Ch: Xiyuanyaji. Lit. "Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden." A pictorial subject depicting an imaginary literati party at…

Also shifun 蚩吻. A decoration in the shape of a fictional animal found at each end of a main roof-ridge *…

1　Also pronounced seikaiha. A wave design made of the arches of concentric circles superimposed…

Square worship hall. A type of worship hall at a Shinto shrine. The 3 × 3 bay hall is believed to have been derived from a…

Also called Sōjōmon 僧正門. The middle gate in the semi-opened, west corridor at Kasuga Taisha Honsha 春日大社本社 in Nara.…

One of Three Jōdo Mandalas *Jōdo sanmandara 浄土三曼荼羅. A type of *…

Ch: Xihu. Lit. "west lake." Of the several Chinese lakes known as West Lake, the most famous is the West Lake at Hangzhou 杭州…

Ch: Xiwangmu Dongwangfu. Ancient Chinese female and male deities associated with immortality and popular Daoism. Originally…

Ch: Zhenghuangniu. Lit. "Zheng (Jp: Sei 政) of the Yellow Ox." The popular name for a Chinese Northern Song Zen 禅 (…

Also termed seirō yagura 井楼櫓. A watch tower. Seirō were built from the Muromachi to the early…

Also written 清楼棚 or 西楼棚, sometimes called seinikaidana 西二階棚. Staggered shelves *…

Also read Kiyotaki Gongen. A protective deity associated with the Chinese temple Qinglongsi (Jp: Seiryūji 青竜寺) in Chang'an (…

Abbreviation of Seiryōjishiki Shaka nyorai-zō 清涼寺式釈迦如来像, also known as *…

Ch: qinglu shanshui. Lit. "blue-and-green landscape." A style of Chinese landscape painting heavily colored with…

Lit. "obtained strength." Also Daiseishi 大勢至 (Sk: Mahasthamaprapta), or he who has obtained great strength. Also …

A type of *yakuimon 薬医門. A 1-bay, single-entrance gate with side gates *…

Also read shoshuku; also shukuyō 宿曜. Meaning constellation, this term refers in Buddhist iconography…

Lit. "the youth Seitaka." One of two chief attendants of *Fudō Myōō 不動明王 (the…

Lit. "Discussion of Western Painting," Shiba Kōkan's 司馬江漢 (1747-1818) slim theoretical work in praise of Western naturalism…

Also called *dotome-ita 土留板, maku-ita 幕板. Palings, poling…

Lit. "stone Buddha." A Buddhist image made in rock or stone. The term sekizō 石造 (carving from stone) was used…

Lit. "stone flag." A type of stone pagoda with a hexagonal or octagonal base, a banner-shaped shaft, dōshin 幢身, a…

A type of stone lantern, ishidōrō 石灯籠. Shaped like a Buddhist memorial *sekidō…

An impromptu painting done upon request at a meeting with a guest or patron. It is recorded that Kano Kagenobu 狩野景信(fl. ca.…

Ch: Chibi. Lit. "Red Cliff." A painting subject of a peak in Hubei 湖北 Province featured in the prose-poem The Red Cliff…

1　Also read ishimon. A gate made almost entirely of stone, seen especially in Okinawa Prefecture.…

Lit. "barrier-keeper stone." A stone placed atop a stepping stone *tobi-ishi…

Also yūō 雄黄. Orpiment, king's yellow. A lustrous yellow pigment *ganryō…

Ch: jixue kanshu. Lit. "reading by the light of piled snow." A Chinese painting subject depicting the dedication…

Also written 石墻門. Lit. "stone wall gate." A gate with either single or triple arch-like openings in a wall made of stacked…

1　An Edo period school of tea ceremony founded by Katagiri Sekishū 片桐石州 (1605-73). Branch schools…

A tea ceremony encyclopedia based on the methods of Katagiri Sekishu 片桐石州 (1605-73), who is believed to have authored 300…

Also read ishitō. A generic term for pagodas or stupas made of stone. It includes multiple-storied stone pagodas…

A pictorial subject based on "Sekiya" ("The Gatehouse"), Chapter 16 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

Lit. "stone made gate."

1　Gates with arched entrances which are found in Okinawa Prefecture and…

Limestone. A type of rock rarely used in gardens because of its soft and transient nature, although it was employed as a…

The execution of a construction project.

Working scale drawings, including plans, elevations, and roof structure, etc. They are enlarged drawings that show various…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a young prince who is blind from…

Lit. "mudra for bestowing fearlessness (Sk: abhaya or abhayadana or abhayaprada mudra)." A mudra…

Also written 賎院. The quarters where the lowliest serfs lived in a Buddhist temple. In ancient Japan, these people were…

Also called komisen 込栓. A pin, peg, key, cotter or dowel made of hardwood, usually oak or zelkova. It varies in…

A pictorial subject in *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 taken from Senbonzakura (One…

Also written 甎仏 or 磚仏. Japanese buddhist images in relief on unglazed clay tiles sen せん which are square,…

1　An alternative term for *byakudan 白檀.

2…

A style of architecture exemplified by the 2-storied worship hall *haiden 拝殿 at…

Ch: qianjiang shanshui. A type of Chinese landscape painting using light red coloring for rocks and trees. The…

Lit. "Warring States period." The period began with the outbreak of the Ōnin Wars (Ōnin no ran 応仁の乱, 1467-77) and…

