Decorative rings on the arms and legs of Buddhist images. The rings are carved from the same material as the image, or are…

Correctly read kanshi かんし. Connoisseurship. Originally referred to engraved inscriptions on Chinese bronzes, but…

Also kanshitsuzō 乾漆像, kanshitsu-zukuri 乾漆造. Dry lacquer technique. A technique used to produce…

Appreciation. To take intuitive pleasure in the total sense of form and expression of content of a work of art. Inherent in…

A general term for the ornamentation and style of Buddhist crowns *hōkan…

Also kansu 巻子, makimono 巻物 and kansō 巻装. A handscroll or horizontal scroll. A bound-…

Also kanzō 冠繪, tentai 天帯, hōzō 宝繪, tenkantai 天冠帯. The ornamental ribbons which…

Also kantan. Man from Kantan. A nō mask *nōmen 能面…

Also written 広東, 漢島, 漢渡, and 閑島. A fine silk striped woven material, perhaps named after the Japanese pronunciation of…

Ch: Hanshan Shide. Semi-legendary Tang dynasty, Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) eccentrics who were frequently depicted in Chinese and…

A stick type of hair ornament. It may be a single stick or fork-shaped stick. The handle end usually has decoration.…

A bright yellowish-orange color. Named after the yellow dye lily flower kanzō 萓草. Kanzō-iro dye was…

Also kakihan 書判, lit. written seal mark, or han 判. Specifically designed character representing or…

Lit. river child. A supernatural water-sprite believed to inhabit Japan's lakes and rivers. The name kappa varies…

Also かっぱ摺 or kappaban かっぱ版; sometimes kōhan 孔版 or katagamizuri 型紙摺. A technique used to apply…

Ch: kebi. Lit. dry brush. Also kohitsu 枯筆 (withered brush) or sappitsu 擦筆 (rubbed brush). An ink…

Lit. inspector mekiki 目利 of Chinese painting. The post of official art appraiser for the Tokugawa 徳川 shogunate…

Although literally translated to mean Tang dynasty Chinese 'kara 唐' painting, its definition and usage changed with…

A Chinese-style chest used to store clothes, arms, personal effects, sutra scrolls (in this case called kyōkarabitsu…

Lit. Chinese floral motif. Intricate foliage patterns transmitted from China to Japan. Karahanamon is a general…

Ch: tang shizi. The Chinese lion. Representations of lions were produced by Chinese and then Japanese artists based…

1　Any paper imported from China. Although the terms karakami and *…

Ch: tangzi you. A painting subject of Chinese children at play. The theme has two types: in the first children play…

Lit. Chinese grass motif. Also called karakusa 唐草. Often used interchangeably with *…

Lit. Chinese things. The term is especially common in *chanoyu 茶湯 to designate…

Karatsu 唐津 ware. A general name for the glazed, high-fired pottery made at kilns producing Korean style pottery grouped…

Also called Kōya Myōjin 高野明神. An old hunter represented with a white dog or dogs or as a courtly figure in formal…

Also written 猟衣, 雁衣. Lit. hunting silk. Often translated as hunting robe. Originally a long, loose informal jacket worn by…

The Japanese name of the Indian deity (Sk: Hariti), a protector of children who was the wife of Panchika. Her name was…

Also written 刈安. The name of a yellow dye, and the plant from which it is taken. Kariyasu is a tall grass…

1　Garuda. see *hachibushū 八部衆.

…

1　Flames which emerge from the mouth of the supernatural bird *Karura…

Sk. kalavinka. Originally a sparrow-like bird that lived in the snowy mountains ofthe Himalaya range, reputed to possess a…

A depiction of a famous beauty of the Meiwa 明和 era (1764-72). Until her marriage in 1771 at age 19, Osen お仙 was a…

The culture of the Bunka 文化 (1804-18) and Bunsei 文政 eras (1818-30), and by extension, that of the late Edo period as a whole…

Images of the so-called immortal poets kasen 歌仙, distinguished historical poets of waka 和歌 (Japanese 31…

Lit. head carving. The title of the master engraver and also of the engraving process by which the key block *…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Oak Tree" Kashiwagi, a type of oak, Quercus deutata, Chapter 36 of Genji…

Lit. battle pictures. Edo period depictions of warfare from the 16th and early 17th centuries as well as scenes from the…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a Zen temple boy in training who serves in the…

Devotional paintings of the deities and landscape of Kasuga Taisha 春日大社 which was founded in Nara in the 8th century as the…

1　A pattern representing mist, often stylized into shapes like the ideographs 工 or 王. It is used as a…

A plain weave fabric with designs developed in India and brought to Japan via Indonesia (where it is called ikat), then…

Also written 帷子. An unlined garment worn in summer since the Heian period. For court nobles, it was woven with cotton, hemp…

A preliminary layer of lacquer applied to a wooden surface to reinforce and preserve the wood. *…

An animal-head decoration found on the shoulders of a soldier's armor yoroi 鎧. Often a lion's head *…

A popular simple, bold *kosode 小袖 design from the Kamakura…

Also okigata 置型. A device used in metal casting. Often, in metal casting, a double mold was used, consisting of an…

Lit. shoulders and hem. The type of *kosode 小袖 decoration where…

Catechu, cutch. A brown vegetable dye taken from a leguminous plant Acacia catechu wild, grown in S.E. Asia. The stems and…

