Also pronounced hiinagata bon. Lit. miniature stamped book. A small-sized woodblock printed book produced during…

The manor of using a painting brush in Eastern art and calligraphy. Brush use technique was first mentioned by Xie He (Jp:…

A technique used to apply color evenly over an underpainting, without regard for lines. If the overcoat is opaque the under…

1　Also hishigata 菱形. A diamond or lozenge shape. A term used to describe diamond-shaped cross…

1　 Diamond- or lozenge-shaped lattice or muntins used on doors, transoms, and fences *…

A diamond or lozenge-shaped motif that is a type of traditional design motif *…

Also Hitomaru-zō 人丸像. An imaginary portrait of the Nara period poet Kakinomotono Hitomaro 柿本人麿, who is…

Also written 檜皮色.

1　A shade of dark brown, lit. cypress-bark color. Old names include juhi-…

A narrative painting or a relief of a story, called Avadana in Sanskrit which relates stories of Buddha's disciples and…

Lit. Shank's Mare. A ribald classic by Jippensha Ikku 十返舎一九 (1765-1831) tracing the adventures of the two bumpkins Yajirobē…

Ch: Pang Jushi. Lit. The Layman Pang. Regarded as an incarnation of Vimalakirti (Jp: *…

Repainting or supplementary brushwork. To add to, attempt to finish, or correct a painting or calligraphy by adding brush…

An accordion style book-binding *orihon 折本. So called because it is used for…

Also hōshumon. A design of spherical jewels with slightly pointed tops, frequently with flames rising from the…

Lit. Hōkoku festival. The special celebration on the seventh anniversary of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 豊臣秀吉 (1536-98) death, held…

Ch: beizonghua. The northern school of Chinese painting as opposed to the Southern school of painting *…

Authoritative Summary of the Rules of Japanese Painting by Tosa Mitsuoki 土佐光起 (1617-91). As part of Mitsuoki's attempt to…

History of Painting in Japan, a late 17th century compendium of artists' biographies and the history of painting in Japan.…

Also written 飜刻本. A facsimile or reprint (often in modern typeface) of a manuscript or old book. A reprint of an already…

A type of mounting *hyōsō 表装 for a hanging scroll *…

1　A phoenix. A mythical Chinese bird, thought to have been introduced to Japan in the Asuka period. The…

1　Lit. Mt. Penglai. Ch: Penglaishan. The most famous of the three Elysian mountain-isles believed to lie…

Lit. night attack on the Horikawa Palace. A pictorial subject depicting one of the many events in the life of tragic hero…

A method of color application in *yamato-e やまと絵, whereby the…

An abbreviation of hōshogami 奉書紙, hōsho paper. A type of *washi…

Also *aka-e 赤絵. A woodblock print colored only with shades of red. The color was…

Lit. narrow format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term hosoban is…

1　Also read hossōge, an abbreviation of hōsōgemon 宝相華文. Lit. precious flower. Hōsōge…

A pictorial subject taken from "Fireflies" Hotaru, Chapter 25 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Lit. A hundred tales. Traditional and contemporary ghost stories as told, written, and illustrated in the Edo period. Early…

Lit. Single poems by 100 poets. A collection of waka 和歌 compiled by Fujiwara no Teika 藤原定家 (also known as Sadaie,…

Mounting. Also termed *hyōsō 表装. Hyōgu refers to the mounting of a…

The covers of a bound book *sasshibon 冊子本, or an accordion book *…

To mount a work of art in a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物, handscroll *…

Lit. first: Mt Fuji; second: hawks; third: eggplant. A tradition which holds that these objects, seen in order in the first…

Also ichimaizuri 一枚摺. Lit. single-sheet print. A single *ukiyo-e 浮世絵…

Also ishidatami 石畳 or *ishidatamimon 石畳文, danshichi 団七…

Lit. one mon picture. A small-sized woodblock print, usually depicting a courtesan or actor, printed only in black…

