Also bero-ai ベロ藍. Prussian blue or Berlin blue. A synthetic blue paint made from ferric ferrocyanide, imported to…

Also called akujō beshimi 悪尉べし見, depending upon the school of Noh mask *nōmen…

A variety of mandala *mandara 曼荼羅 of a relatively small scale and…

Miscellaneous Record of Classified Sacred Images, a late Heian compendium of Buddhist iconography. Also called the…

A term which comes from the Portuguese for painting with oil pigments on the reverse side of glass. Fifty such paintings are…

Lit. pictures of beautiful women. Pictures depicting the beauty of the appearance, manners, and customs of women. The word…

Also sōgyō 僧形. A statue of a figure with a round shaved head, usually representing a Buddhist priest. Most commonly…

An abbreviation of *Bishamonten 毘沙門天, one of the four heavenly kings, or *…

A deity also called *Tamonten 多聞天 when portrayed as a member of the *…

Ch: Pipaxing. A painting subject based on the Song of the Lute, a narrative poem by the mid Tang dynasty poet, Bai…

Bizen 備前 ware. Pottery made in the Inbe 伊部 village of Bizen Province, now known as Wakegun 和気郡 in Okayama Prefecture. The…

Sk: bodhi druma. The name of the tree under which the historical Buddha *Shaka 釈迦…

Various block carving and printing techniques used to create gradated tones (shading) on woodblock prints, particularly 19th…

1　A gradation of colors or tones from dark to light or vice versa. One example is colorization of the…

Lit. pictures of horses at pasture. One type of genre painting *fūzokuga 風俗画…

Lit. ink plum. Ch: momei. Paintings of plum (actually prunus) rendered in sumi 墨 ink. Along with ink…

Ch: mozhu. Painting of bamboo rendered in *sumi 墨 ink. Bamboo…

Lit. herdboy and ox. Ch: mutong muniu. A Chinese painting theme long popular in Japanese ink painting. The subject…

Lit. ink play. Ch: moxi. The literati conception of painting as a form of self-expression, meant to convey ideas…

Ch: molan. Paintings of wild orchids rendered in *sumi 墨 ink. Related to…

A box for sutras. Indian sutras were written on long, narrow palm leaves. The leaves were stacked one top of the other, with…

Sk: Brahma. A major Hindu deity thought to be responsible for creating the world. Along with *…

1　Abbreviation of bodai satta 菩提薩た, a transliteration of the Sanskrit bodhisattva (Pari bodhisatta…

1　Abbreviation of botan karakusagawara 牡丹唐草瓦. A roof tile, often an eaves-end tile, whose pendant…

A mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays to represent a demon. Glaring eyes, a wide jaw, and bared teeth give the mask a…

A Chinese floral pattern *karakusamon 唐草文, composed of curling grape vines…

Imperial court dance that is accompanied by Imperial court music, gagaku 雅楽, as performed from the late 8th century…

Paintings of *bugaku 舞楽, a classical Japanese court dance that sometimes used…

Masks worn when performing certain of the *bugaku 舞楽 dances developed from…

Ch: Fenggan. The Tang-dynasty priest noted for his eccentric behavior, who was usually depicted with his pet tiger. Fenggan…

Narrative paintings, reliefs, or group sculptures of Buddhist stories (sutras or legends), which were made in great…

Also bunbō shigan 文房四玩, bunbō shiyū 文房四友, and bunbō shikō 文房四候. Lit. the four treasures of the…

A general term for objects like brushes, paper, ink *sumi 墨, and inkstone *…

Bunchō's Treatise on Painting, an early 18th-century miscellany on painters, painting techniques, tools, and…

A class of mounting for hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物, that was originally…

Ch: wenrenhua. Lit. literati painting.  A type of painting in China, Korea, and Japan. In Japan, the term …

Also bukkō 仏工, zōbusshi 造仏師. A sculptor of Buddhist statues. 

The term was first used in the…

The lineage of a Buddhist sculptor *busshi 仏師, often presented as a…

A workshop or school of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師. Bussho usually…

Lit. Buddha's foot(print) stone; also written 仏足跡 (footprints of the Buddha). A stone allegedly bearing the impression of…

Also Butchōson 仏頂尊. Sk: Usnisa. Lit. Buddha-Crown. A class of Esoteric Buddhist deities generally believed to be…

Lit. illustrated biographies of the Buddha. Artistic representations, usually painted or in low-relief sculpture, of the…

Also gan 龕. A niche carved out of a wall for the purpose of installing a Buddhist image, or a miniature Buddhist…

Also Butsugenson 仏眼尊 (Venerable Buddha-Eye). Lit. Buddha-Eye, or Mother of the Buddha. Sk: Buddhalocanal Locana. An Esoteric…

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 (a mandala concerning a single deity…

Catalog of objects in Butsunichian, the 14th-century inventory of artistic and other properties of Butsunichian 仏日庵…

A general term that refers to all images of the Buddha used as objects of worship, although most commonly used to refer to…

Sandalwood; santalum album. A tree with fine-grained hardwood, native to India and Southeast Asia. The wood is pale-yellow…

Also Byakushozon 白処尊 and Byakue Kanjizaimo 白衣観自在母. (Sk: Panduravasini); White-robed *…

Also *mikenkō 眉間光, miken byakugō 眉間白毫, miken byakugōsō 眉間白毫相…

A pale blue pigment *ganryō 顔料, used in Japanese painting *…

A pale green pigment *ganryō 顔料, used in Japanese painting *…

Paintings on folding screens *byōbu 屏風. 

