Amida with the jō-in 定印 or *zenjō-in 禅定印 (Sk: dhyanamudra;…

1　A form of concertina-folded book *orihon 折本.

…

Ch: Jingping tidao. Also reads jōhei tōtō. A painting subject of the Tang dynasty Zen priests Izan Reiyū い山霊祐 (Ch:…

A style of sculpture created by the Buddhist sculptor *busshi 仏師 Jōchō 定朝 (?-…

The Five Chinese Patriarchs of the Pure Land Jōdo 浄土 sect. The sect was organized in Japan by *…

Abbreviation of jōdo hensō zu 浄土変相図. Also known as jōdo mandara 浄土曼荼羅. Pictorial representations, often…

Art of the Pure Land faith. Originating in the Nara period, Pure Land Buddhism is a more personal form of the faith than…

Lit. superior cloth. A jōfu lightweight, fine hand-woven cloth made lightweight from delicate hand-twisted ramie…

A hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 made of a paper called *…

Also called tenchi 天地 or jidai 地題. A part of the mounting of a hanging scroll *…

Also called *kaiga 界画. A line drawing technique where a straight edge or…

A standard height for a Buddhist statue. A variation of the *jōroku 丈六.…

A decorative scarf worn by Buddhist deities and guardian figures. It is draped diagonally across the upper body, usually…

Also read Jōe Monju (Ch: shengyi wenshu). Lit. rope-robed *Monju…

A mask representing an old man, jō 尉, in particular the old men masks of the *…

Lit. cord-mark period. The Jōmon period ran from ca. 10,000 BC-ca. 300 BC. The period takes its name from the decoration on…

A standard height for a Buddhist statue. Abbreviation of one *jō 丈 and six …

Also written 縄牀. Also jōton 縄榻. A rough chair, originally from India, with the back or seat wrapped in rope or cord…

Abbreviation of Shaka jūdai deshi 釈迦十大弟子. The Ten Chief Disciples of the historical Buddha *…

Ch: jiuniu. Lit. ten bulls. A Zen 禅 (Ch: chan) allegory in which Buddhist training, from first initiation to final…

Sk: Ekadasamukha. Eleven-headed Kannon; a form of *Kannon 観音 with eleven miniature faces…

Ch: shuxia meiren. A painting theme of a beautiful woman under a tree. The subject found throughout Asia may have…

Also jūni yakusha taishō 十二薬叉大将, jūni shinshō 十二神王. The twelve protective deities *…

Twelve Deities. A group of tutelary deities consisting of various Hindu gods, which was incorporated into Esoteric Buddhism…

Sk: Cundi. Also Juntei Butsumo 准胝仏母, Shichigutei Butsumo 七倶胝仏母, or Butsumo Juntei 仏母准胝. …

Ten Kings. The ten kings of hell who preside at the gates of the underworld, assigning souls to heaven or hell. The Buddhist…

Ch: Shou laoren. A Chinese Taoist god known as the immortal of the Northern Song and also considered the personification of…

A kind of table game played with one king and 16 round, pawn-like piece of paper on each side of a divided board. The board…

Sixteen arhats *rakan 羅漢. The saintly ascetics who gathered at the death and…

Sixteen. A noh mask *nōmen 能面, representing the young Heike 平家…

Also read jūroku zenjin. Abbreviation of Shaka jūroku zenshin 釈迦十六善神 or Shaka sanzon jūroku…

Thirteen Buddhas. A set of thirteen Buddhist deities, including *myōō 明王 (Sk…

A general term for any ornamental band of cloth found on a bodhisattvas *bosatsu…

A portrait, sculpted or painted, made during the lifetime of the subject. The most common was a *…

Also shibai-e 芝居絵 and geki-e 劇画. Includes kabuki gekijō zu 歌舞伎劇場図 and *…

The most popular form of theatre among townspeople in Japan since the early Edo period. The form has its origins in the…

The eighteen *kabuki 歌舞伎 plays selected as best by Ichikawa Danjūrō 7 七代市川団十郎…

Pictures of *kabuki 歌舞伎. In the broad sense of the term, kabuki zu…

Also written as 兜. A helmet, usually made of iron. The earliest Japanese helmets were made in the Kofun period. There were…

Lit. bird-and-flower painting. Paintings of birds and flowers, flowers only *kakiga…

Also ka'enkō 火焔光. Lit. flame nimbus. A halo *kōhai 光背 on a…

1　Lotus petal design carved around the lower base kiban 基盤 of a lantern *…

Also called sakaguma 反隈 (or 逆隈) or teriguma 照隈. Lit. highlighting. Reverse shading. A shading *…

A pictorial subject based on the "Flares" Kagaribi, Chapter 27 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

1　A pictorial subject taken from one of the eighteen great kabuki plays *…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Drake Fly" Kagerō (also translated as Dayfly or Mayfly), Chapter 52 of G…

Also called kaio'oi 貝覆. A shell-matching game played originally by nobles in the Heian period. A half clam shell…

A ceremony where a Buddhist image not normally on view is unveiled to all worshippers. Normally carried out during a…

Ch: jiehua. Lit. boundary painting. Both a painting technique and a painting genre in China. As a technical term,…

