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.…

Takatori 高取 ware. Made in Chikuzen 筑前 Province (modern Fukuoka Prefecture) of northern Kyūshū 九州, the Takatori kilns were…

Tanba 丹波 ware. Also called tachikui-yaki 立杭焼. One of the Six Old Kilns, a general name for a type of sueki…

Beating gold. Also called tanzō 緞造, uchimono 打物, tsuikin 鎚金 and kaji 鍛冶. A…

Lit. "hand box." Introduced from China as a comb box before the Heian period, they were popular with court women through the…

Chinese Tianmu tea bowls. Black-glazed stoneware bowls, with a conical shape, small foot and thin walls, divided into types…

A stand for a *tenmoku jawan 天目茶碗. Tenmoku 天目 stands were imported from China…

A black glaze used on straight-sided conical teabowls known as tenmoku ware *tenmoku…

Tea contest. Competitive parties featuring taste and classification of tea developed by Heian period aristocrats and wildly…

Tokoname 常滑 ware. A rugged, reddish brown stoneware produced from the 11th century in and around the town of Tokoname in…

Also written 当世冑. Contemporary helmet. A type of Japanese helmet based on southern barbarian *…

Also written 鍔. Sword guard. Tsuba protect the hand and balance the sword. In the Edo period when samurai…

Lit. "flowers at the crossing dyeing." A Muromachi period hybrid, decorative textile technique of combining tie-dyeing and…