A printing technique for producing graduated tones (shading) on woodblock prints *ukiyo-…

1　Two strips of fabric directly above and below a painting measuring the exact width of the painting,…

A pictorial subject depicting scenes from the Battle at Ichinotani, a decisive confrontation in the Genpei war Genpei…

A compositional method used to show successive events within a unified background, dōzu 同図, capturing the same…

Ch: Yushanzhu. Lit. Master of Mt. Yu (Jp: Ikuzan 郁山). A Chinese Chan (Jp: Zen 禅) monk from Hunan (Jp: Konan 湖南)…

Ch: Yinzhong baxian. A painting subject based on the poem Yinzhong baxiange (Jp: Inchū hassenka…

A name found in seals applied to many works by Tawaraya Sōtatsu 俵屋宗達 (? - 1640?) and by members of his school, both in…

A collection of seal impressions gathered into book form. Collections of Chinese seals from the Zhou and Qin dynasties are…

A seal stamp carved with characters or pictographs which serves as proof or certification when pressed on a vessel, utensil…

Ch: yuantihua. Lit. academy style painting. A type of Chinese painting associated with the Imperial Court…

A dog-chasing event at which warriors on horseback scored points by shooting padded arrows at a running dog. The subject was…

The number of completed woodblock prints *ukiyo-e 浮世絵, (including all…

Ch: yipin. Also ikkaku 逸格 (Ch: yige). Lit. the Untrammeled Class. A category or ranking of…

Lit. missing color. The blank areas on a colored woodblock print *ukiyo-e …

Also written 色隈. A shading *kumadori 隈取 technique which uses…

Also pronounced irozashi or written 色指し.

1　Also irogaki 色書き or irowake…

Illustrations, decorative motifs, or other work of art connected with Ise monogatari 伊勢物語 (The Tales of Ise…

Also written 甃文. Also arare 霰 or *ichimatatsu 市松. A…

Also mokutaku zuri e 木拓摺絵. A print with a totally black inked background and outlines of forms left white, giving a…

Lit. woodblocking shading. A technique used to produce graduated tones on a woodblock print *…

Lit. paintings on wooden boards. A painting on a wall or door of a temple or shrine. Examples include the paintings on the…

Lit. one chō 丁. One folded page of a printed book during the Edo period. Because only one side of a sheet was…

Also iwamono 岩物. A paint *enogu 絵具 made from pulverized…

Abbreviated to *gunjō 群青. A dark blue pigment *…

A green pigment *ganryō 顔料 made of malachite. Often abbreviated to *…

Purported founder of the *kabuki 歌舞伎 theatre and subject of 17th…

Also Tsutsu izutsu 筒井筒. Lit. a well curb. A painting subject associated with Episode 24 of Ise monogatari…

Also hikkōbori 筆耕彫. The engravers or block-carvers of written text woodblocks for printed books. From…

A famous courtesan of Sakai 堺 known for her relationship with the Daitokuji 大徳寺 priest *…

A picture based on a word pun, popular around the mid-18th century. Most were drawn by town painters *…

Also kanshi 干支 and eto えと. Ch: shigan shierzhi. Lit. ten stems and twelve branches. Referred to…

1　A roller used for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物 or hand…

Ch: renwu shibamiao. Lit. eighteen types of figural portrayal. A group of brush styles traditionally employed in painting to…

A base coat. The process of preparing ancient painting surfaces by completely covering the materials used, such as paper,…

A portrait bearing a poetic inscription written by the painter.

Ch: Shizhuzhai shuhuapu. Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Painting, a late Ming period color woodblock-printed…

Also tsubushi 潰し. A plain background of a single color on a woodblock print *…

Also jitsugetsu zu 日月図. A pictorial subject that combines the motifs of the sun and moon in landscapes of the four…

Making carbon ink *sumi 墨 by grinding an ink stick on an inkstone…

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 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…

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

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

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…

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

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…

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

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…

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

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…

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