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

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 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…

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

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

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

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

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

Also sari, busshari 仏舎利. Sk: sarira, dhatu 駄都. The bones of the Buddha. After the death of Buddha…

Reliquary. A container for the bones of the Buddha *shari 舎利 placed in a stupa or pagoda. In…

Realistic sketches of nature made for study purposes, often in small handscroll format and later mounted in an album. The…

A seal used for private as opposed to official matters. The use of shi-in became popular in China after the Tang…

Ch: siai. Lit. "the four favorites." A painting subject of four beloved flowers and the four Chinese literati who…

Ch: Sima Guang (1019-86); also called Sima Wenguan (Jp: Shiba Onkō 司馬温光), and used the name Junshi (Jp: Kunjitsu 君実). A…

Lit. "ranking lists of plays." A generic term for a *kabuki 歌舞伎 playbill. A…

A pictorial subject taken from the *kabuki 歌舞伎 play by the same…

One of the three painting studios or guilds za 座 of the *nanto-…

Tie dye. A name for a resist-dyeing technique and the fabric made by it. Shibori 絞 designates a huge variety of…

Lit. "the Four Buddhas."

1　The first four Buddhas said to have appeared during the current era of…

Lit. "Seven Buddhas of Healing." Seven manifestations of *Yakushi 薬師 or the…

Lit. "the seven gods of good fortune." The group comprises *Ebisu 恵比須, *…

A Buddhist sculpture workshop *bussho 仏所 located in Kyoto's…

A Buddhist sculpture workshop *bussho 仏所 located in Kyoto's…

Ch: jiuniaotu. Lit. "pictures of eagles and hawks." A painting subject that features eagles and hawks but may…

An old name for purple pigments *ganryō 顔料 and dyes senryō…

A hanging scroll with a literary inscription written above an ink painting. This format is a visual extension of the ancient…

1　Also shigami 獅噛 (biting lion), or hagami 歯噛 (biting teeth). A Noh mask *…

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…

A paper support for painting or calligraphy.

A pictorial subject taken from "Shiigamoto" ("Beneath the Oak"), Chapter 46 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

Ch: si'erhu. A jar with four lug handles (loop ears) around the mouth or neck of the jar, the handles may be round…

Lit. "pictures of the riverbed at fourth avenue Shijōgawara 四条河原." Shijōgawara was the amusement center of Kyoto…

Also written 四厥, also kongōketsu 金剛厥. Lit. "four pickets." A set of four posts, put up at each corner of a…

Paintings of the four seasons. The term designates representations of Japanese landscapes, flora, and people engaged in…

Paintings of birds and flowers representative of each of the four seasons. Most often these comprise a set of screens on…

A mandala produced for a specific ceremony or ritual use. Lit. "*mandara 曼荼羅…

The bulging sphere which is below the lotus petals *renben 蓮弁 in the narrow…

Dyes and pigments. A collective name for all insoluble pigments *ganryō 顔料 and…

Thick colored square sheets of paper used for calligraphic poems or paintings. During the mid-Heian and Kamakura periods,…

Also called kakuban 角判. Lit. "poem card format." A size of *ukiyo-e…

Colored, square-shaped paper inscribed with verses, then cut and pasted onto the upper portion of large screens and sliding…

Paintings produced for general sale rather than upon the specific request of a patron. These works are therefore comparable…

A purple dye senryō 染料 made from the roots of the perennial plant Gromwell (Lithospermum erythrorhizon…

1　A generic term for a roof line that has a broken plane, the parts of which run in the same direction. A…

Ch: sijunzi. Lit. "four gentlemen." A Chinese flower-painting theme that features depictions of plum ume 梅…

A stain on paper or silk. Generally caused by moisture or mold. The result is a discolored or brownish spot on the surface…

Also *miei 御影, *eizō 影像…

Grades of formality in the method of preparing tea temae 点前. The terms originate in the three styles of…

A wooden core, used inside a clay or lacquer statue, or when casting a metal statue. It served as a support or as an aid to…

Lit. "eight patriarchs of the Shingon sect." The founders of Esoteric Buddism mikkyō 密教. These mythical and…

