamonds." A decorative pattern of interlocking diamond shapes incorporating the indented…

Lit. "mokkō diamonds." A design pattern of interlocking diamond shapes incorporating the indented oval motif known…

Ch: mogu. Sometimes pronounced bokkotsu. Lit. "boneless." A painting technique in which objects are…

A decorative pattern incorporating a swirling indented oval *mokkō 木瓜 motif.

Also read bokuhitsu. Lit. "wooden brush."

1　A charred wooden stick used for underdrawings.…

Lit. "celebration of autumn leaves." A pictorial subject based on Chapter 7 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

Lit. "hunting for maple leaves." The traditional pastime of viewing autumn foliage in the mountains. The term dates back at…

Lit. "peach boy." Hero of one of Japan's best-loved tales. A tiny boy discovered inside a large peach soon grows into a…

Also written 紋様. A design pattern, frequently using geometric shapes or abstracted images of natural or man-made objects.…

An abbreviation of moriage zaishiki 盛上彩色. Pigment or shell-white *gofun…

Sometimes abbreviated to morishita 森下. Handmade paper *washi 和紙 made in…

Ch: wanglianghua. Lit. "apparition ghostly paintings." A style of ink figure painting that contrasts ethereal forms…

A copy of an original painting or work of calligraphy. More specific terms, such as *…

Any two-dimensional pattern. Also used more specifically to refer to decorative motifs or patterns of repeated motifs set…

A design motif that consists of birds or butterflies with outspread wings arranged facing each other, mukai 向い to…

Inorganic pigment. Insoluble pigments *ganryō 顔料 made from…

Lady Murasaki (978?-1014?), most famous writer of the Heian period and subject of several paintings. Her Genji…

1　Abbreviation of murasaki-iro 紫色. Purple color. Purple, as mentioned in the Nihon shoki …

Lit. "Musashi 武蔵 plain." A part of the Kantō 関東 plain which extends south from Kawagoe 川越 City in Saitama Prefecture to…

Lit. "an unvoiced poem." Painting as a medium which conveys meaning without sound. The Chinese believed that although poetry…

1　A category of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints that depicted battle…

Lit. "six jewelled rivers." Six famous rivers all named Tamagawa 玉川 located in six different Japanese prefectures. They…

Lit. "whose sleeves?" Painting theme depicting beautiful kimono 着物 draped across a wooden rack, ikō …

Ch: Taigongwang. A Chinese scholar who was thought to be a paragon of humble virtue and learned accomplishment, and who…

Red ochre. A red pigment whose main component is ferric oxide (haematite), Fe203. Used in Japanese style painting *…

Fading. A lessening of the intensity of a color by exposure to sunlight or air. Chemically unstable dyes or pigments undergo…

A type of folding screen *byōbu 屏風 used in the Imperial Palace…

A pictorial subject depicting the sport of falconry, birds trained to hunt cranes tsuru 鶴, pheasants kiji…

Now a modern city on the Inland Sea (southwest of Osaka in Hyōgo Prefecture), most famous as the sea-coast setting for the…

A pictorial subject taken from "Takekawa" ("Bamboo River"), Chapter 44 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

A long-sheet size of *hōsho 奉書 paper. Approximately 53 x 72 cm. The largest…

Pictures on kites. It is thought that kite flying became popular in Japan in the 18th century, and the early designs for…

Also written 託磨派 and 宅間派. One of the schools of *ebusshi 絵仏師, priest-painters…

A pictorial subject taken from "Tamakazura" ("The Jeweled Chaplet"), Chapter 22 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The…

A yellowish-red pigment *ganryō 顔料 used in Oriental painting …

A painting where the original ink lines show through after light pigment is added. The 11th-century Senzui byōbu …

Ch: Danxia shaofo. A painting subject which captures the Chan 禅 (Jp: Zen) parable of the monk Danxia (Jp: Tanka 丹霞…

A tool used in woodblock printmaking *ukiyo-e 浮世絵. A piece of wood, a flat…

Lit. "red and green books." Also called edoribon ゑどり本 or 絵取本 (colored books) during the Edo period. Early Edo…

An abbreviation of tansaiga 淡彩画 (light-colored painting).
Lit. "lightly colored." Very often ink paintings…

"Collection of Young Trees of Painting"; one-volume biography of Japanese painters by Kano Ikkei 狩野一渓 (1599-1662). Compiled…

Small vertical poem cards, approximately 36 cm long x 6 cm wide that may be decorated with colored designs, sprinkled with…

Lit. "poem-slip" *tanzaku 短冊 format. A size of *…

Any long, rectangular-shaped object which is similar in size to a long, rectangular poem card called *…

A painting technique in which pale black ink *sumi 墨 or a color (…

Also called *hishigōshi 菱格子. A design motif of crossed…

A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 that is vertically oriented; in…

Also read tatewaki or written 立枠. A design motif made of vertical, tate 立, curvilinear lines which bulge…

1　An abbreviation of tatōgami, or tatamigami. Also known as…

Also written 龍田川 or 立田川. The lower reaches of a tributary of the Yamato 大和 River in Nara. Long famous for its maple leaves,…