Lit. Katsukawa school. A school of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists who…

1　Sanskrit; karma. A deed, interpreted according to the Buddhist laws of cause and effect.

2…

A form of mandala *mandara 曼荼羅 in which the deities are…

Lit. roof-tile print. Also later known as yomiuri 読売 (sell by reading), because newsprint vendors read their…

Also yose-e 寄せ絵. A type of woodblock print that depicted human faces, necks, or hands with contorted miniature…

A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a ghost of a man of commoner…

Also sometimes read kashouza. A lotus-leaf, kayou 荷葉 dais for a Buddhist image *…

Also shōgon busshi 荘厳仏師. Artists who made metal and jewelled ornaments for Buddhist statues. These ornaments…

Also ōkebutsu 応化仏, hengebutsu 変化仏, ōshin 応身, or keshin 化身. Sk: nirmana-buddha. Lit.…

Also written 華瓶. A vase used to offer flowers on a Buddhist altar. Made of gold, silver, bronze, crystal, or clay. The vase…

A list that was inserted at the end of a sutra or on a piece of paper placed inside a statue, or sometimes written on the…

Fine, thin bush-strokes employed to depict animal fur or human hair, especially sideburns, beard, or eyebrows. Strokes of…

A school of Buddhist sculptors *busshi 仏師 active from the late Heian period…

Also read motodori. Hair tied on top of the head in a topknot. The same meaning as *…

In Chinese art refers to reproducing a likeness of the form of object. Also shajitsu 写実. It is the third of the Six…

Also read kyōsaku. A rod, used to awaken monks who doze off during Zen meditation. Shaped like a baton, about 130…

Also zenka fuza 全跏趺坐, or abbreviated to zenkaza 全跏坐, kafuza 跏趺坐, kaza 跏坐. The full-lotus…

Lit. fist. Transliteration of the Sanskrit musti. A mudra or hand gesture *in…

Transliteration of the Sanskrit gandharva, translatedas jikikō 食香 (scent-eater), jinkō 尋香 (scent…

Also read kensaku, kenzaku; also saku 索. A rope, made from five different colored strands (…

Sliding screens with paintings of thirty-two Chinese sages, which form the main wall behind the Emperor's throne in the…

The art of Exoteric Buddhism. Generic term referring to any Buddhist art except for Esoteric Buddhism *…

A painting or calligraphy executed on silk; the term is applied to specify the support used for the work. In particular,…

Ch: Xianzi. A semi-legendary 9th-century itinerant priest and eccentric. His name, meaning something like "Clam Priest," is…

The marks carved in all the woodblocks of a set needed to produce a full-color woodblock print *…

A straight bladed chisel used to make *kentō 見当, guide marks used…

Also written 見徳. A comic mask used in kyōgen 狂言 plays. Kentoku has a timid, clownish expression, with…

Disciples or followers of Buddha. Often refers to groups of devotees who accompany an important Buddhist deity, for example…

A line-engraving technique used in metal carving, which consisted of sequences of fine dots. The name keribori…

Buddhist surplice. A general term for an outer garment worn by Buddhist priests and found on Buddhist figures. See *…

To trim the white margins off a finished woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 with a…

Also kekyaku 華脚. Decorative legs that are attached to a desk, an offering stand or the dais a Buddhist image *…

The smudges that result on a woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 if the…

Ch: juetou dingmiao. A brush technique used to create the clothing of figures in an ink painting. The brush strokes…

Lit. Buddhist wood sculptor. Term used to refer to makers of Buddhist statues from the Heian period onward. In the Asuka and…

A type of illustrated popular fiction *kusazōshi 草双紙. Lit.…

Also read Kisshōten. Also called Kichijōtennyo 吉祥天女 or Kudokuten 功徳天 (Sk: Sri Laksmi, Mahasri,…

Also read Kisshōten mandara. A variety of dedicated mandala *besson…

Also kakō kidori 加工木取; aradori 疎取; arakidori 疎木取.

1　The…

A method of metal casting using a wooden model. The wooden model was called kigata 木型. The kigata was…

A yellow vegetable dye. Also called kiwada, ōbaku. The dye is taken from the bark of the philodendron (…

Kijin masks. Masks representing gods who dispel evil, animal spirits, and Buddhist deities, particularly as…

Also called bekkōgata 鼈甲形. A geometric pattern comprised of hexagonal units resembling the shape and pattern of a…

Ch: Guiguzi. The Chinese eccentric and recluse Wang Xu (Jp: Ō Ku 王詡) who lived approximately 3rd-4th century BC. After a…

Ch: Jucitong. Lit. chrysanthemum love child. The childhood name of the Zhou dynasty Taoist immortal Peng Tan (Jp: Hō Tan 彭袒…

A design depicting chrysanthemums floating on a river. In China it is associated with longevity, probably in connection with…

Ch: Guiqulai. Homecoming Ode by the Jin dynasty poet Tao Yuanming (Jp: *Tō Enmei…

Also kimekomi きめ込み or nikuzuri 肉摺 (flesh printing). A special printing technique used to raise the paper…

Also called dei-e 泥絵. Gold and silver powders mixed with glue and employed to decorate crafts, calligraphy,…