Also tsuizen-e 追善絵. Buddhist memorial pictures. In the 19th century, obituary pictures were printed and sold to…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a vengeful ghost, similar to *…

Lit. "true view pictures." A type of landscape painting based on naturalistic depiction of a particular place. The term…

Lit. "body light." The light believed to be emitted from the body of Buddha. Expressed on Buddha and bodhisattva figures in…

Abbreviation of Shinnō hajinraku 秦王破陣楽 (Victorious Dance of King Shin), also known as Shinkō hajinraku 神功破陣楽. A *…

Ch: Shennong. The second of the legendary Three Emperors (Ch: sanhuang, Jp: sankō 三皇) credited…

Shino 志野 ware. One of the best known of the Mino wares *minoyaki 美濃焼, first…

Offerings made at shrines to Shinto gods *kami 神. The most sacred…

Also read Shiragi Myōjin and Shinra Zenjin 新羅善神. The deity that protects Miidera 三井寺 (Onjōji 園城寺) at the…

An abbreviation of Shinran Shōnin 親鸞聖人 (1173-1262), the founder of the New Pure Land sect, Jōdo shinshū…

1　Also shusha 朱砂, tansha 丹砂, tanshu 丹朱. Cinnabar, mercuric sulphide HgS. A…

Lit. "body of the *kami 神." A sacred object which is worshiped as a…

Shinto art. The art used in the worship of Shinto deities *kami 神. The term does…

A bugaku dance and mask depicting a clown face. Classification (for terms see *…

An image, either in sculpture or painting, of a deity *kami 神 in its Shinto or…

1　Another name for *sekiō 石黄, a yellow pigment made from…

Lit. "brinemaidens." Women who worked hauling brine to make salt. In Japanese art, shiokumi often indicates the…

Technique of applying gold foil to the surface of a statue or vessel. Most often found on Buddhist statues, especially *…

A rod used by a priest to discipline students practicing Zen 禅 meditation. Made of split bamboo covered with black lacquer,…

Lacquered leather. Untanned skins of cow, wild pig or deer are softened by soaking, wrapped around a mold to dry in the sun…

Enamel, cloisonne or champleve. A decorative technique where areas of enamel are separated by metal dykes or wires. Usually…

A geometric design pattern which may be described alternatively as four spindles arranged in a circle with ends touching, or…

A style of Buddhist sculpture made during the period of Korean history when the Silla dynasty (Jp: Shiragi 新羅) defeated the…

Also kijizō 素地像. A wooden statue with a natural wood surface. Shirakizō may be a Buddhist or Shinto…

Also read shira-e byōbu. A folding screen bearing motifs painted in ink or mica *…

Chinese temple lion. Refers to the role and the mask representing a temple lion shishi 獅子. The oldest variety are…

1　Lit. "lion-mouth tile." An ornamental tile placed on each end of a main ridge, instead of the more common…

Also written 獅子児, called haeharai 蝿払. Gigaku masks *gigakumen…

Ch: sishen. Ancient Chinese mythical animals associated with the four cardinal directions: green/blue dragon (Ch:…

Sk: simhasana. A base *daiza 台座 for a Buddhist image in…

Four types of mandala, the dai mandara 大曼荼羅 (great mandala), *Sanmaya mandara…

Ch: sishui. Lit. "four sleepers." A painting subject of the Tang dynasty eccentrics *…

A detailed preliminary drawing prepared before undertaking an actual painting hon-e 本絵. The first step in creating…

Small prints of actors, or genre scenes with actors produced around the mid-19th century which bear seals reading shita-…

Lit. "girl sticking out her tongue." A mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays and representing a young woman with her tongue…

Also called *jinuri 地塗り. A base coat. An undercoat applied during the…

Four Guardian Kings. Pre-Buddhist Indian deities including *Taishakuten…

Painting where the tip of the finger or a long finger-nail is employed instead of a brush. Also called shiga 指画 (…

The technique of keeping *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print paper moist during…

Lit. "gem or precious stone base." The most common base for an image of *Fudō Myōō…

Wrinkled old man. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a dignified,…

Also shiisō. Lit. "meditative posture." A position used in Buddhist images to symbolize thinking, where the fingers of the…