Votive papers. Small slips of paper on which pilgrims to temples and shrines wrote their names and addresses and which were…

Lit. "ideogram of the character sen 宣." A dais *daiza 台座 for a Buddhist…

Lit. "line pattern." A design pattern found on a slanting strut *shirin 支輪,…

Sk: Sahasrabhuja-arya-avalokitesvara. Thousand-armed Kannon or *Kannon 観音 with…

Screens decorated with fan paintings. There are two basic types of senmen byōbu: fan painting taken from used or…

Also ōgi-e 扇絵. Paintings or calligraphy on paper fans. In Japan, two basic types of fans have been used since the…

A flutter book. A variation of an accordion book *orihon 折本 in which a single…

Lit. "glittering green stone." A type of stone similar to granite but containing black granules. Often containing small…

Ch: Chuanzi Jiashan. A painting subject of the meeting between the Chinese ＣChan 禅 (Jp: Zen) priests Chuanzi (Jp: …

Lit. "spring water." Originally the term referred to spring water running through a garden. In Kyoto, a number of…

Lit. "thousand Buddhas." Sometimes abbreviated to senbutsu 千仏. A large number of Buddhist images, usually the same…

A festival held for a building that is to be dismantled and rebuilt, or undergo major repairs. Before construction begins,…

Lit. "the Buddha *Amida 阿弥陀 preaching a sermon seppō…

Lit. "the exposition of the Dharma mudra." A mudra or hand gesture *in 印…

Also called seridashi 迫出, seriage 迫上. Lit. "trap" or "trap door." A platform on which actors or some types…

Ch: Shisheng wenji. Also shashin monge 捨身聞偈 (Ch: Sheshen wenji). Lit. "giving up the body to hear…

Lit. "stone river." A bugaku 舞楽 mask *bugakumen 舞楽面…

A Shinto shrine, second in rank and size to the main shrine honsha 本社, but having a status higher than the *…

Ch: zhezhihua. Lit. "cut-branch flowers." A type of highly idealized Chinese flower painting that focuses on a…

Also setchū kenchiku 折衷建築. Architecture that became strongly influenced in the 14th-15th century by two new…

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

Painting subjects of winter snow, the autumn moon, and spring cherry blossoms, often presented in a triptych format. The…

Fundamental Advice for Students, a late Muromachi period treatise on painting technique attributed to the painter…

Ch: zhelumiao. Lit. "bent-reed drawing." An ink-painting technique that employs brush strokes with pronounced…

The painting of any kind of narrative story such as popular folk tales, war stories, novels, diaries, etc. The term has come…

A method of preventing cracks in the heartwood *shinzai 心材 or jushin 樹心, of a…

An abbreviation of shachisen 車知栓. A draw pin, key or cotter made of hard wood, usually zelkova or oak. The pin is…

Also shachihoko 鯱, 鯱鉾. Lit. "killer whale." Fish-shaped ornaments at both ends of a roof-ridge. Thought to be…

A representation or drawing created from the imagination or from the feeling or spirit of the object rather than from its…

Often abbreviated to engi-e 縁起絵. Paintings of the origins and history of a temple or shrine, usually amplified with…

Lit. "eight phases (or aspects) of Shakamuni *Shaka 釈迦." Also referred to as…

Lit. "Shaka triad." A group of 3 Buddhist images composed of *Shaka …

1　Abbreviation of Shakamuni 釈迦牟尼 or Shakamon 釈迦文 (Sk: Sakyamuni), meaning sage of the Sakyas. The name by…

A hall in which a statue of the historical Buddha *Shaka 釈迦, born in either the mid-6th or mid-…

Also shashike 社司家 or shakeshū 社家衆.

1　A hereditary line of Shinto priests of…

Also shake. A style of topknot *hōkei 宝髻 in the shape of…

A township composed of *shake 社家, families who held posts (usually hereditary) as…

Lit. "borrowed scenery." The method of incorporating a distant vista into the composition of a garden. A river, the ocean,…

Ch: Shiqiao. Lit. "stone bridge." A bridge on Mt. Tiantai 天台山 (Jp: Tendai) in eastern Zhejiang 浙江 Province, China. Mt.…

Lit. "gold bronze." Ornamental metal fittings *kazari kanagu …

Also ushōjō 有声杖, chijō 智杖, and tokujō 徳杖. Sk: khakkhara. A pilgrim's staff or sistrum.…

Also shakujōbori 釈杖彫, yuengata 油煙形. A type of decorative carving *…

Dipper-shaped metal fixtures used to cover the extended cylindrical ends at the top and bottom of timber doors. After…

Oblique glance. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a middle-aged…

To notch, gouge out or scoop a section of a structural element. The term is used especially for grooves or channels into…

Lit. "dipper or ladle tenon." A flat tenon *hozo ほぞ that is attached to the end…

Volcanic tuff, or small volcanic detritus. Named for a valley, Shakutani 笏谷, in Fukui Prefecture, where it is found. It is…

Also hishakutate 柄杓立. A ladle stand or holder for the ladle or dipper, and charcoal tongs. Shakutate is…

A rod-like, rectangular piece of wood made of Japanese cedar sugi 杉, or Japanese cypress hinoki 桧, 1.8 to…

A group of administrative and sometimes commercial buildings at a Shinto shrine. In ancient times, each shrine was…

Also konnyakubon 蒟蒻本 or kohon 小本 (typically made of folded half-sized *…