Also abbreviated to kaigen or kaigan 開眼, jugan, or jugen 入眼. Lit. eye-opening ceremony.…

Kaigetsudō school. A school of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists in early 18th century who…

A school of painters active from the 16th century to the 19th century founded by Kaihō Yūshō 海北友松 (1533-1615) and passed…

Lit. Humble Words on Matters of Painting, a late 18th century polemic on painting theory by Kuwayama Gyokushū 桑山玉洲 (1746-99…

Shell buckets. Paired octagonal wood-based lacquer-decorated containers with fitted inrōbuta zukuri 印籠蓋造 lids used…

Ch: Jieziyuan huazhuan. Lit. Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting; a Qing dynasty painting manual that had a…

A round metal or wooden plate with a separately made or repousse (hammered from the rear) image of a Shinto deity *…

A print mounted on a hanging scroll. A format used for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints.…

Also called by names such as kakejiku 掛軸, kakefuku 掛幅, jikumono 軸物, *…

Lit. persimmon color. An orange color, said to resemble the persimmon fruit, or a reddish-brown like the color of persimmon…

Ch: huahui hua. Paintings of flowers and various types of grass. This term is usually applied to Chinese painting,…

The moveable paintings used as backdrops for a *kabuki 歌舞伎 play. A piece of…

A variation of *tenmokuyū 天目釉. A red-brown glaze which is often used on straight…

Ch: Guo Ziyi (697-781). A Tang dynasty general, known for his military conquests and progeny. A native of Huazhou 華州 in…

Compilation of Kakuzen. An early Kamakura-period compilation of traditional Buddhist iconography. Also called Hyakkanshō…

Lit. frame base. The pieces of wood used around a window used to denote the lowest horizontal section of the dais for a…

The Kamakura period (1185-1332) is named for the city in modern Kanagawa Prefecture where Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-99…

The subject of a number of paintings in the possession of Danzan Jinja 談山神社 on Tōnomine 多武峯 in Nara. Kamatari is a deity…

A pre-13th century term for small paintings executed on paper in the *yamato-e…

A Shinto deity. Although the word deity may imply a singular definite presence, kami have no fixed number, form or…

*Ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints from the Osaka-Kyoto area (kamigata 上方 denotes…

Lit. paper figure. The preliminary underdrawing *shita-e 下絵 for a Kamakura and…

Hairless old man. Also written 上無尉. Alternate name, inarijō 稲荷尉. A nō mask *…

A painting subject of horse racing at Kamigamo Jinja 上賀茂神社 in Kyoto. The event was a popular custom held on May 5th (today…

Also sentenmon 旋転文. A spiral pattern used in drapery folds on Buddhist statues. Ridges, representing creases in the…

Ch: Han Wudi (159-87 BC). Lit. Emperor Wu of Han. The seventh emperor of the Former Han (Jp: Zenkan 前漢), who ruled from 141-…

Kan'ei culture. The culture of the Kan'ei era (1624-44) and by extension that of the whole early Edo period *…

A signature *rakkan 落款 or a seal *…

Ch: Guan Yu (d. 219 CE). A Chinese general. A painting theme and the subject and title of a *…

Lit. book in kana script. A popular literarily form produced between 1600-82, principally in the Kyoto area. These…

Lit. Eight views of Kanazawa. Eight scenic spots around Kanazawa, the southern part of Kuraki 久良岐 in Sagami 相模 Province (…

Ch: guanputu. A pictorial theme that features a scholar gazing at a waterfall. The theme probably relates to the poem Ballad…

Lit. beauties of the Kanbun 寛文 era (1661-73). A generic and recently coined term for paintings of beautiful women and men,…

A ceremony held every year to commemorate Buddha's *Shaka 釈迦 birthday, April 8th…

Lit. Chinese painting. Several painting styles which developed in Japan after the mid-13th century under the influence of…

Guide to Chinese Style Painting. A late 18th century treatise on *nanga 南画 by…

Also read Kankiten. Also Shōten/Shōden 聖天. Abbreviation of Daishō kangiten 大聖歓喜天. The elephant-headed…

A transformation scene of the Pure Land *jōdo hensō 浄土変相 based on the…

1　To teach and encourage people to follow Buddhist teachings.

2　To…

A pictorial subject taken from Kanjinchō (The Subscription List), perhaps the best-loved *…

A flag, made in cloth and covered with gilt-bronze, used for the Buddhist abhiseka ceremony of sprinkling water on the head…

Ch: quanjietu. Also written 鑑戒図 (Ch: jianjietu). Lit. pictures of advice and admonishment. Paintings based on Confucian…

Also Kanzeon 観世音, Kanjizai 観自在. The bodhisattva *bosatsu 菩薩 who personifies…

An inset or inlay technique. One example is the eyes in a wooden statue in which the shape of the eye is hollowed out and a…

A hereditary school of professional artists, patronized by military governments from the late Muromachi to the early Meiji…

A painting depicted on a plectrum guard kanpachi 捍溌, a sheet of leather attached to stringed instruments, such…

Ch: hanlintu. Lit. pictures of a cold grove. A painting theme featuring a grove of leafless trees in a cold or…