The earliest record of…

A folding screen consisting of multiple, joined panels. Folding screens vary in size; the standard size consists of six…

Also takushu 磔手 and chōshu 張手 (Sk: vitasti). A unit of measure that originated in India, used in the…

Lit. the hot water for tea. Also known as sadō 茶道 or chadō. The ritual art of preparing and drinking…

Father old man. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a cheerful old man. The powder…

The path purifier, mask worn by the first actor in a procession of ancient theatrical performances gigaku 伎楽.…

Plovers or (rarely) sanderlings: small birds that live in flocks near water, a popular design motif either alone or combined…

The Buddhist acolyte form of the name *Kūkai 空海 (774-835; see *…

Lit. knowledge-fist mudra. A mudra or hand gesture *in 印 formed by…

Also referred to as the First mandala. A small wooden painting. The oldest of the Three Jōdo Mandalas *…

Ch: Zhulin Qixian. Lit. Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. A pictorial theme based on seven Chinese literati who, to…

A yellow-brown paper made in China from bamboo fibers. Commonly known in Japan as *tōshi…

Also enjiraku or enchiraku 円地楽. A piece in imperial court dancing *…

Also called chinkinbori 沈金彫. A technique developed in aizunuri 会津塗 that involves cutting a design into a…

Also chinzō chōkoku, see *chinsō 頂相. Portrait sculptures of…

Also chinzō. Lit. head's appearance. A naturalistic portrait, sculpted or painted, of a Zen 禅 master's head.

A multi-colored print which was rolled around a bar and then rubbed to give it crinkles and creases as if it had been…

Ch: Zhang Guolao. Also called Tongxuan (Jp: Tsūgen 通玄). One of the Daoist, eight immortals *…

Ch: Zhang Liang・Huang Shigong. Heroic Chinese warriors of the Han dynasty. 

Zhang Liang (BC 168-137), originally…

Lit. pictures of horse training. One theme of genre painting *fūzokuga 風俗画…

Also read nagaban. Also called naga-e 長絵. Lit. long format. A size of *…

Eyes carved directly into the surface of a wooden sculpture. This method was in general use until the late Heian period when…

Also written 丁字. A deep yellow, dull orange, or tan colored aromatic dye senryō 染料 made from the flowers or…

1　A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 that is vertically oriented…

Also kinjūza 禽獣座 and jūza 獣座. A pedestal or throne for a Buddhist image in the form of a bird or a…

Ch: Niaoke. Lit. bird's nest. A painting subject depicting the Tang dynasty eccentric priest Dōrin 道林 (Ch: Daolin), also…

A bird's-eye view. Also fukan zuhō 俯瞰図法 (view from above). One type of perspective popular in Japanese…

Also pronounced chōketsui. A garment with long sleeves. Seen, for example, on images of *…

Chasing. Carving patterns or letters with a chisel on metal work. A common technique is nanako-uchi 魚々子打 (fish-roe…

Ch: diexingtu. Lit. Picture of the Butterfly of Happiness, or Picture of the Butterfly and the Emperor's Visit. A…

A painting and calligraphy technique where the brush is held perpendicular to the paper so that just the tip is used to…

Also kairen 開蓮. A lotus flower found on the head of a *Fudō Myōō …

Also read kōzogami and kajigami 梶紙. Formerly called kokushi 穀紙 during the Heian period. Paper…

Carved lacquer. A generic term used for many carved lacquer techniques where layers of lacquer are applied to a thickness of…

Ch: Zhutou. A painting subject depicting the Northern Song dynasty eccentric priest Zhimeng (J: Shimō 志蒙). He was known…

Ch: chaoyang duiyue. A Zen painting subject depicting a priest sewing in the morning sun (Jp: chōyō …

Lit. medium-size format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term chūban…

A part of the mounting of a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. The chūberi…

Lit. a middle-size book. A woodblock printed book, popular during the Edo period, which is one-half the size of a …

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 supposedly intended to represent the 9th-century poet and…

Metal casting. A technique used in metalwork to produce vessels or sculptures by melting down metal and pouring it into a…

A pictorial subject matter taken from The Treasury of Loyal Retainers Chūshingura, an epic and well-loved story of…

Also chūdai-no-son 中台の尊. The principal statue in a group of Buddhist statues. The central image in a triad or group…

Also imono 鋳物. Casting. A technique used to make cast sculptural forms. 

The base material was heated…

1　A general term that refers to the title or preface, dai 題 or daiji 題辞, and the…

Also daibusshi-shiki 大仏師職, zōbutsu-chōkan 造仏長官. An important Buddhist sculptor *…

Also jōrokubutsu 丈六仏. The term used to describe a very large statue of Buddha. Originally any statue more than…