Lit. "ear stone." Also called sode-ishi 袖石, tsuma-ishi 妻石. Stone string or stringer. Stones placed…

Also called miminuki 耳貫, *enmimi-ita 縁耳板. A finishing board…

A gate located south of the santuary Honden 本殿 at Kibitsu Jinja 吉備津神社 in Okayama prefecture. Images of two defied loyal…

The gates on the south side of Ise Jingū 伊勢神宮. They are large eight-legged gates *…

Also read minatoshi. Paper pasted from the edge of *tatami 畳 to at…

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

1　A dialect variant of *mizuya 水屋, used in the Edo period to designate an…

A general term for vernacular dwellings of the ancient, medieval, or premodern periods, or rebuilt in the style of the…

Also written 蓑建仁寺垣. Also called takehogaki 竹穂垣. A variation of the bamboo fence *…

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

Also called sanjūnoki 三重軒. Lit. "three eaves." An arrangement of three sets of rafters that support the eaves. The…

A drooping verge needed on buildings with gable style *kirizuma-zukuri…

Roof tiles that are placed along the drooping verges; that is, tiles that extend beyond edges of the gables.

A thick, penetrating tie beam about 6 cm wide used to reinforce the doors of storehouses *…

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

Mino 美濃 ware. A general name for ceramic wares made in the town of Tajimi 多治見 in old Mino Province (now the south-eastern…

A decorative strut which is shaped like a plectrum used for playing the shamisen 三味線. The strut is capped with a…

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 Jishi 慈氏, lit. "compassionate one" (Sk. Maitreya). A bodhisattva *bosatsu…

A Buddhist hall dedicated to *Miroku 弥勒 (Sk: Maitreya), the compassionate bodhisattva of…

Also written 水松色.

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

Also pronounced tana.

1　Abbreviation of *misedana 見世棚.
…

Also written 店棚.

1　A small-scale shop in the mediaeval period. Known from the late Heian…

Also written 店棚造. Also dashimise-zukuri 出し店造. A very small shrine building, one bay wide, within the precincts of a…

The front part of the earthen-floored area *doma 土間, in urban vernacular…

A shop constructed using the fireproof system of construction known as *dozō-zukuri…

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

The space outside the front part of the earthern-floored area *doma 土間 of…

Lit. "beyond the shop." A term used most commonly in the Kinai 畿内 district and Kii 紀伊 (Wakayama Prefecture), during the Edo…

A term whose definition falls under three headings. The first refers to representations of specific Shinto deities, often in…

An incantation in esoteric Buddhism to purify and sanctify *misogi 御衣木, the wood used for…

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…

An honorific word for *sudare 簾. Bamboo blinds that are used in shrines,…

A variation on the usual style of opaque sliding partitioning screen *fusuma …

Also sudaregaki 簾垣. A bamboo fence made of various kinds of slender bamboo strips that are set horizontally and…

A place to one side of the approach to a Shinto shrine where visitors perform purification rites, including rinsing the…

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

Lit. "re-used-object water basins." A type of water basin *chōzubachi…

Sometimes called mitesakigumi 三手先組. A three-stepped-bracket complex composed of three projecting sets of bracket…

One of the ceremonies performed at the time of shrine construction when the doors of the main shrine building are hung. At…

Structural elements found within the same plane, or positioned in a straight line.

Lit. "three-flowered bargeboard pendant." A decorative gable pendant *gegyo…

A decorative gable pendant *gegyo 懸魚 covering the ends of purlins in a gable…

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…

Also called mitsudogumi 三斗組 or mitsudo-zukuri 三斗造. A 3-on-1 bracket complex. It carries a wall purlin and…

Also mitsuki 見附.

1　A structural member, or a part of one, seen from the front. For…

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

Also called mitsumoya osame 三母屋納; mitsumoya-zukuri 三母屋造. The location or positioning of the base of a…

Also referred to as mitsumune-zukuri 三棟造. Lit. "three ridges." This type of construction is found chiefly in single…

A three-fold door. A door that has two sections, each of which has three leaves. The outer leaf is hinged to the middle leaf…

Also called mitsutorii 三鳥居 or sankō torii 三光鳥居. An entrance gate to a Shinto shrine comprised of three…

Lit. "mandala of a shrine." Devotional paintings (usually on large hanging scrolls) of the landscape of a shrine and its…

Lit. "courtliness." The ideal of refined sensibility and courtly elegance associated with aristocratic society, particularly…

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

1　A gate originally used exclusively by the emperor. It had two main pillars and…

Also known as shakuriganna 决鉋. A plane used exclusively for making grooves in a doorsill or lintel. If the width 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…

Also mizuguruwa 水郭. A castle compound *kuruwa 郭 built to protect…

One of the trump stones for used in a wash-basin group *hachimae-no-ishigumi…

Lit. "water hole." The hollowed-out space on the top face of a water basin *…

A water-filled moat. Dry or empty moats are called *karabori 空堀.

Firefly lantern type. An example of this small lantern can be seen near the edge of the boat dock at Katsura Rikyū 桂離宮 in…

Lit. "water boat." A type of large boat-shaped stone used for water basins *mitatemono…

A small edge raised slightly to the left of the right edge an eave-end tile *…

Also written 籬垣, 水垣. A fence. Originally, mizugaki referred to a fence composed of trees surrounding a forest or…

Also read mizukoshi shōji ; also called koshinashi shōji 腰無障子, mizu-itashōji 水板障子. The framework…

Also read mizukuri. A narrow opening cut out of the lower most beam of a balustrade *…

The rainbow beam *kōryō 虹梁 that is set between the pillars at the front of a…

The barrel part *dō 胴, of a half-round roofing tile *…

Lit. "water fortification." A dike constructed in the low-lying land between two mountains and filled with water to create a…

Also called mizutare kōbai 水垂勾配, mizutorikōbai 水取勾配, mizutori 水取. A roof that has a pitch and…

One of the group of trump stones *yaku-ishi 役石 placed around…

Also mizutsubo 水壷. Lit. "a water jar." A container of fresh water used either to fill the tea bowl *…

A small shelf unit with side boards that have an openwork *sukashibori…

1　A part of the emperor's residential compound Dairi 内裏 in the Imperial Palace, Kyoto Gosho 京都御所. The…

The lower or front end of the barrel part *dō 胴, of a half-round…

A type of small built-in cabinet of the *mizuyadana 水屋棚 style placed in the wall of a tea…

1　Also written 水遣, 水谷, 水舎. Also called *daidokoro 台所, *…

Shelves constructed in the *mizuya 水屋, the room which serves as a kitchen for a…

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

Lit. "transmit support." A bracket, brace, modillion or console. A devise used to support an overhanging structural element…

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

Lit. "returning branch." A tree branch which, naturally or by training, turns abruptly downward. The dramatic nature of the…

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

The bamboo stalks, with the branches and leaves attached, that are placed facing the enemy in the bottom of a dry moat.…

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…

Lit. "hanging skirt base." A pedestal *daiza 台座 which is covered by the skirt of…

A temporary building for housing the deity at Ise Jingū 伊勢神宮, during the Heian and Kamakura periods. During the rebuilding…

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…

A transom *ranma 欄間, with openwork *…

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